First external display, need help workspace efficiency

[ThomasW91]

Hey there everyone, had a hard time coming up with a title for this thread but I have just purchased a Dell 2408wfp display to go with my Macbook Pro. I'm pretty new to running displays with laptops and this is my first laptop as well. I've got the stuff down about moving the virtual positioning of the display, but what I am struggling with is full screen stuff. When using Aperture moved over to the display, pressing F for fullscreen opens the full screen image back over on my Macbook Pro, which doesn't make sense because the application is on the external display.

Another thing, is it possible to use Front Row on an external display without using the mirror mode? I use both my Macbook Pro screen and external display but I would like to be able to watch movies and such on the external.

I'm sure there are some little tricks I am missing out on but I'm loving it for the most part. I downloaded a color profile for my Macbook Pro from someone on here about a month ago, and today found a profile for the 2408wfp but it does not let me pull it up under the display preferences even after copying it to the folder of various profiles.

Basically I'm just having issues with programs and full screen modes + front row, and loading color profiles for the new display. Thanks a lot!

 

[Baggy Spandex]

This one setting should save you a lot of headaches. Go I to System Prefs>Displays. Now, since you have the monitor hooked up there will be a new tab called "arrangement". Click on that, and you'll see two blue boxes, one representing each display. The MBP display will obviously be the smaller of the two. Onthe top of the MBP displaywill be a white bar. Drag the white bar over to the top of the blue square that represents the Dell display. What this does is sets the external display as the primary display. Your dock, toolbar etc will all be on the Dell when it's hooked up and the MBP screen will become the secondary. Now, the MBP screen can be used as you're currently using the Dell (dragging windows / programs onto it and so on). When you disconnect the Dell display, the MBP will detect it and reset the Computers display to primary and when you reconnect it, the Dell should automatically become the primary. Now with the Dell as your número uno monitor, the MBP screen will only contain things you drag onto it, acting as an extended desktop.

When you open the display preferences, you will get a box on each display. Only the primary display will have the arrangement tab. Both will have the color tab, in which you can choose which profile you want to use for each display. On that note, here's something I noticed. You'll see a checkbox for "only show profiles for this display". I've found that when setting a custom generated profile for my NEC display, that box sometimes needs to be unchecked for me to be able to use the profile I made and saved. YMMV.

Hope that helps.

 

[rkdiddy]

Well done Baggy - that is exactly the advice I would have given.

As far as Front Row - on my setup Front Row will turn the secondary monitor black (nothing showing) and the other monitor will have the program running.

 

[bonswizzle]

Great advice there, thanks for helping me out too. Configuring a first external display can seem a little daunting. Cheers!