Macbook Pro & 27" Thunderbolt LED Display

[John Caldwell]

Can anyone comment regarding a portable system I'm thinking of setting up, please? Normally I run LR4 & 5 on a calibrated 27" iMac with excellent agreement between print and screen. Up to now, my portable editing is on a 2009 Macbook, also calibrated, but it's harder to work with than the iMac is.

What are your thoughts about a "2-monitor" setup with a current Retina display MBP linked, via Thunderbolt, to the current 27" display. Calibrating the Retina and 27" displays would be done with the same i1 used with good results on the iMac. The system would be portable in te sense that the 27" display would live in my office away from home, and the MBP would travel.

Does anyone use a MBP / external display combo as a dual-monitor setup with LR, please?

Many thanks,

John Caldwell

[Yauman]

I have exactly the setup but I made the wrong choice for my monitor.

I had a non-retina 15" MBP and bought the high end Dell UltraSharp U2713H monitor. It's 27" and highly regarded as a high-end monitor; comes with calibration software (lobotomized version of X-rite iDisplayPro)  It also have gerzillion input options - from vga to DVI to HDMI to displayport and Minidisplay port.  Since the Minidisplay port is the native port for the MBP it gave me the resolution I need without mucking around with adapters etc.  (btw, minidisplay port on the Mac has the same physical form as the Thunderbolt port and the video signal is a subset - so yes hook up your Minidisplayport monitor to your Thunderbolt connector is ok.) I calibrated it with my iDisplayPro calibrator and all is happy...

...until I upgraded my computer to the new 15" Retina MBP.  Well, guess what ... in addition to having no DVD drive (I don't miss it) it also has no ethernet connection.  I'll have to use one of the 2 thunderbolt ports for an ethernet donggle. What a pain with all the stuff I have to hook up when I set my computer down on my desk - the ethernet, the connection to my external disks (TimeMachine and photo disks), the Monitor, the USB to my Wacom tablet, speakers etc.  So, I shell out $300 and bought a Thunderbolt Hub (I have tried both the Matrox and the Belkin)  so that everything can be left hooked up and all I have to do when I set my MBP down is connect one Thunderbolt cable.  Voila.

So, why the wrong choice of monitor?  If I had known, I would have purchased the Apple Cinema Display  - it basically have the Thunderbolt hub built-in with RJ45 ethernet port, 3 USB's, audio, and extra thunderbolt port - so all you have to do is connect the Cinema display to the MBP via the thunderbolt port. So, for the price of the Dell UltraSharp and the Belkin Thunderbolt hub, I could have bought the Apple Cinema Display!

Also, trying to match the color of the Dell Ultrasharp with the MBP's LCD screen is a pain - even with the x-rite iDisplayPro gadget.  I think the Apple Cinema Display would be a much easier match!

Hope this helps.

Yau-Man

[John Caldwell]

Thank you, Yau-Man, for this excellent reply. How, if I may, are you using the MBP screen, and how are you using the Dell 27" in terms of LR layout. Do you place the image being Developed on the 27" and leave the MBP 15" for the "clerical" panels?

Many thanks for your kind reply. Thank you for the education re the Apple minidisplay connector as well.

Welcome to the LuLa forum as well.

John Caldwell

[Yauman]

My Dell 27" is my main display - ie the dock and main OS system menu is there.  Normal use, I have my calendar opened in the MPB and everything else is on the Dell monitor.  When I run Windows on my MPB, Windows desktop is on the MBP screen and the Dell is the regular Mac OS desktop.

When I run Lightroom, Monitor 1 is the Dell and Monitor 2 is the MBP.  So all work is done on the Dell monitor.  The MBP is set up on a laptop holder next to the Dell and I drive with the Apple BT trackpad and Apple BT keyboard.  When I run Lightroom or Photoshop I have the Wacom Bamboo tablet - at the desk, I have it hooked up via usb (to the Thunderbolt hub).  When I'm not at desk, the Wacom is wireless to the MBP.  When I set the MBP down, all I do is hook up 2- connections - the power cord and the one Thunderbolt connector.  Everything on the desk is already remain hookup to the Thunderbolt hub.  Very convenient and quick.

I'll try to get a picture of the setup tomorrow.

Yau-Man

[John Caldwell]

Nice. Thanks for this description.

John-

[Yauman]

Here's my setup.  The two big blue lights are the two LaCie raid drives (thunderbolt) - one is the main storage for my photos and the other is my Timemachine. The Belkin thunderbolt hub is under the laptop.  Btw, the Dell monitor is very well balanced and with a finger I can lift or lower it.  It can also be rotated to a portrait orientation.  Love it - but I would have love it more if it had a build-in thunderbolt hub like Apple's Cinema Thunderbolt display!!!

Yau-Man