Using 2 external monitors with a MB Pro

I have a MB Pro 15" (which i love) with a Samsung 204B 20" monitor hooked up to the DVI slot on the right of the computer. If I wanted to add a second montior, how could I do this? Is it possible? Thanks.

 

This wouldn't be possible, since you would need another video out (or another video card) to drive a second monitor.

The one possible way to do this would be with an ExpressCard-based video card, but at least as of now, there aren't any ExpressCard video card solutions yet. There were PC Card-based video cards though (this was how you would drive multiple external monitors with a PowerBook).

I would venture to say that eventually there will be an ExpressCard solution eventually, and once that happens you'd be able to use that.

 

yeah.. I remember the days of Matrox.. their video cards had 3/4 monitor support. until they went under

 

If I would just be using Windows via bootcamp would that change anytthing?

 

No, this is a hardware issue. I mean, if you only have one DVI out, you only have one output to output video too. The only solution to this kind of issue is to use a third party PC Card or ExpressCard that provides additional video out. As of right now, there are only PC Card solutions to do this, and since the MBP only has an ExpressCard slot, there isn't much you can do. You would need to wait until ExpressCard video out solutions come out.

Just to ask, what kind of stuff are you doing with your laptop that you need more than 2 monitors (i.e. more than the MBP's screen itself and the external monitor you have hooked up to it)?

 

Hrm.

Actually Zadillo you're wrong. She can do it

From Apples site.

Plus if you look under Apple Cinema HD, it also states that MBPs support 2.

For more technical specs please go to
http://www.apple.com/macbookpro/specs.html

 

Ok, my book has one DVI connection, where woudl the 2nd monitor go?

 

Apparently it seems that the Dual-link is an interesting case, it can't be splitted into two cables like I assumed it could, and the case was unique only to that one video card.

However I searched a little for something to do it and found this http://sewelldirect.com/gefen-dvi-dl-splitter.asp

Its expensive though.

Zadillo was right after all, xD

 

I'm pretty sure it does, it's a 15" MB pro with the 2.16 ghz dual core processor, ATI mobility radeon 1600 card. I bought it in mid june. According to the specification page it should have "dual DVI link" support, but there is only one physical port on the side of the computer. The computer photo diagrams on that page match mine, one DVI opening on the right side.

Does that specification mean that the book is capable of running one of Apple's large (the 30" one for example) cinema displays? I know they usually require 2 DVI cables, maybe it supports that. But that might be different than 2 seperate 20" monitors.

 

Yeah the Dual DVI link is designed for running something of extreme resolution such as the 30" apple cinema HD monitor, theres like extra pins and whatnot in the actual cable to support it, its said to be designed so you dont need to have two ports to use the 30" display.

 

So dual DVI doesn't necessarily mean that you can connect two monitors? Im confused.

 

No it doesn't.

They really SHOULD have not named it Dual-DVI, because I can easily see the misconception.

Basically Dual-DVI really means that its kinda like two dvi cords/ports built into one in layman terms, which gives it a higher bandwidth support thus also giving it the ability to transfer more data at a period of time, which helps super high resolution monitors such as the 30" Apple Cinema HD display. Using this, they eliminate the need for having two DVI ports to run their 30" Apple Cinema HD display.

 

is there any estimate on when the first expresscard video card will come out?

i did some googling and found that Duel were trying to be an expresscard PCMCIA adapter, when would that come out?

 

You could use a matrox device called dualhead2go. This allows you to put 2 displays on to one VGA output (so you'll need a dvi to VGA adapter for it to work)

More details here: http://tomshardware.co.uk/2006/03/29/matrox_dualhead2go_uk/index.html

Thats if it works with apple os

 

If you are willing to use the laptop as one of the monitors, you can hook an external monitor and have an extended desktop. Other than that I believe you are out of luck.

 

someone suggested to me that I should check out USB video cards... If I am running windows with boot camp, would that be a way to add a 2nd monitor? So I'd have one out of the SVI slot on the right and another out of the USB card. thanks.

 

Yes, dual link and dual dvi are not the same, dual link actually has to do with the number of pins at the end of your dvi plug. you can only use it to connect to one external monitor.

 

any reason why this wouldnt work?

 

bump.... would a USB vid card work under bootcamp?

 

USB would probably be a bad idea, it's pretty slow even the USB 2.0 version.

Theorically USB 2.0 is faster than Firewire 400 but in real world performance its slower. Video needs a high speed bus because of the large amount of information it transfers, thats why video cards have their own special ports in the computer system such as AGP or PCI Express. You'd be better off waiting for a Exress Card version to come out.