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saz25

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 23, 2010
15
0
Hi,
I am considering an iMac after being a Windows user for 20+ years. I have this 2 year old Samsung 27" HDMI 1920 x 1080 monitor. I'm planning to use it (since I have it) as a 2nd monitor.

I have 2 questions:

1) Can I use both these monitors even though the resolutions are different? Native (built-in) 27" iMac is 2560x1440 and my other one is 1920 x 1080. I won't use it in mirrored mode. It would be for additional real estate.

2) Assuming it can handle the 2 monitors as above, do I need to consider the non-standard graphics option which is: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780M 4GB GDDR5
The base graphics is: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 775M 2GB GDDR5

I won't be doing gaming. Perhaps video editing and primarily Word processing, office-type apps, etc.

Thanks in advance,
Steve
 
You should have no issues running them at different resolutions, I do it all the time. The base GPU is more than plenty but it never hurts to buy as much computer as possible!
 
...
2) Assuming it can handle the 2 monitors as above, do I need to consider the non-standard graphics option which is: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780M 4GB GDDR5
The base graphics is: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 775M 2GB GDDR5

I won't be doing gaming. Perhaps video editing and primarily Word processing, office-type apps, etc.

Thanks in advance,
Steve
780M would only be useful for Gaming and Heavy Video editing (depending on applucation), so it sounds like the 775M is what you want and it will handle the extra display just fine.
 
Hi,
I am considering an iMac after being a Windows user for 20+ years. I have this 2 year old Samsung 27" HDMI 1920 x 1080 monitor. I'm planning to use it (since I have it) as a 2nd monitor.

I have 2 questions:

1) Can I use both these monitors even though the resolutions are different? Native (built-in) 27" iMac is 2560x1440 and my other one is 1920 x 1080. I won't use it in mirrored mode. It would be for additional real estate.

2) Assuming it can handle the 2 monitors as above, do I need to consider the non-standard graphics option which is: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780M 4GB GDDR5
The base graphics is: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 775M 2GB GDDR5

I won't be doing gaming. Perhaps video editing and primarily Word processing, office-type apps, etc.

Thanks in advance,
Steve

I use two additional monitors, all with different resolutions, with my 2011 iMac and it works flawlessly. You can choose which resolution you want each monitor to run in, and the Samsung displays usually allow you to underscan or overscan to get the image fitted properly.
 
Just get the proper connecting cable and plug the thing in.

I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.
 
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