What hardware needed for multiple monitors (3) on a 2009 MacBook Pro 5,5 with displayport (NVIDIA GeForce 9400M video card)
Solution 1:
A new product has been announced today about this. On the Windows side, the Matrox DualHead/TripleHead were common, but not available for Mac.
That has recently changed because Matrox Introduces New Mac-Friendly DualHead2Go DP and TripleHead2Go DP Multi-Monitor Adapters.
Solution 2:
I use a USB to DVI adapter based on the DisplayPort line of products with my MacBook Pro (2007 running Snow Leopard 10.6). Overall, I am quite happy with it however there are a few things you should note:
- It does not support hardware acceleration so certain programs, such as iMovie, will refuse to launch when the device is plugged into your computer. iMovie is the only program that I have come across that is affected but I mainly do web development and work in PhotoShop.
- At this time, the DisplayPort drivers do not support color profiles. Your only option for color calibrating your monitor will be whatever manual controls your monitor comes with. It's not a deal breaker for me as I mainly edit text but if you are color correcting photos it could be a problem.
- Small youtube videos play pretty well but you won't want to use the monitor for anything like fullscreen playback. It will work, but the results will be pretty choppy.
- Make sure you are on a USB2 hub or directly plugged into a USB port on your machine. It won't run over anything slower.
You can find a link to my preferred vendor here, though any product with Mac Drivers based on the newer chipset (resolution higher than 1080p) will work:
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Newer%20Technology/VIDU2DVIA/
Don't buy an adapter that uses DisplayPort if it does not specifically say it will work on a Mac. I did so assuming I could use the generic drivers and they did not work.