Newbie question: screens for Mac Pro

[Bernardl]

Dear all,

I am a rather new Mac Pro users (had used an iMac before) as a photo editing workstation.

I currently use my 3 years old 21 inch TFT inherited from my previous win XP workstation, but am considering replacing it by a Dell 30 inch screen.

"Replace" is in fact not the right word, since I would in fact like to add the 30 inch to the 21 inch in a 2 screen set up.

I undertand that the 30 inch will be using the 2 DVI ports of my ATI graphic card.

My questions are:

1. What are my options to connect the existing 21 inch screen as well?

Is it enough to buy a Gforce 7300 card and to connect the screen to it?


2. Will OS 10.4.9 allow me to use both screens with different resolutions at the same time (30 inch is 2500 x 1600 while 21 inch is 1600 x 1200)?

3. Is it possible to color manage the 2 screens (they will require different profiles obviously). I currently use a color sensor from Coloreyes,

4. Is it possible to freely position the dock on a desktop with such strange proportions?

5. How does PS CS3 deal with these situations in terms of palette position on screen etc...

Thank you in advance,

Regards.
Bernard

 

[BigJimSlade]

It doesn't use 2 DVI ports. It uses the Dual-Link enabled port on your ATI (I'm assuming you have the X1900 here.) You will be able to connect your other monitor to the other DVI port with no problems.

I don't run my monitors if different reses, so I'll have to let others answer those questions.

 

[Bernardl]

It doesn't use 2 DVI ports. It uses the Dual-Link enabled port on your ATI (I'm assuming you have the X1900 here.) You will be able to connect your other monitor to the other DVI port with no problems.

I stand corrected, thanks for the reply.

Regards,
Bernard

 

[Kosh66]

1. I believe this has been answered. When it says dual-link DVI, that is actually one port that has better resolution capability - it uses more pins than single-link DVI. You still have the second DVI port(or dual-link DVI port if you have an ATI X1900XT) to use.

2 & 3. Yes. The displays control panel in system preferences will have options for each screen. You will also have to use the displays control panel to "arrange the screens", ie. tell the computer where the second screen is in relation to the first (primary) screen and to indicate whether you want to mirror the displays or have an extended desktop across the screens.

4. No. The dock is put on one screen (not sure if it's restricted to the primary screen), and the same positions that you have on your current screen are given to you.

5. You have to move windows manually to the second screen. Once they are moved there, I believe the application remembers the placement.