Question about Apple Cinema Display 27" with MacBook Pro 13 and Unity

News & General Discussion
1

Today I started thinking about upgrading the display on my MacBook Pro 13" mid-2010 model (with nVidia 320m GPU) with a Apple Cinema Display 27" as external monitor (which seems like a good idea…!) until I realize the massive resolution (2560 by 1440) my poor MacBook Pro 13" (with nVidia 320m GPU) has to drive…

My question is… does anyone have experience with this setup ?? How’s the performance with Unity??
Since the Macbook Pro would need to drive both display (internal and external) - and the fact Unity is pretty demanding sometimes - is it even possible?

Or should I wait for the 30"/32" version in the future ?? (I am day dreaming now…)

But seriously, 13" screen and Unity just seems a tad small at times now…

2

You could also just go buy a 24" acer for around $200. 1920x1080 is more then enough and your video card should drive it fine.

3

Keep in mind, Thunderbolt ports do not work (at least reliably) with MiniDisplayport → DVI adapters, so when you upgrade your computer, you’ll be forced to upgrade your monitor, too, or you’ll have to run it with a VGA cable. I have the impression that 1920x1080 will stress the ability of VGA to give you accurate results, but I’d like to hear from someone who knows for sure.

P.S. I was not happy about wasting my money on the adapter, nor having to buy another adapter, nor having to use an analog signal.

4

I run my tv and occasionally my other monitor from my media center with vga @ 1080p it looks fine and is very crisp. Not so much an issue so long as you aren’t using terrible cables. However… Most newer monitors are dropping VGA support and only supporting dvi and hdmi…

5

There are a number of manufacturers who do 24" or 27" monitors that have DisplayPort interfaces which should work well, Dell for example. And they mostly don’t have the awful reflective screens that the Apple monitors do.

EDIT: Just make sure you avoid a TN panel. IPS is the one to go for.

6

I don’t have the 2011 Macbook Pro, but 2010 one. So I don’t have Thunderbolt to worry about! :smile:

So none of your have problem running Unity on 27" screen with Macbook Pro (nVidia 230m GPU)??
I am just concerned with the performance and potential problems before investing in a huge screen.

7

I meant “your computer” in the abstract sense of “the computer you use”, not the physical computer you own now. “when you switch to using a newer computer” might have been a better way to phrase it.

8

Ah! I guess that means I would probably best waiting for next revision of Cinema Display (with thunderbolt support)…

9

I run a 27" HPZR30w with my Nvidia 330m. The only complaint I have is that the laptop gets warm enough I don’t feel comfortable closing it… I worry it will discolor the screen over the GPU.

10

Interesting, my 27" Samsung running at 1920x1080 connected that way to my MBP 2011 through a DVI KVM tells me something different.
The only thing that can be troublesome is the KVM itself that leads to some funny problems at times.

I guess where the adapter fails is when you would need DualLink DVI (resolutions beyond this one) which potentially refuses to work but 1920x1080 does not require dual link

11

Thunderbolt uses a Mini DisplayPort connecter, so isn’t the Cinema Display already supported? As are a number of other monitors with DisplayPort connectors?

12

No, I tried two 1680x1050 monitors. I’ve searched for a fix, but only found other people with the same problem, and no solution.

Yes.

13

My solution was to use a Mini-DP to HDMI converter instead of DVI. I have no problems so far.