Can I use virtual Mac display and use an external monitor at the same time?

[subjonas]

Can you cast a virtual Mac display in VP while also using a physical display connected to the Mac? I use the physical display for drawing (it’s a monitor with pen support). I think I’ve always seen the Mac display turn off when the virtual Mac display is cast, but if the external pen monitor turns off, I won’t be able to draw (using macOS software for work) which is obviously a problem for me. Is there a way to keep it on as the main display and extend the virtual Mac display or vice versa? Thanks

 

[subjonas]

Sorry to bump this, but I need to make a related purchase soon, and seems like it should be an easy answer for anyone who uses virtual Mac display, which I imagine is a lot of VP users.

So just to restate—can you keep a physical Mac display on while also using a virtual Mac display in VP? And has anyone tried specifically with an external monitor?

Since I’ve never seen it, whether built-in or external display, I’m thinking the answer is no you can’t keep it on, but I just haven’t been able to find anything saying it explicitly.
Thanks again

 

[fatTribble]

I found this. The comments seem more like speculation though.
Wish I had an answer but I don’t have an external display.

Anomalocaris
6 February, 2024

Currently connecting your Mac to an AVP then disables the Mac’s display. That will probably happen even if you have two displays connected. Your Mac would then connect to the AVP as the only display. I don’t have any documentation for that but I think it is a logical extrapolation from what we know about how AVP works with a Mac with one screen.

How to use Vision Pro as an external display for your Mac - 9to5Mac

One of the most popular features for Vision Pro is the ability for it to serve as an external display...

9to5mac.com

 

[subjonas]

I found this. The comments seem more like speculation though.
Wish I had an answer but I don’t have an external display.

Anomalocaris
6 February, 2024

Currently connecting your Mac to an AVP then disables the Mac’s display. That will probably happen even if you have two displays connected. Your Mac would then connect to the AVP as the only display. I don’t have any documentation for that but I think it is a logical extrapolation from what we know about how AVP works with a Mac with one screen.

How to use Vision Pro as an external display for your Mac - 9to5Mac

One of the most popular features for Vision Pro is the ability for it to serve as an external display...

9to5mac.com

Appreciate it! Yeah I figure the same as that user. It would just be great to get confirmation. I also take it there’s no setting to keep the built-in Mac display on.

If it’s not possible to keep an external display on now, I really hope Apple changes this in the future. But the only use case I can think of is needing to use Mac drawing software, so it’s a niche. But not the tiniest niche since there are whole industries that use Mac drawing software, and I’m sure many people in them could make good use of AR.

I also hope Apple figures out a way to integrate native drawing in VP so as to not have to rely only on passthrough for drawing. This would probably require a virtual display mapped onto a physical surface and some kind of pen tip tracking with pressure sensitivity. Pinpoint accuracy is the name of the game though, which sounds like a challenge. Hopefully Apple can figure it out.

I think I’ll come back to ask this question again when more people are running 2.0, just in case there’s a change regarding this.

 

[HDFan]

Can you cast a virtual Mac display in VP while also using a physical display connected to the Mac?

Apart from the question of it being possible, looking at that 2nd display through the VP passthrough would not be a pleasant experience. For example you can use an iPhone but there is a lot of blurriness and some distortions.

I also hope Apple figures out a way to integrate native drawing in VP so as to not have to rely only on passthrough for drawing.

I'm sure it's on their roadmap.

 

[subjonas]

Apart from the question of it being possible, looking at that 2nd display through the VP passthrough would not be a pleasant experience. For example you can use an iPhone but there is a lot of blurriness and some distortions.



I'm sure it's on their roadmap.

Yeah I was wary after I heard about phones looking bad via passthrough, so I brought my iPad and Pencil to an in-store VP demo to see for myself, and it actually wasn’t bad. I didn’t notice any significant distortion or anything, maybe because an iPad is not held as close to the face as a phone. But of course that was only for a short demo. I was planning to do a two week trial until I realized this whole issue with physical Mac displays turning off when using the virtual Mac display. There would still be some value in using the VP while working, even without the virtual Mac display, but less value for sure, so I’m not sure that it’s enough ROI for me.

 

[Macaholic868]

Sorry to bump this, but I need to make a related purchase soon, and seems like it should be an easy answer for anyone who uses virtual Mac display, which I imagine is a lot of VP users.

So just to restate—can you keep a physical Mac display on while also using a virtual Mac display in VP? And has anyone tried specifically with an external monitor?

Since I’ve never seen it, whether built-in or external display, I’m thinking the answer is no you can’t keep it on, but I just haven’t been able to find anything saying it explicitly.
Thanks again

My use case is a bad one because I bought a display link USB-C dock to get around the 14” MacBook Pro with an M3 chip’s 1 external monitor limitation which I believe I read Apple announced they’d address via an update when the M3 MacBook Air shipped that didn’t have that limit but in that kind of setup when I connect to my MacBook using my AVP as a virtual display the other monitors connected to the dock go black. I’ve got a feeling that may be more of a limitation of a display link adapter And the software it uses to make it work though.

If anyone knows of Apple did address that limitation in the 14” MacBook Pro with the regular M3 chip that shipped I could try it out for you and let you know.

 

[subjonas]

It’s been awhile but coming back to this question because I happened to see the Apple support doc regarding virtual Mac display and read this part:

If your Mac has multiple displays connected to it, Mac Virtual Display shows only the one that you've set as the main display.

It doesn’t mention blacking out displays, but this made me wonder, if it only shows the main display in VP, then what happens to apps/windows that were open on the other displays? Do they get automatic moved to the main display? If they don’t, and if all physical monitors automatically go black, then you just lose access to those open apps/windows? That would be pretty dumb, so I really doubt that’s what Apple lets happen.

I was at an Apple Store and asked a worker about this, but of course they had no idea.

Does no one with a VP have a Mac with multiple displays? It would be very appreciated if anyone can lay this to rest!

Use your Mac with Apple Vision Pro - Apple Support

Learn how to use Apple Vision Pro as a private, portable 4K display for your Mac with Mac Virtual Display.

support.apple.com