Mac Pro + Lion + Multiple Displays - What's your experience?

[seisend]

Hello everyone,

well, the title basically says it all. What's your Mac Pro experience with multiple Displays in OSX Lion?

I'm using Lion on my MBP and love it there. However, I read in several Forums about Problems with multiple screens. It works, but not how it worked in SL (spaces) and there are some annoying functions that have been dropped with Lion. For example if you go to full screen mode, the secondary screen turns grey and you can't save applications workspace onto the secondary screen?
The only thing preventing me from updating Lion is this thing.

What's your experience ? Are you still working with SL or does it still work out for you with multiple displays in Lion?

I use two 24" 1920x1200 Displays.

thanks a lot
-seisend

 

[ExnomenDei]

Basically, spaces are synchronized (which can be both good and bad, but should be an option) and since full-screen apps are spaces, they are going to make any second/third/etc monitor useless.

I'd recommend not using full-screen apps (much), they're not going to increase productivity under almost any circumstances.

And if you use Spaces a LOT and you don't like the idea of having them sync up (can be really useful though), then I recommend you don't upgrade over your SL installation, but you can still try it on another disk.

 

[tersono]

I use Lion with multiple displays on several machines. No worries at all - sure some things work a little differently from SL, but nevertheless it works just fine.

Sure, fullscreen apps only occupy the main screen, but frankly that's a feature that's only really useful on smaller screens anyhow.

 

[jasonvp]

I use Lion with multiple displays on several machines. No worries at all

This has been my experience as well. I have Lion running on my Mac Pro at home and at work, and both have 2 x 24" LCDs. It works fine with that. I don't use full-screen apps though as I find them ridiculous.

jas

 

[seisend]

This has been my experience as well. I have Lion running on my Mac Pro at home and at work, and both have 2 x 24" LCDs. It works fine with that. I don't use full-screen apps though as I find them ridiculous.

jas

OK. So now you have Mission Control with different desktops which is so to speak the new "Spaces". So if I for example have Final Cut Pro on Desktop 1, with some FCP Interface windows on the secondary screen and Photoshop on Desktop 2, with some Interface windows on the secondary screen:

Does it separate the programms between different desktops and on the secondary screen like it did in SL? So everytime I open Photoshop, I'll get my costum interface windows on my secondary screen on Desktop 2?

 

[theSeb]

Basically, spaces are synchronized (which can be both good and bad, but should be an option) and since full-screen apps are spaces, they are going to make any second/third/etc monitor useless.

I'd recommend not using full-screen apps (much), they're not going to increase productivity under almost any circumstances.

And if you use Spaces a LOT and you don't like the idea of having them sync up (can be really useful though), then I recommend you don't upgrade over your SL installation, but you can still try it on another disk.

I prefer to "maximise" the apps myself using BetterSnapTool instead of lion's built in full screen mode.

 

[jasonvp]

Does it separate the programms between different desktops and on the secondary screen like it did in SL? So everytime I open Photoshop, I'll get my costum interface windows on my secondary screen on Desktop 2?

What you're asking is partially an application question and partially an OS one. It's the application not the OS that remembers which displays to put its various windows in. The app does this because to it, the two screens are one big one, and it just knows "Hey, X,Y coordinates the last time I was running are this and that."

As for which application is supposed to be in which desktop, that's an OS issue. And I've found Lion's desktops to be a bit lacking there. You can theoretically pin an application to a specific desktop. I haven't been able to get that to work properly, 100% of the time. For instance, I always want my Parallels instance to fire up on Desktop 3, and I've pinned it there. Unfortunately, whenever I start it up, it pops up on whatever desktop I'm currently on.

jas

 

[goMac]

If you don't like full screen mode on Lion and want to have the same experience as Snow Leopard, the solution is simple: Don't use full screen mode.

 

[minifridge1138]

As beaten to death, full screen doesn't play nice with Multiple Screens. It's probably nice on iMacs and Laptops.

I've had no problem pinning an application to a specific desktop.
I miss the grid layout in Snow Leopard. A 4X4 grid is much easier to use than a 1X16 row.

In Snow Leopard, you could move windows around within a space. You can't do that in Mission Control.

Here's my biggest complaint:
I have 2 screens A and B.
I have 2 desktops 1 and 2.
I have a window on A1 that I want on B2.
In spaces, I could just drag and drop.
With Mission Control, I have to move the window from A1 to B1, then from B1 to B2.
OR move it from A1 to A2, then from A2 to B2.

All of this tells me something:
Either Apple didn't do much testing with Lion on multiple screens (because there would have been negative feedback) or Apple doesn't consider multiple screens to be important (they didn't got the feedback and didn't care).

 

[The-Pro]

i use multiple monitors with my Mac Pros. 3 screen with one and 2 on the other.
I must say that apple implementation of multiple monitor support in OSX is crap. I had lion on 2009 mac pro but downgraded to SL again as Mission control bothered me so much, i missed the simplicity of SL's exposes and spaces. Full screen apps is ridiculous with multiple monitors. Do the software people at apple not think?? They offer Mac Pros where you can connect 6 screen to (8 with the 2009) and if you make an app full screen all others are rendered useless?? I mean come on it crazy.
Also if I turn off one or two out of my 3 screens when watching a movie full screen on the primary the video starts lagging and i have to turn the screens back on. How does that make sense??
Multiple monitors is great for my work and couldn't do it without but apple needs to work on getting stuff sorted out.

 

[Pressure]

If you don't like full screen mode on Lion and want to have the same experience as Snow Leopard, the solution is simple: Don't use full screen mode.

This.

I don't get all the bitching and moaning about Lion when it in fact behaves exactly like Snow Leopard and any other version of Mac OS X for that matter.

If you do not like the new features, simply don't use them.

 

[minifridge1138]

This.

I don't get all the bitching and moaning about Lion when it in fact behaves exactly like Snow Leopard and any other version of Mac OS X for that matter.

If you do not like the new features, simply don't use them.

I agree with you about Full Screen. It's a new feature and you don't have to use it. Pretend it isn't there and go about your business.

But Mission Control replaced an existing feature (spaces) and has some limitations that were not previously there. That's a lot harder to ignore.

 

[phyrexia]

in snow leopard, you could move windows around within a space. You can't do that in mission control.

Here's my biggest complaint:
I have 2 screens a and b.
I have 2 desktops 1 and 2.
I have a window on a1 that i want on b2.
In spaces, i could just drag and drop.
With mission control, i have to move the window from a1 to b1, then from b1 to b2.
Or move it from a1 to a2, then from a2 to b2.

+1000

 

[Varmann]

Have to agree with the others multiple in Lions give you a lot to wish for.

I have two normal displays (A+B) + a projector (C). The last one is connected via my home cinema receiver.

The projector is only turned on when I look at movies, but the system seems to regard it as always on (probably since it is connected through the sound system which mostly is on).

If I have Safari (Finder and a few more programs acts similar) on screen A and then turns that screen off, Safari moves on to screen B. Turn on screen A again and it moves back to A. Isn´t that a good thing?
Not in my case!

In the evening I usually turn both screens and the receiver off. However, Safari and Finder then moves on to display C (the projector display) which , physically, also is turned off.

When I turn on display A and B next times, these programs (Safari and Finder) stay on display C! Then I either have to "in the blind" try to move that window back to display A and B, or turn on the projector so I actually can find the lost program windows.

Frustrating? You bet!

 

[seisend]

What you're asking is partially an application question and partially an OS one. It's the application not the OS that remembers which displays to put its various windows in. The app does this because to it, the two screens are one big one, and it just knows "Hey, X,Y coordinates the last time I was running are this and that."

As for which application is supposed to be in which desktop, that's an OS issue. And I've found Lion's desktops to be a bit lacking there. You can theoretically pin an application to a specific desktop. I haven't been able to get that to work properly, 100% of the time. For instance, I always want my Parallels instance to fire up on Desktop 3, and I've pinned it there. Unfortunately, whenever I start it up, it pops up on whatever desktop I'm currently on.

jas

- Yes, I know that,thanks. But my question was if Lion remembers it? For example u have any experience with iphoto/aperture/logic/adobe or these sort of apps? I could always put these apps on specific spaces in SL.... I have tons of stuff open sometimes, and it's annoying to me to manage all apps between different desktops everytime I use them. This is the only thing preventing me from upgrading to Lion.

As beaten to death, full screen doesn't play nice with Multiple Screens. It's probably nice on iMacs and Laptops.

I've had no problem pinning an application to a specific desktop.
I miss the grid layout in Snow Leopard. A 4X4 grid is much easier to use than a 1X16 row.

In Snow Leopard, you could move windows around within a space. You can't do that in Mission Control.

Here's my biggest complaint:
I have 2 screens A and B.
I have 2 desktops 1 and 2.
I have a window on A1 that I want on B2.
In spaces, I could just drag and drop.
With Mission Control, I have to move the window from A1 to B1, then from B1 to B2.
OR move it from A1 to A2, then from A2 to B2.

All of this tells me something:
Either Apple didn't do much testing with Lion on multiple screens (because there would have been negative feedback) or Apple doesn't consider multiple screens to be important (they didn't got the feedback and didn't care).

Do you have to do that everytime or does Lion remember it for the next time you open it?

 

[jasonvp]

- Yes, I know that,thanks. But my question was if Lion remembers it?

Well read the answers to your questions a little more clearly perhaps? Most of us have answered what you're asking.

• It's up to the APPLICATION to remember its window layout and where on the screen its placed, not the OS. So if the APPLICATION remembers it with Snow Leopard, it'll remember it with Lion.
• It's up to the OS to remember what desktop the application is on. Here, Lion sometimes falls down. Some applications will pin to desktops just fine, others won't. I don't know why that is.

I use all sorts of applications: Premiere Pro, Photoshop, Mail.app, Chrome, Firefox, Parallels, MS Office 2011, etc. Most of these apps respond just fine. Parallels is a bit ornery and doesn't behave like it should.

jas

 

[reebzor]

Call me weird, but I've never liked using multiple displays. I enjoy the extra screen realestate, but it always seemed like a hassle dragging stuff from one screen to the other, etc. I really prefer the full screen apps and spaces in Lion, so much so that I only use 1 display now. Multiple displays with Lion just seems like a waste.

 

[jasonvp]

Call me weird

OK: You're weird.

jas

 

[minifridge1138]

-
Do you have to do that everytime or does Lion remember it for the next time you open it?

That I have to do every time.

You can assign a program to a workspace. Then it will switch to that workspace everytime you launch it.
However, it doesn't remember which screen it was on.

 

[seisend]

Well read the answers to your questions a little more clearly perhaps? Most of us have answered what you're asking.

• It's up to the APPLICATION to remember its window layout and where on the screen its placed, not the OS. So if the APPLICATION remembers it with Snow Leopard, it'll remember it with Lion.
• It's up to the OS to remember what desktop the application is on. Here, Lion sometimes falls down. Some applications will pin to desktops just fine, others won't. I don't know why that is.

I use all sorts of applications: Premiere Pro, Photoshop, Mail.app, Chrome, Firefox, Parallels, MS Office 2011, etc. Most of these apps respond just fine. Parallels is a bit ornery and doesn't behave like it should.

jas

Yes sure, thanks ! Basically the reason I repeated asking is because I didn't know how the OS does remember it. There is no Setting in the System Preferences Menu. However, I found this article which was very helpful to me: http://mattgemmell.com/2011/07/27/using-spaces-on-os-x-lion/

The fact that you can rightclick on the Dock-icon and set the APP to a specific Desktop answered my question. I hope this will work with most of my apps. That whole Full screen stuff confused me a bit.

I think I'm ready to upgrade my system now.