I7 macbook pro and 30" display
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Hello i am hopeing to purchase the i7 17" macbook pro hooking up a 30" display to it i currently use a 23" cinema display but am considering purchaseing a 30" cinema display to use with the i7 i am worried that the i7 will struggle with the 30" display when using sketchup . will this setup work ok , or will this large display slow the laptop down, when i use my current powerbook with my 23" display i use extended desktop mode but with the 30" i would use the laptop in clamshell mode to maximise the graffics for the 30" display , Does anyone here have expereince of this setup any advice would be most appriciated, one other thing when i run in extended desktop with the 23" display does this use more graffics power than simple running in clamshell with one display? Thanks
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i7 is a CPU, you need to consider the GPU.
I run an i7 940, with Nvidia 280 GPU, powering 2 x 42" LCD's no problem.
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yes i know the GPU has a huge bearing on performance but i was asking weather the laptop as a whole was up to it bearing in mind the nivida geforce 330m 512vram video card , i still have not upgraded so if it was going to struggle then i could move back to a desktop although mobility is important to me or i just stick with using my 23" cinema screen.Thanks
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@solo said:
i7 is a CPU, you need to consider the GPU.
I run an i7 940, with Nvidia 280 GPU, powering 2 x 42" LCD's no problem.
show off!
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I don't have an i7 but an older Core Duo MacBookPro 17in, with a DELL 30in display. No problems seen in SU using both screens. Now I don't know if a big enough file is going to present problems or when you get into rendering, because of my limited experience. I use this for CAD, SU and everything; and when I got the 30in, I did not see any change in performance in any application. The MBP can run pretty hot (i7 might be improved). A cooling platform might be a good idea. BTW I didn't know the i7 17" was available.
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You could always ask them to hook it up in your local Apple Store if you prefer to see it in action.
Can I ask you guys with laptops, when running the big screens behind do you just look at the big screen and not your laptop screen?
I have a 17" MBP also and the thought of using a 30" monitor behind my screen seems confusing. -
with my current 23" cinema display i use extended desktop with the laptop to the side , i use the main screen for the scetchup and vectorworks designing and the laptop screen i use for palettes and prehaps an image of the site or house i am designing for , i like this split screen arrangement however if i was using a 30" display i may just run the laptop in clamshell mode so using all the graffics power to the main screen , i think running the laptop screen and a 30" display in extended desktop would make the graffics slow simple because the card would be running 2 screens although maybe having just a static image on the laptop may not take to much graffics power if anyone knows the ins and outs?? thanks
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Just to say thanks for the replys to my question , had a simalar question up on the main google sketchup forum but did not get such a useful reponse , really like it here seems more like the old sketchup forum pre google although of course the google forum is very good , just this one seems a bit more free wheeling .
Just some imformation on myself i have a architectual design business , unusually we also build what we design because we have are own construction side , have been using sketchup since i think sketchup 2 so quite a time i also use vectorworks for mainly 2D surprisingly although i have a desktop G5 i have always used sketchup on my laptop hooked up to an external display , and found it has always run very well . Thanks -
Dylan,
Same as Tazio, I use the laptop screen for palettes, overview window (for CAD) and photos. It is off to the side.Peter
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Hi folks.
There was a similar discussion in the SketchUp Help Group.
Here is what I answered:
Make sure that the videocard of your Mac is able to use the optimum resolution of the 30" display that is of 2560 x 1600 pixels as per this page on Apple Web site:
http://support.apple.com/kb/SP79
Normally, the manual that comes with your Mac shall have its technical specifications and these shall give you the maximum resolution of your graphic card.
Since you don't give the screen size of your Macbook Pro, it is difficult to guess what one it is but I suppose it is 17" since you can drive a 23" cinema display and you gave the video card make and model number as well as the amount of VRAM (video RAM).
This page:
http://support.apple.com/kb/SP546
State that the NVidia 9600M video card with 512Megs VRAM can support the resolution of the 30" cinema display combined with the 1920x1200 native resolution of the built in display.
See this paragraph:
----- START OF EXCEPRT -----
"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"
----- END OF EXCERPT -----
All this info comes from the Support section of the Apple Web site.
Just ideas.
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