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Using 2 displays comfortably?

Lucas Curious

Lucas Curious

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
I have the 2022 ASD and just got the XDR. put them side by side. Cant really tell the image difference in normal use. I have them slightly angled to face me. How do you use them with comfort? I feel my neck is slightly twisted aways. I also have the 14" MBP Max under them scree open. Is this setup practical or is best setup just one ASD and MacBook under it? Using the displays standing straight is not practical.
 
IMHO the correct way is to have primary screen that sits directly in front of you. The other screen sits off to the side. The only reasonable way to have a symmetrical multi-screen setup is with 3 screens.

Of course, do you really need that? It's up to you! You can always sell your old screen. They go for really good money on ebay or facebook marketplace.
 
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JoeG4 said:
IMHO the correct way is to have primary screen that sits directly in front of you. The other screen sits off to the side. The only reasonable way to have a symmetrical multi-screen setup is with 3 screens.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I tend to work on a primary screen and use a second auxiliary screen— so one is my main focus, the other is where I move reference material or utility stuff. If my focus shifts to the second screen, I tend to move my chair so it’s more central. I don’t have a laptop connected, but if I did I’d probably just keep my email or calendar open on if but pull the draft window over to where I’m working to reply.
 
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I think one primary screen dead centre with one to the side is the most natural way to have them setup.

But, if your chair swivels, you can have the two of them side by side, slightly angled in and use either without feeling like you're moving your neck and head.

I've been trying different setups for years and settled on this one in the end.

This whole issue is why I love the idea of an ultra wide, but every single one I've tried falls down when compared to ASDs which is why I end up coming back to multiple ones of these.
 
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ascender said:
This whole issue is why I love the idea of an ultra wide, but every single one I've tried falls down when compared to ASDs which is why I end up coming back to multiple ones of these.
Click to expand...
The IPS ultrawides are fine for color quality and excellent for refresh rate and inputs, just not nearly as high in pixel density!

The VA ultrawides (samsung odyssey 57" and the not-OLED 49") are an amazing form factor, but atrocious image quality.

LG does make a 49" ultrawide. It is IPS and should have nice picture quality, but still lower pixel density
 
ascender said:
I think one primary screen dead centre with one to the side is the most natural way to have them setup.

But, if your chair swivels, you can have the two of them side by side, slightly angled in and use either without feeling like you're moving your neck and head.

I've been trying different setups for years and settled on this one in the end.

This whole issue is why I love the idea of an ultra wide, but every single one I've tried falls down when compared to ASDs which is why I end up coming back to multiple ones of these.
Click to expand...

This is how I do it with 2 or 3 monitors.

I center two monitors and just slightly swivel my chair. And I select the center monitor as the main one when running 3 monitors.

I will have both monitors slightly angled when running two. I have the center monitor straight on with the two others slightly angled when running three.
 
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I use 3 displays. Main one is front & center in landscape orientation. One on each side in portrait orientation.

Two in landscape gets kind of uncomfortably wide with the bezel down the center, IMHO. The solution is to put one in the center and one off to the side, angled inward.
 
JoeG4 said:
The VA ultrawides (samsung odyssey 57" and the not-OLED 49") are an amazing form factor, but atrocious image quality.
Click to expand...
I think the colours are quite nice. But I am not a professional artist so I wouldn't know. What's wrong with the image quality? With hiDPI resolution my 49 VA is quite pleasant to work on
 
keksikuningas said:
I think the colours are quite nice. But I am not a professional artist so I wouldn't know. What's wrong with the image quality? With hiDPI resolution my 49 VA is quite pleasant to work on
Click to expand...
Maybe the 49" has a better panel than the 57"? The primary thing that drives me up a wall is how the color shifts when I move around. It's REALLY noticeable. Like a red widget will go from vibrant to pale if I move my head a few inches.

On a good IPS screen there won't be any noticeable color shift.

Hah I just noticed my 32" 6k has some color shift on white >>
 
Before I went ultrawide, one main screen directly in front of you with the other monitor off the right, but put a good angle it so it wraps around you more.
 
JoeG4 said:
The IPS ultrawides are fine for color quality and excellent for refresh rate and inputs, just not nearly as high in pixel density!

The VA ultrawides (samsung odyssey 57" and the not-OLED 49") are an amazing form factor, but atrocious image quality.

LG does make a 49" ultrawide. It is IPS and should have nice picture quality, but still lower pixel density
Click to expand...
The 49" Samsung wasn't great but the 57" is actually a really decent monitor. As a non retina monitor, it has 140ppi which is higher than a whole lot of other decent monitors and the biggy for me is 2160px high.
I have been through tons of monitors, returning many!! 🙂 but the Samsung 57" has been the best by some margin - as a non gamer.
 
Matt2012 said:
Before I went ultrawide, one main screen directly in front of you with the other monitor off the right, but put a good angle it so it wraps around you more.
Click to expand...
Good Lord, I thought the idea was to be comfortable. "Wrapping" the screen around you more means more head turning... the opposite of what most people want.
 
xraydoc said:
I use 3 displays. Main one is front & center in landscape orientation. One on each side in portrait orientation.

Two in landscape gets kind of uncomfortably wide with the bezel down the center, IMHO. The solution is to put one in the center and one off to the side, angled inward.
Click to expand...
I've used the same layouts you mention – though the "portrait" orientation only for special use cases (I don't like looking up to see the screen(s), so most of the time it's 3 landscapes next to each other. I'm able to have them far enough back to make the two side displays only have a slight angle.

I suppose a LOT of this depends on the quality of our vision.
 
MacGizmo said:
Good Lord, I thought the idea was to be comfortable. "Wrapping" the screen around you more means more head turning... the opposite of what most people want.
Click to expand...
It works for me as just a slight turn of the head means my eyes are pretty the same distance away from the screen wherever I look at it.
 
JoeG4 said:
Maybe the 49" has a better panel than the 57"? The primary thing that drives me up a wall is how the color shifts when I move around. It's REALLY noticeable. Like a red widget will go from vibrant to pale if I move my head a few inches.
Click to expand...
Doesn't happen for me on the 57". I find it basically rather oversaturated and dark compared to the MacBook Pro screen that sits next to it. I have to run it through two HDMI cables as my M1 Max does not support 8K. No adjustments other than brightness out of the box. If I am adjusting photos to taste, the MacBook Pro screen is the one to use.

But, for productivity, the 57" has no equal, even for Zoom meetings.
I doubt it will be continued/upgraded/replaced by Samsung.
Would be nice if Samsung came out with an OLED version, but probably unlikely, not holding my breath.
 
chars1ub0w said:
Doesn't happen for me on the 57". I find it basically rather oversaturated and dark compared to the MacBook Pro screen that sits next to it. I have to run it through two HDMI cables as my M1 Max does not support 8K. No adjustments other than brightness out of the box. If I am adjusting photos to taste, the MacBook Pro screen is the one to use.

But, for productivity, the 57" has no equal, even for Zoom meetings.
I doubt it will be continued/upgraded/replaced by Samsung.
Would be nice if Samsung came out with an OLED version, but probably unlikely, not holding my breath.
Click to expand...
I only use mine on PC but I agree about the saturation and have to knock the colour back. It is the king of productivity monitors for users who have many open programs. Certainly not perfect but there is no perfect monitor.
 
JoeG4 said:
The primary thing that drives me up a wall is how the color shifts when I move around. It's REALLY noticeable. Like a red widget will go from vibrant to pale if I move my head a few inches.
Click to expand...
I don't see this color shift. See 8 sec clip.
 
Matt2012 said:
I only use mine on PC but I agree about the saturation and have to knock the colour back. It is the king of productivity monitors for users who have many open programs. Certainly not perfect but there is no perfect monitor.
Click to expand...
Even in a Zoom session, I'm typically sharing three windows, example here is a browser, a Terminal and an editor window. There is back-and-forth activity in all three. Then there is the video Zoom window as well.
Normally, these 4 windows are spread more widely over the ultrawide width. (Here, it's limited to one half of the display because I needed to take a screenshot.)
Then to the right, out of view, I have the Zoom chat open. Plus other windows open with my (private) notes, e.g. in Word, and other browse windows with reference material. It's like a big desk.

If someone was having this Zoom conversation with me on my MacBook Pro screen, it would be very slow and hard indeed. With the big screen, it goes way quicker - productivity means it's hard to go back to a small screen! When I travel, I prefer to add an extra screen too. I have a dead 15" usb-c monitor. Need to buy another one.

small.jpg
 
I've tried pretty much every ultra wide which is advertised as having a 5K resolution (with differing ppi etc) and not one can match the Studio Displays for me in terms of the resolution & brightness.
 
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