Driving two displays from a 13" MBP

[GustavoRamos]

Hello fellas,

I was firstly considering to buy a 15" non-retina MBP. I currently own a Dell Inspiron 15R (15.4" screen, 720p res) and I really like the display size. I do not play any games and use this machine only for work (Windows 7 plus one VM running linux for my IDE's all the time).

Now I think I'll look for something more... lets say portable. I think I'll do fine with the 13" screen and less pixels per inch, but when at home I'd like some more real estate.

I know the laptop comes with a Thunderbolt port where I can plug a HDMI or DVI adapter and play with an external monitor. What if I wanted 2 monitors ? And no, I don't want to use cinema displays because they cost around 2000 dollars where I live, sorry.

I think I could use the DP to one monitor and a USB adapter for the other... would the laptop struggle too much driving two displays at Full HD ? I'm planning to buy the top of line 13" and update RAM to 16GB and HDD to a Crucial M4 256GB.

What do you think about it? As I said, 50% will be normal use (web browsing, office suite, itunes, etc etc etc), and the other 50% would be programming (RoR, PHP) with some IDE windows opened, browser, DB explorer, etc.

Hmm, and about that, do we have any programmers with a 13" here? Does it fit your needs? I'm a bit worried about the screen size / resolution but as I said, I need something more portable...

Thanks!

 

[jtap]

I'm not 100% sure but I think the 13in MBP can drive two monitors when it is in clamshell mode or 1+internal display, at least thats how my 2011 was I think.

If you are just going to be doing light web browsing you could always purchase a USB to DVI adapter.

 

[cookiesnfooty]

Hello fellas,

I was firstly considering to buy a 15" non-retina MBP. I currently own a Dell Inspiron 15R (15.4" screen, 720p res) and I really like the display size. I do not play any games and use this machine only for work (Windows 7 plus one VM running linux for my IDE's all the time).

Now I think I'll look for something more... lets say portable. I think I'll do fine with the 13" screen and less pixels per inch, but when at home I'd like some more real estate.

I know the laptop comes with a Thunderbolt port where I can plug a HDMI or DVI adapter and play with an external monitor. What if I wanted 2 monitors ? And no, I don't want to use cinema displays because they cost around 2000 dollars where I live, sorry.

I think I could use the DP to one monitor and a USB adapter for the other... would the laptop struggle too much driving two displays at Full HD ? I'm planning to buy the top of line 13" and update RAM to 16GB and HDD to a Crucial M4 256GB.

What do you think about it? As I said, 50% will be normal use (web browsing, office suite, itunes, etc etc etc), and the other 50% would be programming (RoR, PHP) with some IDE windows opened, browser, DB explorer, etc.

Hmm, and about that, do we have any programmers with a 13" here? Does it fit your needs? I'm a bit worried about the screen size / resolution but as I said, I need something more portable...

Thanks!

The 13" drives two displays just fine I use one via HDMI and another via thunderbolt yeah I have a hub to facilitate this but the power is fine and mine is a 2011 model with 16Gb ram and 512GB crucial M4

 

[GustavoRamos]

The 13" drives two displays just fine I use one via HDMI and another via thunderbolt yeah I have a hub to facilitate this but the power is fine and mine is a 2011 model with 16Gb ram and 512GB crucial M4

What kind of hub is that?

So, you use one Thunderbolt/DP -> HDMI adaptor and one USB -> HDMI ?

What is the resolution and performance on the USB powered one? Can it be used for normal work (everything except gaming, movies, etc?)

Thanks!