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.