Mac Setups: The Quad Display MacBook Pro Setup of a Programmer
This weeks featured Mac setup is the desk of Stephen G., a web programmer with a genuinely awesome quad display configuration. If you’re wondering how this great setup gets used, or if you’re just curious how on earth to drive three additional screens off of a MacBook Pro in a similarly sweet four-panel layout like this, read on to learn much more…
What hardware is used in your Mac setup?
- MacBook Pro 13″ with Retina Display
model ME865LL/A (late 2013 Haswell) - Two Lenovo 22″ Widescreen ThinkVision monitors (1900×1200 resolution each)
- One HP S2331 23″ Widescreen monitor (1920×1080 resolution)
- Matrox TripleHead2Go
- Connectland laptop cooling stand
- StarTech Thunderbolt Dock
- Belkin powered 7 port USB hub
- Apple Magic Mouse
- Logitech diNovo Mac Edition keyboard
- Toshiba 1 TB USB 3.0 drive
- Modified Dual Monitor Stand from Amazon (more on that shortly)
model ME865LL/A (late 2013 Haswell)
monitors (1900×1200 resolution each)
keyboardI’m sure others will be curious how to set up a similar configuration, so here are some additional details on the four-panel display setup and how it all ties together.
Monitor mounting
Using the stand I got from Amazon
as a base, I used a matching diameter piece of pipe and a sleeve pipe with the same inside diameter to effectively make the stand taller to better accommodate the top row of monitors (both the Lenovos are along the top row).
The stand is easily strong enough to handle the additional weight, plus I added some rectangular pieces of aluminum where the base clamps to my IKEA desk for some extra strength.
Monitor wiring & connections
One of the Mac’s ThunderBolt outputs goes to the HP monitor via a Mini DisplayPort to DVI adapter
, that monitor runs at full resolution.
The other ThunderBolt output goes into the StarTech Thunderbolt Dock
, with the Matrox TripleHead2Go
getting signal from the Thunderbolt pass through, as well as power from one the StarTech dock USB ports.
The Matrox presents both Lenovo monitors as one big 3840×1200 resolution monitor to the MacBook Pro, this allows me to run all three monitors while making the MacBook Pro only think it is running two displays.
Accessories wiring & connections
The StarTech Dock gives me wired network access, handles sound output to my speakers, powers my Toshiba USB hard drive (used for SuperDuper, Time Machine, and extra storage)… Thunderbolt rocks !
The left side USB port on my MacBook Pro is hooked to a powered Belkin 7 port USB hub that holds the dongle for the Logitech keyboard. It also powers the Connectland laptop cooling stand
and gives me easy access to hook up a Lightning cable for my iPhone and iPad.
What do you use this great Mac setup for?
I am Web Programmer by trade and needed a lot of real estate and CPU power to have my programming tools open as well as different browsers for cross-browser testing. The setup is also used for others work things like Instant Message, Email, and Google+.
What are some of your favorite Mac apps?
- Spotify (favorite app on my Mac): The best music service ever ! It’s great to be able to find anything I am in the mood for with no fuss
- Parallels Desktop 9: This is a must have since I do a lot of SQL Server coding and managing, as well as coding in Visual Studio. Parallels has done a fantastic job, it is stable and “just works”.
- Postbox 3.0: My preferred email client, it does such a great job tying together work and personal gmail accounts
- Instacast: An expensive but fantastic Podcast app. Listening to stuff like Daily Tech News and The Morning Stream help get me through my day
- Rogue Amoeba Airfoil: AirFoil allows me to shoot any audio from my MacBook to anywhere in the house. It was nice the other night when we threw a party and I had Spotify running here from the desk but the music was playing in the living room, garage, and our outside speaker setup all at once.
- iStat: A fantastic program to keep tabs on the vitals of your system
- aText: A text expander app for OS X, see below
: This is a must have since I do a lot of SQL Server coding and managing, as well as coding in Visual Studio. Parallels has done a fantastic job, it is stable and “just works”.Do you have any tips or suggestions you want to share?
If you feel that you are putting any kind of strain on your system, then please buy a decent cooling stand setup, it will be such a long term life saver of your treasured laptop. With the cooling stand I have, I keep my overall temps around 120 degrees F° (according to iStat, another great use for that app) with everything up and running that comprises my usual work day.
On the Mac, you can save yourself time by investing in a decent text expander program like “aText”, it’s such a time saver to be able to wire in a simple phrase to spit out a huge chunk of code or text. I bet I save 5-10 minutes a day of typing because of this excellent program.
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Got an great Apple or Mac setup you want to share with OSXDaily? Take a few good pictures and answer a few questions, and send them in!
Hi there,
Noob Q: how would one run 3 monitors with the current macbook air?
i.e., all 3 monitors are consider one display.
Thanks!!
Would it be possible to use 2 matrox triplehead2go’s to drive monitors? (Macbook pro with the lid down)
Miguel: I got this mousepad at Office Depot for ~ $15 (brand Allsop). it is very nice one, quiet and works well
Jack: I’m not sure if two will work at the same time, i don’t really see “why not”, but at some point the sheer number of pixels might become an issue. I would think that running that much screen real estate with the lid closed is more than likely going to introduce some serious heat issues
Hi,
Could you post the model and branch of the mousepad that appears in the photo? Is it comfortable besides precise?
This is the make and model (but not same color): http://amzn.com/B000FCN6FE
I’ve got a similar setup:
1 x 24 inch Lenovo monitor
1 x 40 inch Seiki 4k monitor
1 x 15 inch Macbook Pro late 2013
The top of the line 15″ handles all three outputs, all the other Retina models only handle two and I wanted the 13″ model (better to travel with), hence my need for the Matrox piece…. an advantage I had was that I already had the Matrox from using it with my previous MB
I have seen complaints that making a window full screen will span all the available displays instead of maximising in just that window. Is that true?
You can do this without the matrox with the 15 inch MacBook Pro retina. I run 3 monitors + the built in LCD. I connect monitors to each of the thunderbolt ports and the hdmi port. I don’t think the gpu of the 13 can handle more than 3 displays.
I’m working off this setup 10 hrs a day, this setup is no weekend show car :-)
This is pretty cool, as a fellow dev, I can respect the need for more screen real estate. I keep thinking about doing something similar, but I find myself working in remote locations a lot, so having an amazing setup like this at home reminds me of those guys who buy amazing cars just to leave them in the garage. For me, I need a way to have that much screen real estate while sitting at a Starbucks or Panera.
Hey everyone, thanks for the nice comments.
Andrew: I have no lag to note… here are all screens playing video content (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjVWV36fXpg)
Derek: I’m pretty sure Monoprice sells something similar, the main thing is to get an “active” external display adapter as it’s powerful enough to drive multiple monitors at full res
Kyle: no drops, no lag, no issues…. my main issue initially was heat from the MacBook, but a cooling pad has taken care of that
Hey man this looks like an awesome setup. I am a web and ios programmer and I own Mac products as well. I am currently in the market for a new laptop probably the MacBook Pro retina late 2013 with the graphics card. I noticed that your only using the MacBook Pro 13 retina late 2013 with iris. Does this result in any frame drops when doing work on those extra monitors? I am asking this because I on,y wanted to get the 15 inch with the graphics card so it can handle all my external monitors.
Thanks for the advice,
Kyle
Just buy a 39″ Seiki 4K TV for $499,- and you have 4 HD screens in one.
Works brilliantly with my 15″ rMBP.
can you expand on this? how is this a 4 screen setup?
Whenever I hear programmer as someone’s title, I cringe.
You program your alarm clock, you develop a site.
Also, four screens doesn’t make you any more productive or a better programmer.
Nice setup. I currently run a Linux desktop with dual displays and use synergy to control a macbook with an external display – giving me 4 desktops.
However… it’d be nice to do the same as this setup too. Checked the price on the Matrox and it’s pretty pricey $300+
Are there any other viable solutions that are cheaper?
Also I echo the previous comment and Q – how is this for performance?
Two words:
Kick Ass!
Man, sell that crap and take a walk :)
I am not sure about your situation, but most of us need a job to be able to sustain ourselves due to the financial expectations of living in a modern society. So, selling your workstation is not really a viable option, and instead investing in your workstation to make it as productive as possible is the best we can all do.
My situation is similar :)
http://i61.tinypic.com/2uffw4p.jpg
Wow and here I am thinking I’m all productive with my MacBook Air driving one additional monitor ;-)
Is there any lag or slowdown running 3 screens like that? I didn’t know the MacBook Pro Retina video card was that powerful, but this is a really impressive config if there’s no performance hit.