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17" performance on dual displays

I

inertiat

macrumors member
Original poster
May 9, 2008
86
0
Hi,

I'm thinking about ordering the 17" Macbook Pro and wondering if anyone has had any experience running it with an external display as a second monitor.

The 330M only has 512Mb of RAM which worries me for a 1920x1200 screen to begin with. Does anyone run it with a second display? If so, what resolution do you use and how smooth is window dragging and video playback?

I plan on editing video in After Effects using both the screen and a 1680x1050 external monitor but I'm worried it may lag due to the not so great amount of video RAM. Does anyone have any honest, non-salesperson, real-world experience on the issue? :)
 
I haven't hooked my new 17" MBP to an external monitor yet but I do have a Mac Mini with dual 23" LED's at my office as my primary machine. I know it's not what you're asking but I figured I'd mention that since the MBP has superior graphics to the mini and if the mini can do it I'd say the MBP would be great as well. My Mini works awesome with dual monitors. Oh, I'm running ????x1080 on my office monitors. I forgot what the first number is and I'm at home... but you get the idea.

Mike

inertiat said:
Hi,

I'm thinking about ordering the 17" Macbook Pro and wondering if anyone has had any experience running it with an external display as a second monitor.

The 330M only has 512Mb of RAM which worries me for a 1920x1200 screen to begin with. Does anyone run it with a second display? If so, what resolution do you use and how smooth is window dragging and video playback?

I plan on editing video in After Effects using both the screen and a 1680x1050 external monitor but I'm worried it may lag due to the not so great amount of video RAM. Does anyone have any honest, non-salesperson, real-world experience on the issue? :)
Click to expand...
 
Cheers Mike, that's very helpful. Do you ever watch HD videos when both monitors are plugged in? If so what is the playback like? Thanks
 
Thanks for the replies, that makes me feel much more confident in putting down an order! :D
 
My 13 runs a cinema 30 like a champ. I have a 6 audio channel 1080p H.264 streaming from a Drobo over an Airport Extreme playing Quicktime X in full screen and it's very smooth.

Unbelievable.

I can't believe I didn't switch to the 13 as my home "desktop" for this long.

The 13 also plays Half Life 2 smooth as silk in 2560x1600 but only in my Win7 boot camp. The Mac version is a bit slower, unfortunately :(

Edit, however I haven't tested the Mac version with just the Cinema being driven. Might have been slower because I also had my laptop screen on.
 
ciaran00 said:
My 13 runs a cinema 30 like a champ. I have a 6 audio channel 1080p H.264 streaming from a Drobo over an Airport Extreme playing Quicktime X in full screen and it's very smooth.

Unbelievable.

I can't believe I didn't switch to the 13 as my home "desktop" for this long.

The 13 also plays Half Life 2 smooth as silk in 2560x1600 but only in my Win7 boot camp. The Mac version is a bit slower, unfortunately :(

Edit, however I haven't tested the Mac version with just the Cinema being driven. Might have been slower because I also had my laptop screen on.
Click to expand...

Wow, cool! I didn't realise the you could stream video so smoothly over wireless, that's awesome. Thanks
 
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