Macbook Pro - Can it push dual 30" cinema displays?

[rehouston]

Group --

I'd appreciate your insight. I've fallen into a bunch of hardware and have two 30" cinema displays and one 27" LCD display.

I want to hook up dual 30" cinema displays to my Mac Book Pro.

I have the NVIDIA GeForce 9400M video card.

I've heard about a product called Matrox DualHead2Go - but also heard it doesn't work that great.

Any thoughts on how to do this? Is that Matrox product the only thing on the market that can set this configuration up? Does Apple have anything that will allow this?

Your feedback is greatly appreciated.

 

[Hellhammer]

This can't be done unless you are satisfied with sub-2560x1600 resolution, which will looks horrible. These adapters don't usually provide more than 1920x1200.

 

[sammich]

The Matrox will work for low resolutions screens, but due to the bandwidth limitation imposed by a single Displayport connection, you can't drive two massive screens at full speed/resolution.

If you read off the DualHead2Go specs:

Supports a maximum resolution of 3840x1200 (2x 1920x1200)1; displays attached to DualHead2Go must run at the same resolution

A single 30" ACD is already 2560x1600, which has almost the same pixel count as two 1080p screens (very close). You'll need the daisy chaining that Thunderbolt on the new MBPs (and soon other machines) can provide (of course you'll need at least one Thunderbolt enabled Display).

 

[rehouston]

It appears I'm running that resolution now --

Specs say it can push: 3840x1200 (2x 1920x1200)

Unless I'm doing something wrong -- I have the macbook pro connected to a LCD display -- and it says it's running 1920 and that appears to be the highest. Unless it's drawing that reading from my laptop screen?

 

[Hellhammer]

It appears I'm running that resolution now --

Specs say it can push: 3840x1200 (2x 1920x1200)

Unless I'm doing something wrong -- I have the macbook pro connected to a LCD display -- and it says it's running 1920 and that appears to be the highest. Unless it's drawing that reading from my laptop screen?

What display is it connected to now? Like said above, 30" ACD has maximum resolution of 2560x1600. If you are running it at 1920x1200, then you have a wrong adapter.

 

[striatedglutes]

Right, so 2x 30" resolution would be 5120x1600, which the Matrox simply cannot do.

 

[rehouston]

You'll need the daisy chaining that Thunderbolt on the new MBPs (and soon other machines) can provide (of course you'll need at least one Thunderbolt enabled Display).

Certainly my goal isn't to run out and buy more stuff (well - then again - I can probably be convinced to do so) however, was just wondering if there was a way to make this work with what I have.

I'm sitting in my office looking at 5000 worth of monitors on the floor. Just like to figure this out.

 

[rehouston]

What display is it connected to now? Like said above, 30" ACD has maximum resolution of 2560x1600. If you are running it at 1920x1200, then you have a wrong adapter.

I basically have a newer Apple LED display hooked up directly to my MBP - and it's saying 1920. See below

NVIDIA GeForce 9400M:

Chipset Model: NVIDIA GeForce 9400M
Type: GPU
Bus: PCI
VRAM (Total): 256 MB
Vendor: NVIDIA (0x10de)
Device ID: 0x0863
Revision ID: 0x00b1
ROM Revision: 3436
gMux Version: 1.7.10
Displays:
Color LCD:
Resolution: 1920 x 1200
Pixel Depth: 32-Bit Color (ARGB8888)
Mirror: Off
Online: Yes
Built-In: Yes
LED Cinema Display:
Resolution: 1920 x 1200
Pixel Depth: 32-Bit Color (ARGB8888)
Main Display: Yes
Mirror: Off
Online: Yes
Rotation: Supported
Connection Type: DisplayPort

 

[striatedglutes]

Is 1920x1080 the highest offered resolution in the settings?

 

[Hansr]

And you can't choose 2560 by 1440 in Sys prefs -> Displays?

 

[alust2013]

I'm guessing you have the 24" connected, as its native res is 1920x1200. You would be able to choose 2560x1440 if it were the new 27"

 

[rehouston]

I'm guessing you have the 24" connected, as its native res is 1920x1200. You would be able to choose 2560x1440 if it were the new 27"

You are absolutely right -- looked in the storage room and the 27 was in the box and the 24 box was empty. So I'm running that.

So I guess the question remains -- can you run the dual 30" configuration at 1920X1200 with that Matrox product?

And the consensus is -- probably but it's not ideal and it's not that clear?

 

[kolax]

So I guess the question remains -- can you run the dual 30" configuration at 1920X1200 with that Matrox product?

You want to run LCD displays are their native (i.e. highest) resolution. Anything lower and they'll look fuzzy/crap.

 

[alust2013]

You are absolutely right -- looked in the storage room and the 27 was in the box and the 24 box was empty. So I'm running that.

So I guess the question remains -- can you run the dual 30" configuration at 1920X1200 with that Matrox product?

And the consensus is -- probably but it's not ideal and it's not that clear?

You probably could, but it would look bad, so definitely not ideal.

 

[striatedglutes]

And the consensus is -- probably but it's not ideal and it's not that clear?

You want to run LCD displays are their native (i.e. highest) resolution. Anything lower and they'll look fuzzy/crap.

You probably could, but it would look bad, so definitely not ideal.

Go ahead and set your 24" to something below 1920x1080 and you will see what we mean. Hell, set both displays to something other than maximum and barf at how putrid it looks!