The best thing of having the 30-inch Cinema Display is all the space you have for working — but what about those of us who aren’t so lucky to have one? There are ways to greatly take advantage of every pixel available in your screen. Keep on reading for a few tips.

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More than 1024×768? Don’t bother with full-screen apps. Yes, people have been sighted using all the screen space in their 17-inch MacBook Pro just for browsing — or worse… just for Word. There’s no way these apps require that kind of screen space. Most websites are now designed to take advantage of the 1024×768 resolution — so keep your browser sized that way. As for Word, most people are comfortable using it within the 100%-125% zoom levels — try to keep the window sized that way. You can complement the rest of the screen with your IM app, downloads, plain desktop windows, or whatever else you can fit in.

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Use Exposé. What’s so good of having a three-button mouse if you’re not using it efficiently? The best setup I’ve tried with a plain three-button mouse was having the middle button bring up all the windows using Exposé. That way, you’re a single click away from reaching your desired window. To program your mouse that way, go to System Preferences, choose Dashboard and Exposé, and choose the middle mouse button for bringing up all windows.

Also, get to know the F11 key on your keyboard, since it’s the default to hide all open windows and give you instant access to the desktop. But if you have a 3+ button mouse, lucky you — you’re set up for smooth sailing all the way.

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Use Dashboard. Some apps now come with specialized widgets that do a great job, even when running in Dashboard’s background. Other widgets are so good on their own that you cannot believe they are plain widgets, like iClip lite 2. So… keep in handy some widgets that can help you work faster. To access Dashboard, the default key is F12 — but you can program it any way you like, just like Exposé.

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Use Quicksilver. You’d be surprised how much time you can save on a daily basis once you get used to Quicksilver. It’s the best multi-purpose launcher to date — and plugins boost its efficiency in a considerable manner.

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Use more than one desktop… By using a dual-screen setup, you’re practically guaranteed to become much more productive than by getting a brand-new computer. It’s amazing how much an extra display can increase productivity… especially for notebook setups.

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…or use virtual desktops. If you don’t have the means for getting a second display at the moment, you could use virtual ones. Just like Apple’s forthcoming Spaces feature in Leopard, VirtueDesktops creates up to four desktops which are a breeze to switch into. One for work, one for the web, one for media, and one whatever comes up — this is a typical setup for most users. But you can get creative and use them to your own comfort.

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So, there you have it — a few tips. Now it’s your turn: share a couple of tips that work for you.

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[tags]Apple,Mac,Hardware,Software[/tags]