Help me hook this mess up!

[Michael73]

If you look at my sig I've got a 2008 MP that I use with a 30" ACD. Now, I've got a 2011 MBP. My new MBP is actually faster (especially with the new hybrid drive) for most of my computing needs except when I do heavy encoding and some projects in PS CS5.

What I'd like to do is dock my MBP with my 30" ACD but at the same time, keep my MP hooked up as well so I can easily switch over when need be or when my laptop isn't docked. Is a display switch box all I need? If so, any recommendations on which one? Any other cables and dongles I need?

Also, when my laptop is docked, I'd like to take advantage of my BT keyboard and trackpad and when I undock, for those devices to revert to the MP. Is there an easy way to do this without pairing and unpairing every time?

Does anyone else have a similar setup? How have you hooked everything up?

 

[r0k]

If you look at my sig I've got a 2008 MP that I use with a 30" ACD. Now, I've got a 2011 MBP. My new MBP is actually faster (especially with the new hybrid drive) for most of my computing needs except when I do heavy encoding and some projects in PS CS5.

What I'd like to do is dock my MBP with my 30" ACD but at the same time, keep my MP hooked up as well so I can easily switch over when need be or when my laptop isn't docked. Is a display switch box all I need? If so, any recommendations on which one? Any other cables and dongles I need?

Also, when my laptop is docked, I'd like to take advantage of my BT keyboard and trackpad and when I undock, for those devices to revert to the MP. Is there an easy way to do this without pairing and unpairing every time?

Does anyone else have a similar setup? How have you hooked everything up?

I used to deal with this back when I had multiple PC's. I had a "kvm switch" so the display, keyboard and mouse could be switched from machine to machine. There was a bug on the PC side that if the PS/2 mouse wasn't hooked up at boot time, the PC couldn't see it unless you rebooted. The better KVM switches used to "fake out" the mouse so it would look like it was there any time the PC rebooted.

I assume the ACD uses a DVI input so you would need a DVI KVM switch. And since you're using laptops you might be able to simply ignore the keyboard/mouse part of the switch (unless the only way to switch monitors is via the keyboard going through the KVM switch ).

 

[MetRob24]

As for the keyboard and mouse configuration you want to do you can use this free app Teleport for Mac's.
Also, check out this tutorial to help you how to do the setup, but like Michael73 said, you'll need the kvm switch setup.

Found https://forums.macrumors.com/archive/index.php/t-720807.html"]this[/URL] in the forum, the thread mention you can connect your MBP to your MP via Ethernet cable.

Hope this helps.

 

[Darth.Titan]

Bear in mind that since you're using a 30" Cinema Display you'll need a Dual-link capable KVM switch, and those aren't cheap.

 

[MattSepeta]

I use a KVM switch all the time on the windows machines in my office, but have never used it on a mac. I'm sure you can find an affordable one and an adapter or two to make it work.