Macbook -2 monitors, lid closed display question

Dvader

Dvader

Well-known member
I've never owned a mac or even a laptop for that matter but I am seriously interested in the new Macbook Pro. It has the ability to use 'lid closed' mode to connect 2 external displays. However, the macbook pro only has one external DVI port, so how do you connect 2 monitors at once?
 
One monitor uses the DVI port and the other uses the composite out port. Not too great for two computer monitors, but I have FCP set up to read the composite as a TV for preview and it works like a charm!

Bryon <><
 
thanks that totally makes sense, however, I cant seem to find the composite out when I look on the apple site.

I've been looking at the macbook pro gallery

http://www.apple.com/macbookpro/gallery/

I also cant seem to find anything on the specs page

http://www.apple.com/macbookpro/specs.html

Here's a quote from the main page

"When you connect an Apple Cinema Display to MacBook Pro, you lose nothing in translation. That’s because the DVI connection gives you a pure digital signal from system to display. View more than 4 million pixels on the 30-inch Apple Cinema HD Display, powered by the NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT and dual-link DVI built into MacBook Pro. You get three options for using your display: dual-display mode, video mirroring, and lid-closed mode."

and here is a quote from the video specs section :

Video and graphics support

* 15-inch MacBook Pro
o NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics processor with dual-link DVI support, 128MB of GDDR3 SDRAM on 2.2GHz configuration; 256MB of GDDR3 SDRAM on 2.4GHz configuration
* 17-inch MacBook Pro
o NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics processor with dual-link DVI support and 256MB of GDDR3 SDRAM.
iSight
* Dual display and video mirroring: Simultaneously supports full native resolution on the built-in display and up to 2560 by 1600 pixels on an external display, both at millions of colors
* DVI output port
* VGA output using included DVI to VGA adapter
* Built-in iSight camera
 
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Its on the right side of the computer (Left picture) Two right of the DVI port. It should have come with a breakout cable.

Bryon <><
 
AFAIK current MacBook Pros don't have composite video out- only DVI. Right of the DVI port is just screws and to the left are ethernet, FW 400, 800, USB and cablelock. You can of course use the built-in display as one monitor and an external monitor as the second via DVI. It can be set to mirror the main display or act as a second display.

Noah
 
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So why does apple's main page say lid closed mode, can anyone explain what that would that be and how it would work?
 
Where does it say that is possible with two external monitors- link? You could close the lid on a MacBook and use one external monitor(along with an external keyboard of coursE) but not two AFAIK.

Honestly though- in that workflow you're much better off with a Mac Pro or even a used G5. I've owned MacBooks and Powerbooks for many years and haven't used one in "closed-lid" mode even once.

Noah
 
yeah, the dual-display and lid-closed modes are seperate... the part you highlighted about dual-display say you can run the internal display at full res and one external.
 
Yup pretty clear those are two things:

* Dual display and video mirroring: Simultaneously supports full native resolution on the built-in display and up to 2560 by 1600 pixels on an external display"

That's one external and one built-in, not while in lid-closed.
 
thanks for the information guys, I was confused by thinking that the lid closed mode meant that 2 monitors could be run. Ive seen 2 monitors run with other closed laptops and assumed the 'lid closed' mode meant that. I cant afford the extra $500 bucks for a mac pro so I figured a macbook pro would do the trick anyway and allow the mobility. I can live with the 15" display once I get another stationary monitor, but I did like the idea of being able to connect 2 serious monitors for long editing sessions.
 
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