Problem with Mac Mini with AOC usb monitor as primary display

[scott@sonicsweets.com]

Hey all, I have a Mac Mini 2012 i7 2.3 quad running 10.8.5 with an AOC E1659FWU USB monitor. When I am connected to another primary display through the HDMI or Thunderbolt, the AOC works great a second display. Flawless aside from the brightness thing.

However, when I am using ONLY the AOC USB monitor, I get some funny behaviors that make it unusable for me- some apps work fine but others do not update their displays. For example, if I am in Google Chrome and scroll down, nothing happens. But if I switch to another program and switch back, it is now displaying the portion of the page I scrolled to. Same thing if I switch tabs, etc. I can see its display update if I hover over the dock, presumably because it is forced to update that portion of its window. Spotify exhibits a similar behavior.

The deal breaker for me here is Pro Tools. It is so very close to working fine (I could get over the issue with Chrome and use Safari like I am now), and generally movement of the screen is no problem, but the playhead marker does not move during playback, making editing audio very difficult. Plug-in windows also do not update unless forced.

Any ideas? THANKS!!!

[Carlo]

Hi Scott,

It looks like these applications have issues with virtual screens as primary. It's a problem where the applications check for screen capabilities only of one screen and assume all screens are rendered by the same GPU.

In these cases usually the best thing is to make sure the primary screen is driven by the built-in GPU. So if you're only using the AOC as external, go in System Preferences->Displays->Arrangement and make sure your internal screen and not the AOC has the menubar (drag it on it if it's not).

Best regards,
Carlo

[scott@sonicsweets.com]

Originally Posted by Carlo

Hi Scott,

It looks like these applications have issues with virtual screens as primary. It's a problem where the applications check for screen capabilities only of one screen and assume all screens are rendered by the same GPU.

In these cases usually the best thing is to make sure the primary screen is driven by the built-in GPU. So if you're only using the AOC as external, go in System Preferences->Displays->Arrangement and make sure your internal screen and not the AOC has the menubar (drag it on it if it's not).

Best regards,
Carlo

Hi Carlo, I think I need to clarify - By "primary" monitor, I mean only monitor. I also have no internal screen- I am using a Mac Mini.

So to summarize, I am hoping to use the AOC monitor as the only monitor with a Mac Mini desktop. The monitor works fine with another display connected (apple cinema display via HDMI), but when it is the only monitor, that is when I experience these problems.

Any ideas?

[Carlo]

Originally Posted by scott@sonicsweets.com

Hi Carlo, I think I need to clarify - By "primary" monitor, I mean only monitor. I also have no internal screen- I am using a Mac Mini.

So to summarize, I am hoping to use the AOC monitor as the only monitor with a Mac Mini desktop. The monitor works fine with another display connected (apple cinema display via HDMI), but when it is the only monitor, that is when I experience these problems.

Any ideas?

I see, that would explain most of the issues.

In the short term I'm afraid I don't have other ideas. In the longer term there are things we may try to do in this specific use case, we'll keep it in mind while researching new ways to trick OS X into better virtual screen support.

Cheers,
Carlo