I did a search here about dual monitors and found some old posts and some that really didn’t help me. Wondering how SU works with dual monitors? I have a 22inch Monitor and my default tray and add-on menus are taking up real estate that I want for working. Is going dual better? Does it work? Or just get a bigger monitor? Appreciate input.
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I use two monitors all the time. If you leave the trays open when you quit SU, turn the other monitor on prior to opening SU for your next session.
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I’m just trying to figure out how that looks or works. So you what? On very first start up you drag your menus to the other monitor and have the main monitor as the model area only? Thanks in advance.
You have the right idea, drag them over or drag the main window over if you wish
. The screenshot is the arrangement I usually work with. Also I will put toolbars from extensions on the second monitor as I use them.
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Dual monitors should work fine, but be aware that for best results they should have the same resolution and once you start using dual monitors you should always have both of them attached and live. There are occasional reports here of SketchUp losing track of where to place its UI panels (that is, opening them off-screen) when you switch from dual back to single for any reason.
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Thanks a lot. I was hoping for a screen shot to show me what it looked like.
I run SU on Mac with two monitors of very different resolution - an iMac 5K 27" screen for the main working window, and a much smaller portrait orientation 17" (diagonal) monitor, running at 1024x1280 which sits to the right of the main iMac screen, and is very closely matched in vertical screen height - both are very close to 13" high - though a much coarser resolution.
The second monitor is plugged in to the mini-displayport/Thunderbolt socket on the rear of the iMac, with an inexpensive non-Apple converter to DVI to plug into the monitor.
As Steve says, you can run into trouble if you forget to switch on the second monitor before starting SU, but that has only very rarely happened to me.
Thanks John. I don’t have a Mac but your setup is closer to what I envisioned using.
I used to do the same with a Windows 7 machine, a Full HD 24" main monitor (1920x1280 IIRC) and the same 17" monitor in portrait.
One connected via HDMI, the other via DVI. The HDMI connection to the main monitor wouldn’t auto-powersave to black, but would show a bright blue screen until manually switched off.
I use a second monitor, actually as the primary one, on my MacBook Pro while on my desk, and only the laptop display on the road. I keep two sets of preference/jason files to swap in an out, which is a real pain. That’s the kind of process that computers are good at performing, but now one’s put their mind to it. Someone did years ago for PowerCADD with a simple little utility, but almost every MacOS upgrade broke it and he got tired of fixing it.
I haven’t yet tried the trick of creating another user account for the road. You’d have to set things up with file permissions so that both accounts can work on the same file sets, and the installation of plugins to be global (all users), not just in one user’s account.
I have three!
I use it with 3 monitors:
- laptop (15" HD)
- 32" 4k
- 24" HD (vertical)
Depends on how you want to work. Moving toolbars to other monitors is fine, if you work with one instance of SU. If you are sing several instances of SU - this will become confusing.
Note, if you change configuration sometimes (e.g. I have different arrangements of monitors at home, but also extra 2 external) - Alt+Space is your friend 
(if something opens off-screen).
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those are rather TV’s, than monitors 
Not much of a difference these days other than refresh rate which you don’t need more than 60hz for most applications. Now gaming that’s a different story!
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It’s only personal opinion but if I were using SU every day, it might be nice to have a larger modelling monitor and 2 smaller side monitors perhaps? With your current 22 inch, perhaps get some cheap ones either side - not sure how SU will work with different sized monitors, though when I had one 27 inch and one 24 inch, it seemed to be fine. Just a bit quirky with cursor movements.
I do like having the trays either side of a main monitor, with the centre monitor being the best quality and the side ones sub £200. The stand was £170 or thereabouts, but means I have 2 legs holding up 3x 27" monitors.
Hope that helps.
I’m going to jump on this thread and ask you if anyone uses a television as a monitor and if so, what are the pros and cons.
I was told by the kid at the local electronics store that mouse movements might lag with a television.
Am looking to add a 32” monitor to my laptop setup.
Any advice would be appreciated.
Edit: Is this bad form? Should I start a new thread?
You would probably get better, specific response with a new thread with a descriptive title. Not everyone reads every thread depending a lot on the title of the thread.
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Ok, will do.
Thank you!
I use 3 Samsung 40” 4K TVs. They work perfectly. The mouse lag the kid is referring to is for gaming only. You won’t notice any lag with SketchUp or Layout ir any other program for that matter…only high res games that require faster refresh rates like 144 hz.
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what is your distance to the screen?
I have Dell 32" 4k monitor. One of my colleagues has 32" HD Sony TV as a monitor. Obviously, not an equal comparison, but I definitely prefer picture quality on my Dell.
By the way, at home I use 27" Dell. Just don’t have enough space. But still quite satisfied.