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A second monitor, yes or no?


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Hi Everyone

I'm thinking of adding a second monitor to my set up but I'm wondering if it will do more harm than good. I seem to be making more site models these days and pushing my graphics card to its limits.  I currently have one ASUS PA248Q 24" LED-Lit IPS (1920x1200) and I'm thinking of adding another. Remarkably I can still purchase this and really like how soft this monitor is on my eyes. My video card is the biggest that I can get for an older MacPro,  a Sapphire HD 7950 3gb. Any thoughts are welcome...thanks

ps main reason for the second monitor is to reference images or other site information.

 

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B0084FNAB4/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_5?smid=A3DWYIK6Y9EEQB&psc=1

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I would be careful with 2x 4k Monitors.

But beside that I read of many VW problems here that seem to

affect people with Dual Monitor Configurations only,

I think there shouldn't be special problems at such moderate resolutions.

That is what people did at that hardware's time always anyway.

 

I had 2x 1600x1200 (?) 20" (?) Monitors in the very past and found

that distracting.

I also still use either an old single 30" Cinema Display with only 2560x1600

or my Wacom 27" Tablet with similar coarse resolution and it is not

very hindering.

 

But if I would upgrade from such low resolution I would prefer a single

modern Monitor anyway.

 

Edited by zoomer
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At one point in the near future you may want to replace your old cMac Pro

with a new mMac Pro* (* If that ever happens and in a satisfiying way)

I think than it will be nice to not stick with one or two old Monitors.

 

I've seen that your Sapphire HD 7950 3GB should provide a max. 4960x2160

resolution, which should be able to support a 4k Monitor.

But you better double check for your special GPU Model.

 

 

Edited by zoomer
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@zoomer I'm waiting as long as possible to upgrade my MacPro. 

I might have to go the 'Trash can' route like you have as I'm not happy with the Imac Pro..at least what I know of it.

I do know that I prefer a softer matte finish on a screen vs glossy.

Here's plan b, in a perfect world I'm not upgrading until I see the new versions but I doubt I have that much time.

https://www.apple.com/ca/shop/product/FQGG2LL/A/refurbished-mac-pro-30ghz-8-core-intel-xeon-e5

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A lot less than I had to pay for at that time.

But I would wait as long as I could.

(In fact I do with my nMac Pro which I already have 3.7 years now)

 

I just hope to either Apple present a non-soldered, non-glued Mac Mini

with PCI Slots (very unlikely, I know) at an October event,

(there should be something, at least for the iPads, pre Christmas)

to overcome the time.

Or best get some Info about a Mac Pro (also unlikely)

 

But honestly, I already decided to build a Threadripper PC anyway.

Don't know really why I still wait.

Maybe for AMD's 7nm GPU's or healthy RAM prices ...

or until I finally found my Linux Desktop and Distribution of choice for life.

 

So there is a small hope that a possible useful Mac Mini announcement

would give back some trust that Apple really cares about Pro users

and Desktops and the new Mac Pro may not be crap,

and I would wait another bit longer.

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13 minutes ago, Tom Klaber said:

Nothing wrong with a second smaller monitor.  Our typical set up is 1 large 4K for VW and one smaller 1080 for other (email/internet).  

Interesting @Tom Klaber I had thought that type of set up might work. My constraint is my 3gb video card, but I like the sounds of that. Not sure why I'm resisting one large monitor. Thanks very much for your input.

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If he buys a 4k Monitor and that works,

he can of course also test to additionally plug in the old Monitor.

If that works - fine.

If it doesn't - he uses the new 4k Monitor only but plugs in the old one

in again - when he has a better Machine in the future.

 

So nothing to lose (?)

Edited by zoomer
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22 hours ago, jgmrussell said:

After some more research, I'm starting to lean towards one larger monitor vs two smaller ones. I don't think I have the budget for the monitor that @jgmrussell has but this might be a good alternative.
https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B01IOO4TIM/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A3DWYIK6Y9EEQB&psc=1

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  • Vectorworks, Inc Employee
1 hour ago, J. Wallace said:

After some more research, I'm starting to lean towards one larger monitor vs two smaller ones


This may be a wise choice for Vectorworks specifically, as there are still quite a few outstanding issues where we don't play well with multiple displays. This is more of a problem when you regularly switch between one and two like you do when docking a laptop, but it can still mess with things a bit. 

I have an ultrawide monitor at home and LOVE it. However, that monitor is 4K, which your Mac Pros 3GB of VRAM may struggle with. It MIGHT work just fine, and would certainly be fine with whatever desktop you moved to next, but its worth noting.

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I was so happy with my two 2K-screens i even bought a third one. Like this you can have one with all the palettes always open, one thats just for drawing and the third one for a multiview pane or other software like mail etc. Your gpu still has a lot less to do than with just one 4K screen and you have a lot more space to organise yourself. At least with windows and the screens always connected i never had any of the issues @Jim Wilson mentioned. May be a mac only thing. Here is an example how a two or three screen layout may look like:

grafik.thumb.png.6b08745954d3615d04fedea6c4580fb4.png

Especially in this situation when you don't know yet what hardware is coming up, another cheaper screen may be the better option than an expensive huge UHD monitor, which your current hardware may not handle.

  • Like 4
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I run dual 27" 2K screens on my Mac.   I Tried a 4K monitor and I found everything too small,  (I even used 55" 4K TV for a minute,  that was comical)    Most of the time I'm operating VW on one screen and have all of my reference material on the on the other.    In 2018 I would say there definitely was an overall performance/stability hit when the second display was plugged in,  but VW was the only app I experienced this with.    So far,  2019 seems to behave better with this configuration than 2018 ever did. 

Edited by Wesley Burrows
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6 hours ago, herbieherb said:

Especially in this situation when you don't know yet what hardware is coming up, another cheaper screen may be the better option than an expensive huge UHD monitor, which your current hardware may not handle.

 

Yes, that is worth considering, I fear I may be forced to move in the iMac Pro direction if the new MacPro doesn't appeal or is too costly. I'm doing everything I can to stay with the mac operating system having left windows 15 years ago. So yes thanks @herbieherb for those words of wisdom.

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6 hours ago, Wesley Burrows said:

I run dual 27" 2K screens on my Mac.   I Tried a 4K monitor and I found everything too small,  (I even used 55" 4K TV for a minute,  that was comical)    Most of the time I'm operating VW on one screen and have all of my reference material on the on the other.    In 2018 I would say there definitely was an overall performance/stability hit when the second display was plugged in,  but VW was the only app I experienced this with.    So far,  2019 seems to behave better with this configuration than 2018 ever did. 

Thanks for the feedback @Wesley Burrows , I see your point regarding the high resolution and ones ability to see things easily (in terms of size). I'm feeling like I'm leaning back to getting a second 2K monitor for many reasons. 

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We left Mac five years ago. Back then, it became more and more apparent that the Mac Pro waste bins were a design impasse. There was no alternative back then. Our beloved PPC were no longer compatible with the current Vectorworks because Apple stopped supporting them. So we switched to Windows 8. We were amazed how easy it was. Windows and MacOS used to be worlds apart. Since Windows 10, however, the user hardly notices any difference. The standard applications are a bit more sophisticated on the Mac, but I have much more choice on Windows. Both are equally stable and easy to handle. There is definitely no more hell of operating system on the other side as convinced users may attribute. If you can't wait for a successor to MacPro, I'd give windows a look as well.

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