Second monitor for a 27" iMac

pigoo3 said:

Ha ha. When it comes to some things...wives just don't get it!

- Nick

p.s. Sounds like that monitor comes with a pretty remarkable (and uncommon) stand!

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Yeah they usually don't, but I would expect this from a person not in the tech industry or something. But my wife works in IT and has 3 monitors are work and 2 at home..

Raz0rEdge said:

But my wife works in IT and has 3 monitors are work and 2 at home..

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Hmmm...that is a bit confusing. Wives certainly don't make it easy on us do they!

Sometimes they seem to have a different form of logic. When we add 1+1 we get 2. But sometimes with wives...it seems when they add 1+1...they get 3??

"Men are from Mars...Women are from Venus!"

- Nick

p.s. Do you think that she had a problem with you spending $200 on the monitor...but just didn't want to say anything??

Hey Nick, got to keep the woman of the house happy.... Father's Day is coming up the 16th of June. I've already tossed out some hints!

pigoo3 said:

Hmmm...that is a bit confusing. Wives certainly don't make it easy on us do they!

Sometimes they seem to have a different form of logic. When we add 1+1 we get 2. But sometimes with wives...it seems when they add 1+1...they get 3??

"Men are from Mars...Women are from Venus!"

- Nick

p.s. Do you think that she had a problem with you spending $200 on the monitor...but just didn't want to say anything??

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Isn't that the truth. Though I doubt it was anything to do with the price since it was so cheap..but she didn't make a really big fuss about it, so it was probably a reactionary thing as opposed to something she was actually questioning..

chscag said:

Hey Nick, got to keep the woman of the house happy.... Father's Day is coming up the 16th of June. I've already tossed out some hints!

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If push had come to shove, I would've said it was an early Father's day gift to myself..but it didn't happen, so maybe that means I can buy something else and use that excuse..

Raz0rEdge said:

Though I doubt it was anything to do with the price since it was so cheap..but she didn't make a really big fuss about it, so it was probably a reactionary thing as opposed to something she was actually questioning..

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Maybe she had a bunch of other stuff on her mind...and she didn't give the more "focused" reaction you may have wanted.

I know many times when I'm talking to my wife about something she would not give a "flip" about...she gives me the 100% eye contact look...but only 2% of the brain is really devoted to what I'm saying!

I'm sure if I asked her the next day what I was talking about the night before...she would go..."You never told me about that!"

Yupp...marriage!

- Nick

Slydude said:

We had a Radius Pivot (think that is what it was called) for a while. In some ways the picture was not as good as I thought it would be though that may be just personal preference on my part. The picture was OK but I loved that pivoting feature until it croaked.

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When the Pivot was a current product I used to repair them in the UK when working for CRC, Radius's UK service agent at that time. I had a great all expenses paid 2 week training trip to San Jose in 1990, one of my best trips to the USA. The earlier Pivots weren't multi syncs, and the CRT dot pitch was too large, not such a good product. The later model, the 0356, was a multi sync and had a more modern styled case, but had reliability issues. Even though, I liked them and used one on my LCII.

For a cheaper option to the Thunderbolt Display, at work we supply the ViewSonic VP2770-LED (27-Inch IPS LED Monitor, 2560x1440, HDMI, DVI-D, DisplayPort, USB Hub) mainly to design studios and photographers. It has adjustable height and pivoting. I'd have one myself but my Dell Ultrasharp IPS panel display is still working OK.

Kinida glad we are having this discussion. My Samsun has a small scratch in the screen and has had for years. Sometimes it bothers me and other times I don't notice at all. Eventually I will replace it but right now that is a low priority.

My wife has a recently purchased Viewsonic and I really like it. I bookmarked Ashwin's pivoting thing for future reference. Color me jealous.

Slydude said:

My wife has a recently purchased Viewsonic and I really like it. I bookmarked Ashwin's pivoting thing for future reference. Color me jealous.

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For what it's worth. Display's that are pivoting can be really handy for setting up in the vertical orientation (for various reasons). But these sort of pivoting monitors are not as common as they once were (so you pay more for them).

Here's something to consider. It is possible to (sort of) turn a non-pivoting monitor into a pivoting monitor. Many monitors have a removable stand so that you can mount them onto a VESA style mount (you know the stands/frames that you can mount single or multiple monitors onto).

Well in some cases with some monitors...you can remove the flat panel display from the stock plastic stand that it came with...then rotate the monitor 90°...then remount it back onto the original plastic stand (it's just now the display is in the vertical orientation rather than horizontal).

The only problem with this is...sometimes the original plastic stand (especially if it does not have height adjustment) is not tall enough to accommodate the display mounted in the vertical position.

So something to consider when thinking about a pivoting monitor. If the monitor doesn't need to be pivoted often (or never once setup)...then this could be a solution...and most likely at a lot lower price!

I have a 22" LCD monitor that I purchased a number of years ago that I have done this with!

- Nick

I must confess I had not thought of that. As soon as I read the idea I had one of those "Why didn't I think of that moments. It lacks the "pivot on demand" cool factor but realistically even when I had the Pivot I did not change orientation that often. Of course in those days vertical was the dominant orientation whereas now its a bit of a toss up.

I do have another option if I need that functionality. I still have a 19" monitor with the vertical orientation that I loaned out. it's showing its age but the resolution would still be fine for the types of things I would use vertical orientation for. High scores for practicality cool factor zero.

Slydude said:

I must confess I had not thought of that. As soon as I read the idea I had one of those "Why didn't I think of that moments. It lacks the "pivot on demand" cool factor but realistically even when I had the Pivot I did not change orientation that often.

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That's why I get paid the BIG BUCKS here at Mac-Forums!!! Ha Ha...if zero bucks is considered big!

You know there is even an easier way to take a "normal" non-pivoting monitor...and have it display in the vertical orientation. And that is to:

- take the "normal" monitor and just rotate it 90° (stand and all)
- figure out a way to support it in this orientation
- go into the "Display" System Preference and rotate the display output 90°

BAMM...instant rotated monitor in the vertical orientation!

This method may not be for everyone...and it may not be pretty...but it definitely gets the job done at zero expense!

- Nick

Wow Two Rube Goldberg solutions to the same problem in one day. I'm impressed. Are you are we are not twins?

Believe it or not I explained the previous solution to my wife. When she asked how to get the software to rotate everything I mentioned it was built into the OS. Then it dawned on me to wonder if such a rotation properly rotates the menubar as well. It does but the rotation only affects the primary monitor.

Slydude said:

Wow Two Rube Goldberg solutions to the same problem in one day. I'm impressed. Are you are we are not twins?

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The 2nd idea is definitely the most "Rube Goldberg" like!!!

Slydude said:

Believe it or not I explained the previous solution to my wife. When she asked how to get the software to rotate everything I mentioned it was built into the OS. Then it dawned on me to wonder if such a rotation properly rotates the menubar as well. It does but the rotation only affects the primary monitor.

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You had me intrigued when you mentioned this...so I had to move to a different computer setup at home to test it. I moved to my 17" MBP with the 30" Apple external display attached to it.

You mentioned that the rotation only affects the primary monitor. By primary monitor...are you referring to the monitor that has the menu bar on it?

If so I think that I get different results:

- Firstly the rotation (in my setup) only works on the external display. So I cannot rotate the video output on the 17" MBP's builtin display...just the external display. Regardless of whether the Menu Bar was on the MBP's 17" builtin display or on the external display.

- Second...I can rotate the output of the external display in either setup (if it has the Menu Bar or if it does not have the Menu Bar).

So basically...the video output rotation (in my setup) only works for the externally connected monitor...and this works whether the menu bar is on it or not.

- Nick

pigoo3 said:

The 2nd idea is definitely the most "Rube Goldberg" like!!!

So basically...the video output rotation (in my setup) only works for the externally connected monitor...and this works whether the menu bar is on it or not.

- Nick

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I just tested this with my MB Pro and external monitor. You're exactly right about what happens. If I designate the built in MB Pro display as the primary one that display does not rotate. The external monitor is the only one that rotates.

I had not thought of that being an issue.

Slydude said:

I just tested this with my MB Pro and external monitor. You're exactly right about what happens. If I designate the built in MB Pro display as the primary one that display does not rotate. The external monitor is the only one that rotates.

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Sounds good. In my mind (even though I did not mention it)...I was only thinking of rotating the video output on an external display (not the builtin display say on a laptop or iMac).

For what it's worth. If we were talking about a Mac Pro (or a Mac-Mini) which has no builtin display...I think that all of the display's can be rotated.

I remember back when I had my 2009 Mac Pro. I had just purchased a 2nd video card (which allowed me to connect 4 monitors to the Mac Pro)...and I remember that I was able to rotate the video output on all four of them.

I only did this setup once...since having 4 monitors (on their original stands) was ridiculous for my needs!!! It took up way too much space...and my head way basically on a swivel looking at the monitors from side to side (like being at a tennis match)!

- Nick

pigoo3 said:

Looks pretty good! Considering that the iMac has a 27" display...that 21.5" ViewSonic display looks pretty big!

Monitors these days (new or used) are so inexpensive...no one should really have issues with display real estate. Assuming they have enough desktop/table top space for the monitors.

Even the extra electricity used by a 2nd monitor really isn't that big of a deal...compared to back in the day using multiple large CRT monitors.

Sounds like a happy customer!

- Nick

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I wonder if there is a monitor out there that fits the vertical dimensions of the 27" iMac monitor better.