Mac OS X is very, very smart. I decided to plug my Samsung monitor into my PowerBook when I'm using it at home, and I found a spare ViewSonic I could use at work. Screen real-estate rocks. :-)

I expected this would be a bit of a pain to manage. It's a new OS afterall, and new operating systems usually lack UI polish.

First I worked at home with the Samsung. I have my laptop on the left and the monitor on the right. I have my screens arranged thusly, and disjoint vertically so the cursor flows across the screens at the right height. (you can't do that on Windows, Virginia)

Then I went to work, and plugged in the ViewSonic. I opened the Displays preferences and arranged the screens correctly... in this case, the laptop is to the right of the screen.

When I got home, I plugged in the Samsung and woke up the PowerBook. Much to my delight, the screens were arranged properly!! The PowerBook on the left, the Samsung on the right. Incredible. Mac OS X is a work of art. Thank you Apple employees! I'm as happy as a little girl!

I've worked on multi-head systems on NT for years and it's never, ever worked this well. Not on NT4, not on W98 (which I never used but saw in use in a multi-head setup), nor on W2K, which used the same multi-head model as W98.