iMac - 3rd Monitor

Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
Does anyone have any experience with the USB video card solution available for mac? I have seen several of them but have read much of people actually using them.



I have an iMac in my office with a 22" monitor connected to it. I have another 22" monitor I can connect and would love the extra screen space. I know the best solution would a mac pro but the iMac is fairly new and does fine. I run Windows in a VM on the second monitor and there is no noticeable speed issue with anything I do (CS3 apps take longer to open on it than my MBP but once open they work perfectly).

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 2
    MarvinMarvin Posts: 15,309moderator
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by jpennington View Post


    Does anyone have any experience with the USB video card solution available for mac? I have seen several of them but have read much of people actually using them.



    I've used one and it's pretty bad.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by jpennington View Post


    I have an iMac in my office with a 22" monitor connected to it. I have another 22" monitor I can connect and would love the extra screen space. I know the best solution would a mac pro but the iMac is fairly new and does fine. I run Windows in a VM on the second monitor and there is no noticeable speed issue with anything I do (CS3 apps take longer to open on it than my MBP but once open they work perfectly).



    The USB devices won't drive a 22" display properly. You are pretty much limited to 1280x1024. The lag on them is terrible. It's fine if you just want to have an email program sitting and updating as emails come in but you can't really do any work with one.



    The display also doesn't wake properly sometimes and needs to be unplugged and plugged in.



    Overall, definitely not worth the price.



    The other solution is to make your external displays into one big display:



    http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/products/gxm/dh2go/



    The digital version supports higher resolutions - you have to set your output to a high widescreen resolution and it splits it onto each display. This is annoying for expanding an internal display like the Mini as it splits the dock and menu down the middle but it could probably work out ok for external displays.



    The trouble is price again. It costs the same as a 22" display.



    I would suggest if you need more space, maybe sell both 22" displays and buy a 1920x1200 display. It's 35% less space than two 1680 x 1050s but less hassle.
  • Reply 2 of 2
    sequitursequitur Posts: 1,910member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Marvin;1337513

    The other solution is to make your external displays into one big display:



    [url



    http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/products/gxm/dh2go/[/url]



    The digital version supports higher resolutions - you have to set your output to a high widescreen resolution and it splits it onto each display. This is annoying for expanding an internal display like the Mini as it splits the dock and menu down the middle but it could probably work out ok for external displays.



    The trouble is price again. It costs the same as a 22" display. .



    {$244.99}

    http://www.cdw.com/shop/products/def...px?EDC=1215048
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