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TheArnettie

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 23, 2009
17
0
Dayton, Ohio
I have a MBP 13" unibody. I currently have 1 external monitor hooked up to the mbp using a Mini Display port to hdmi adapter. I am purchasing the same monitor again for a second display. I have my mbp on a mStand and have it closed and use just the one monitor. But now I want to run 2 external monitors. What are my best options at doing this? I saw that I can purchase a Diamond USB adapter and run my second monitor that way.

Thoughts? Suggestions?
 
I use the Diamond USB adapter with dual 24" monitors. It works great, and the MBP screen can actually serve as a third monitor if you need the space...
 
If your monitors have hdmi, you can get the zotac mini display port to dual hdmi adaptor for 50 from newegg.com. Just got mine the other day. I can run my 15" display and both 24" monitors at 1080p with no issues. I would be curious how well the intel graphics pushes that many pixels.
 
Thunderbolt display won't work with my current MBP.

I do have a DVI to HDMI cable which would work on the dual hdmi connection mentioned above but that would mean I would have to spend another $40 on the cable and $50 on the adapter.
 
I bought the Diamond USB adapter also. When I use the adapter, it starts a process than consumes 25% of the CPU. I'm curious about the zotac.

I use the Diamond USB adapter with dual 24" monitors. It works great, and the MBP screen can actually serve as a third monitor if you need the space...
 
I tried both (DualHead2Go and USB adapter) and kept the USB adapter at the end.

- DualHead2Go: it creates a virtual display of the total resolution of your physical displays: 3840x1080 for 2 1920x1080 displays for examples.
* Pros: No lag.
* Cons: some windows are poised to be splitted between the 2 screens (login textfield, cmd + tab windows, etc.), you can't use fullscreen (for app or videos) anymore, in addition I had flickering issues with the device.

- USB adapter: it's like a secondary video output using the USB bandwidth.
* Pros: your display is recognized as a second display by Lion, less than half the price of the Dualhead2Go.
* Cons: some lag issue when a good portion of the screen is changed. You won't notice it when you do some word processing, internet or coding, but you definitely will when you drag a windows from a display to the other for example and you won't be able to play games or watch fullscreen video on this display.

If I could go back in time I wouldn't bother to connect 2 displays on a MBP and settle for 27" ACD instead. As I can't, I recommend the USB adapter over the DualHead2Go. Be sure to get one with the latest chip: DL-195 and get the driver from the displaylink website
 
I bought Eclipse SEE2 UV150 adapter which converts a VGA to USB so I can hook the second monitor up. What I have noticed is getting the display to look as good as the one hooked up to a MiniDisplay Port. And I almost want to go back to the single display because of the lag. I have the same monitors with the same settings on both and yet the quality is different. What could/would casue this.
 
It's a USB adapter. USB doesn't have enough continuous bandwidth to provide a perfectly lag-free video experience. If it's too laggy for you, try a non-USB solution and see if that's acceptable.
 
If your monitors have hdmi, you can get the zotac mini display port to dual hdmi adaptor for 50 from newegg.com. Just got mine the other day. I can run my 15" display and both 24" monitors at 1080p with no issues. I would be curious how well the intel graphics pushes that many pixels.

You use this? How is it? Runs well? Worth the $50? I have a 24" IPS and a 24" LED monitor. I'd love to run 3 at the same time, but never heard of this option until now.
 
You could try a home theatre receiver - my one allows for two HDMI outputs, a component, composite and VGA. There's about 20-25ms of lag, not ideal for gaming but when you truly need the space (or I feed my films' scripts up onto a projector while on set, have a big clock etc etc), and non-graphically intensive applications, it's great :D
 
I bought Eclipse SEE2 UV150 adapter which converts a VGA to USB so I can hook the second monitor up. What I have noticed is getting the display to look as good as the one hooked up to a MiniDisplay Port. And I almost want to go back to the single display because of the lag. I have the same monitors with the same settings on both and yet the quality is different. What could/would casue this.

You should get an adapter with the latest chip, such as Diamond BVU195 or eVGA UV19+ (the one I got). They provide 1920x1080 resolutions with DVI output. I have two 23" Asus PA238Q IPS monitors and I don't see any difference in Picture quality between the one plugged on the mini-displayport and the one plugged on the USB adapter. There is some lag though.
 
If your monitors have hdmi, you can get the zotac mini display port to dual hdmi adaptor for 50 from newegg.com. Just got mine the other day. I can run my 15" display and both 24" monitors at 1080p with no issues. I would be curious how well the intel graphics pushes that many pixels.

Hey Paulrbeers,

So your dual 24 inch monitors split the image or are they complete separate displays along with your MBP? So basically 3 separate monitors entirely or are any of them Mirrored?
 
Hey Paulrbeers,

So your dual 24 inch monitors split the image or are they complete separate displays along with your MBP? So basically 3 separate monitors entirely or are any of them Mirrored?

All three are separate displays. I can use my 15" display, and dual 24" displays being pushed by my Zotac mini displayport to dual HDMI adapter from my Early 2011 Macbook Pro 15". I don't do this much anymore as I now hook my displays up to my Mac Mini, and gave the Macbook Pro to my wife (and picked up a 13" Macbook Air for myself).
 
hey paulrbeers

hi i read that you used the zotac mini display adapter on your macbook pro 15 early 2011 for 2x displays. so you are saying you were able to use BOTH displays as individual? not mirrored? cause i read many people claimed the adapter only mirrors the screens.

can you please pm me? i have some questions.
i got a macbook pro 15 inch early 2011 model as well. and i have 1 x 27" display with hdmi and a 24" display hdmi.

can i use the zotac adapter to have both screens and the screen from my macbook pro all as INDIVIDUAL? not mirrored.


thanks a lot in advance



EDIT: i emailed the guys over zotac and they replied that the zotac mini display port dual hdmi adapter only mirrors the displays so im not sure why paulrbeers is able to use the screens as individual screens.
can you please make a video how it looks like? im really interested in that
 
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