It didn't take me long to grow frustrated with the lack of a second display, although what is worth mentioning is that I was able to last longer without a second display under OS X than I would under XP. I attribute this mostly to features like Exposé that help manage the clutter, whereas under XP we've only got the taskbar and ALT + TAB. I'll talk about this more in a second.
Adding a second monitor is basically one of the easiest hardware upgrades you can do and believe it or not, it is even easier under OS X. I plugged in the second Cinema Display using the DVI port on the Radeon 9600. By the time I got back up to my desk the OS had already enabled the monitor, extended my desktop and set the resolution to the LCD's native resolution. There are not many options to tinker with with multimonitor setups under OS X, everything just works. Applications remember where you leave windows if you just move them there and close them, and the apps I've been using seem to be well aware of the setup.
There is a performance hit when multimonitor is enabled (much like the hit in XP), especially when using Exposé. Exposé already dips in performance when you have more than a few windows open, moving to a multimonitor setup does further impact performance with Exposé. Luckily even when you've got a bunch of windows open Exposé doesn't really slow down, instead you get dropped frames in the Exposé animation. The choppyness does get a little annoying but the functionality isn't really reduced which is very important.
Exposé retains its functionality while multimonitor is enabled, instead of mixing all the windows you basically get the equivalent of two Exposé functions running - one on each monitor. Exposé's functionality with multimonitors does make sense, it's exactly how you'd expect it to work.
I have yet to try gaming with a multimonitor setup, and I have high hopes as it is a pain to deal with under XP. I'll post about my experiences with gaming once I actually get a game installed on the machine :)
I'm getting better and better about using keyboard shortcuts in OS X. When I get back to the office today I'm going to try installing LaunchBar thanks to many of your suggestions. I'm at the point now where there are certain tasks that I can accomplish quicker under OS X than I could under XP because of the combination of Exposé and a plethora of keyboard shortcuts. I'm not more productive yet as there is still a lot of getting used to that's necessary but I definitely see the potential.
Switching between my Mac and PC machines continues to be a non-issue, all of the shortcuts and things I find myself doing under OS X remain on my Mac - I don't try to do them on my PCs. As I use the Mac more I may find myself trying to use Exposé and similar things under XP, but so far I thankfully don't have those issues.
I would like to close with some thoughts on the whole Mac vs. PC debate. The responses I've received to this experiment have been overwhelmingly positive from Mac readers; the help you all have provided is much appreciated and very valuable. At the same time, I appreciate the number of PC readers that are approaching this with an open mind and are honestly interested in the possibility of a die-hard PC user migrating to a Mac. Both camps have their "zealots" but for the most part, we are all here because we're nuts about hardware, software and computers in general. I would look at this experiment much like we look at different chipsets, CPUs, video cards or any sort of normal comparison between two pieces of hardware; approach it with an open mind and you'll end up with the best overall choice at the end.
I've got more Macdates coming down the pipe; I've finally got Photoshop, Office and Dreamweaver installed so now I should be able to do everything I used to do on a daily basis on my PC. More on that later...
Adding a second monitor is basically one of the easiest hardware upgrades you can do and believe it or not, it is even easier under OS X. I plugged in the second Cinema Display using the DVI port on the Radeon 9600. By the time I got back up to my desk the OS had already enabled the monitor, extended my desktop and set the resolution to the LCD's native resolution. There are not many options to tinker with with multimonitor setups under OS X, everything just works. Applications remember where you leave windows if you just move them there and close them, and the apps I've been using seem to be well aware of the setup.
There is a performance hit when multimonitor is enabled (much like the hit in XP), especially when using Exposé. Exposé already dips in performance when you have more than a few windows open, moving to a multimonitor setup does further impact performance with Exposé. Luckily even when you've got a bunch of windows open Exposé doesn't really slow down, instead you get dropped frames in the Exposé animation. The choppyness does get a little annoying but the functionality isn't really reduced which is very important.
Exposé retains its functionality while multimonitor is enabled, instead of mixing all the windows you basically get the equivalent of two Exposé functions running - one on each monitor. Exposé's functionality with multimonitors does make sense, it's exactly how you'd expect it to work.
I have yet to try gaming with a multimonitor setup, and I have high hopes as it is a pain to deal with under XP. I'll post about my experiences with gaming once I actually get a game installed on the machine :)
I'm getting better and better about using keyboard shortcuts in OS X. When I get back to the office today I'm going to try installing LaunchBar thanks to many of your suggestions. I'm at the point now where there are certain tasks that I can accomplish quicker under OS X than I could under XP because of the combination of Exposé and a plethora of keyboard shortcuts. I'm not more productive yet as there is still a lot of getting used to that's necessary but I definitely see the potential.
Switching between my Mac and PC machines continues to be a non-issue, all of the shortcuts and things I find myself doing under OS X remain on my Mac - I don't try to do them on my PCs. As I use the Mac more I may find myself trying to use Exposé and similar things under XP, but so far I thankfully don't have those issues.
I would like to close with some thoughts on the whole Mac vs. PC debate. The responses I've received to this experiment have been overwhelmingly positive from Mac readers; the help you all have provided is much appreciated and very valuable. At the same time, I appreciate the number of PC readers that are approaching this with an open mind and are honestly interested in the possibility of a die-hard PC user migrating to a Mac. Both camps have their "zealots" but for the most part, we are all here because we're nuts about hardware, software and computers in general. I would look at this experiment much like we look at different chipsets, CPUs, video cards or any sort of normal comparison between two pieces of hardware; approach it with an open mind and you'll end up with the best overall choice at the end.
I've got more Macdates coming down the pipe; I've finally got Photoshop, Office and Dreamweaver installed so now I should be able to do everything I used to do on a daily basis on my PC. More on that later...
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SmurfTower - Tuesday, February 10, 2004 - link
I would choose for you not to install Launch-Bar yet, experience the Mac UI more extensively before you start using with 3rd party apps. Launch-Bar is a Windows concept and trying to integrate this into the Macintosh will influence the outcome of this experiment. Judge OS X on its own merits.Judge_Fire - Tuesday, February 10, 2004 - link
Yeah, you can have different pics on two monitors, speking of which:You can get nice desktop pics, split in two (or more) and sized for large mac displays at http://www.mandolux.com
Here are a few direct links to a few of my favorites (visit above adress to get the whole frameset+navigation):
http://mandolux.mine.nu/desktops/fire-desktops/kit...
http://mandolux.mine.nu/desktops/cruising-desktops...
http://mandolux.mine.nu/desktops/technosis-anthrax...
But the Buddha, Skies and clouds and graffiti stuff are all quite good, too.
J
Paul - Tuesday, February 10, 2004 - link
David, depending how you're doing your dual monitors you can do that with Nvidia's or ATI's drivers. However, if you're running 3 monitors off one ATI and one Nvidia card like me then you need some other software (that I have yet to find!).David - Tuesday, February 10, 2004 - link
really enjoy reading your updates, and look forward to more.i believe your dual monitors on the mac are each capable of displaying a different desktop pic - minor, but i wish i could do that on this xp desktop.
Tim West - Tuesday, February 10, 2004 - link
Welcome to the Mac world. I got my G5 day after Thanksgiving last year and love it and OS X. The only thing I use my PC for now is playing BF1942/Desert Combat. Some points:- Gaming with the mac is probably it's weakest point, not becuase of any real problems, but becuase the software deploys later than on the PC - sometimes *years* later like Halo. I would go ahead and grab the new ATi 9800 Pro ( the 256 MB version that properly supports the G5's 8x AGP )instead of the OEM card before you come to any hard/fast conclusions in that area. For most users gaming is not really a issue on the mac, becuase like me, *thats* what they use their PC's for!
- That brings up the PC vs. Mac debate. I believe it's old news and self defeating to have endless debates on "which one is better" - there is no reason these days why a mac user cant have a PC kicking around just like I do to play games on thats not on the mac yet, and there's no reason a hi end PC user cant have a mac around. This is not 1999, it's 2004, and the computing world has moved ahead. Poeple need to move ahead along with the times.
I am enjoying reading your discoveries.
GL - Tuesday, February 10, 2004 - link
Yeah, Anand if you have the developer tools installed and want to see the point at which Exposé requires more VRAM than is available locally on the video card, you should run /Developer/Applications/Graphic Tools/OpenGL Driver Monitor. Click on the Monitors menu > Choose host > localhost followed by Monitors menu > Driver Monitors > (whatever driver is there...probably ATIRadeonGLDriver). A new monitor window should pop up. Click on Parameters and drag over "vramFreeBytes" and "gartUsedBytes". Adjust the graphing to your preferences. You should get something similar to this: http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/GL/opengl.jpg. Each one of those spikes/dips was when I used Exposé and as you can see, my usage patterns at 1024x768 would require about 32 MB of VRAM at a minimum. I wouldn't be surprised, if as suggested by Lucian 64 MB is too little given your dual displays at high resolution.On another note, if ATI gets you that new Radeon 9800 Pro, let us know if it causes the fans to spin more. Apparently, the PowerMac doesn't monitor temperatures in the PCI/AGP card thermal zone. Instead, it monitors how much power is drawn at the slots. It then uses this input to determine how fast to spin the fans.
aristotle - Tuesday, February 10, 2004 - link
In my experiences with gaming on a multi-monitor mac (12" pBook) is that one of the monitors will often be disabled (WCIII in Fullscreen) to conserve VRAM. In the case of WCIII, you can specify which monitor you want to switch to.Lucian - Tuesday, February 10, 2004 - link
OS X dynamically manages VRAM between multiple monitors, but with a workspace that big (dual 22" or 23"?), 64 MB of VRAM isn't nearly enough (as you pointed out). Quick, get yourself a Radeon 9800 Pro (or Special Edition). =) Exposé will be much smoother when you do.