second monitor with macbook Max m3

[H_Herwig]

I  would like to buy an external 32 inch monitor for my new 16 inch macbook. I would like to put the main program (Lightroom Classic, Photoshop or FinalCutPro) on the new 32 inch monitor and use my Macbook for the picture only. The 32 inch monitor would be of lower color quality - and therefore cheaper - and be used mainly for the adjustment panels; the correct color would be seen on my macbook.

Would it be possibel to use the external monitor for the main program viev and the macbook for the photo only?

Herwig

[Conrad_C]

It’s possible with Photoshop. I don’t know about Final Cut Pro.

It is currently not possible with Lightroom Classic.

Photoshop uses the older, traditional window model where you can drag a document window to any connected display, and all document windows are at the same full display quality. So it’s easy to put the document window on the highest quality display, and the panels on lower quality displays.

Lightroom Classic uses the currently more common single-window app model, where control panels are permanently bonded to the document window, as you see in Apple Keynote/Pages/iMovie and many other apps. However, Lightroom Classic uses an unusual variation of this where the only window that shows full quality tone and color is the main application window and only when it is in the Develop module. This is what causes the limitations below.

If you put the main Lightroom Classic window on the MacBook display, you will have maximum quality thanks to that display, but you will not be able to tear off the panels and move them to the 32-inch display because the panels can’t be detached.

If you put the main Lightroom Classic window on the 32-inch display, you will not be able to see full quality on the MacBook display. It is possible to open the Secondary Display window in Lightroom Classic and put that on the MacBook Pro so that you can see the selected image there while you adjust options in the Develop module, but the problem now is that, as I said, only the Develop module (which must be in the main window) displays in full quality. All other display modes — Full Screen Preview, Loupe, Survey, and any view available in the Secondary Display — are a lower quality view that is also slower, because they don’t yet support GPU acceleration (currently, only the Develop module does).

It is also not possible in cloud Lightroom or Adobe Camera Raw, because those raw processors do not have a second window option of any kind, and also do not allow detaching the panels.

[H_Herwig]

Thank you for your prompt email reply. It is, actually, in the Lightroom
Development mode I would need to get the picture on the macbook. You
explained all very well. I will now borrow a large monitor and see what I
can do.

[KR Seals]

There is no reason to have "lower quality color" on the external monitor. Proper calibration and profiling with Calibrite colorimeter and software will give you excellent color unless the external monitor is just junk. The link will take you to a setup that will calibrate and profile the external monitor, but not the internal display.