I have calibrated my Mac Mini to my BenQ monitor. Let's suppose my wife wants to plug her Macbook into the BenQ. She does the calibration. Then she wants to use the monitor on the Macbook - does she recalibrate the monitor on that, as well?
Does the Spyder write a little code for each and the laptop knows which monitor it's using and pulls up the appropriate correction?
On macOs, calibration information is usually written by calibration applications/processes in files called ColorSync profiles that can usually be found on your hard drive at :
- [your_home_folder]/Library/ColorSync/Profiles => stored at user level
or
- /Library/ColorSync/Profiles => stored at OS/computer level and so usable by all users
Once a calibration has been done, you can find and copy those files from one computer to another or from one user to another at the corresponding places listed above (BTW, profile files can be transferred zipped, sent by mail, put as they are on an external USB drive, key or card etc.. as any other files).
The extension/type of ColorSync profile files is usually ".icc".
Once you copied the ColorSync profiles files you want to use in the above folders of your target (may it be another user, another computer or both) you can associate/apply those profiles to your display as usual, by going in System Settings/Displays and choose in the pop-up menu that can be found next to "Color profile" and where your copied calibrated profiles should be now listed.
Apple reference documention for setting display profiles is here : https://support.apple.com/en-mz/guide/mac-help/mchlf3ddc60d/mac
If you have the same version of macOs (or nearly the same), there may be no visible differences between setups that use the same ColorSync Profile (i.e. macMini connected to BenQ or macBook connected to BenQ in your case) as a ColorSync profile content is mainly display dependent.
Also, as a complement, I found this "How To" that seems to be helpful and reffers to calibration with Spyder's.
https://www.intego.com/mac-security-blog/color-calibrating-your-macs-display/
@prg-lagarde So does the MacBook automagically know which display it's plugged into and grab the appropriate correction file, or do you need to go into display properties and tell it you want to use it?
@bo-gussname Some kind of neither in fact. First time you need to choose the profile manually, then it's associated with the display so that when you plug it in, the profile is used for this display.
It is not a fully automatic choice, you need to pick the profile for each specific display at least once. "System settings" application then save your choice in its preferences so that you don't need to do it again.
On the original computer (the one where you calibrated the display and create the profile file for it), the association is usually made by the calibration process/application so that you don't need to use "System settings" to pick it yourself, but when you copy profiles to another computer, you need to pick the profile yourself at least once.
Hope it is clearer.
@prg-lagarde Thanks. Sounds like something that can be handled with only a minor amount of profanity.
@bo-gussname I think it is, though I also think it should have been made simpler for users...
The fact is complexity is, as most of the time, resulting from the combination of several points of view and application in the production of computers and displays. Same goes for USB, Thunderbolt between Os, plugs, devices etc...
They could have unified those display managements at some point, providing us easier ways and comprehension, I think ;).
For instance, I have two different brands of displays and then two different ways of managing profiles... and even if I know some tricks about scripting, there is no unified solution I can apply : I still have two sets of gestures to apply, one for each display. It's not always the case (many displays can be managed fully once for all from System Settings for instance), but well, at least, you have many exceptions.
So I can understand the frustration and wondering ;)
... and you're welcome.