The hardware fairy gave me lot of hardware: a MacBook Pro, a Windows Server 2008 box (sitting under my desk), and a matched pair of 22″ displays. I’ve also got an Apple Keyboard and a Magic Trackpad. But I haven’t yet figured out the best way to make it all work together. Here’s how my desk looks right now:
My MBP, which is my primary machine, is connected to the screen in the middle. My server is connected to both screens. The MBP has one keyboard/mouse connected to it, my server has another, which is annoying me.
I know that there’s hardware that can enable me to run two external monitors off of my MBP. I had been dreaming of having three screens all together, so I put my laptop up on risers. This is not working: with my MBP open, I can’t have it right next to my two monitors because the bottom of the laptop blocks the screen (and, conversely, the screen blocks access to the disc drive). But having it separated from my monitors defeats my idea, and is annoying me in that I’m constantly turning my head to see what’s on the MBP’s screen.
I’ve got my server hooked up to both monitors, and that’s been nice to use. I’m used to running Windows headless, so this is a bit of a surprise to me. I’m going to be doing more on the enterprise side of things than I have in the past, so going fully headless doesn’t seem like it’s the right thing to do. I’ve also been playing with integrating OneNote into my life 1, and that seems to be fitting into my workflow well. So maybe I want to keep on using two monitors on my server.
Thoughts, dear readers? Y’all are pretty smart, so I’m sure that someone out there has a good idea at how to best set up my working environment to totally rock.
http://synergy-foss.org/ might be able to help you. Synergy lets you share a mouse and keyboard between several computers over a network.
To get both displays hooked up to the MBP, try using a USB-video adapter (like this NewerTech USB to DVI adapter from OWC). Not the snappiest thing in the world but will do the job. Recommend this for a secondary display.
As far as risers so, I recommend trying a Rain Design mStand (a colleague has one here for his 17″ MBP and it’s pretty sweet), or possibly the height-adjustable one (not as elegant but quite functional). Either of those will get your MBP display much closer to the main screen, so turning your head to the left won’t seem quite so crazy. That stack of whatevers in the photo is definitely going to block you from your work, so almost any laptop riser is going to improve the situation.
You may want to consider adding a Macessity SlimKey stand under a display (I got mine from Small Dog). It’s really handy to push your keyboard back out of the way when you need to work with old fashioned paper on your desk. It may also provide a good place to stash the Windows box’s keyboard when not in use, assuming you don’t have a good KVM. (My KVM experience predates USB so I won’t attempt any recommendations. The MacInTouch KVM discussions earlier this year identified some issues with certain KVMs and Apple’s aluminum keyboards.)
The good news is, except for a KVM, all of these things are cheap. Shouldn’t be any trouble at all to get any sane manager to approve $100-150. 🙂
Hmmm. I wonder if Synergy + a different laptop stand (since I don’t like the one that I’ve got here, either) would be a good solution. I wouldn’t have both of the external monitors connected to my MBP, and I would only have one monitor connected to my Windows box. But maybe having full-time easy access to the server without having to muck about with a KVM (which I’ve also heard about issues with various Mac keyboards/mice) would make it worth it.
Can anyone who uses Synergy comment on how well it works with Spaces? If I try to drag a window from one Space to another, can Synergy deal with that? I’m assuming that dragging up/down would work, but dragging to the side might not.