Can I use it as a standalone monitor?

Hey,

I'm looking at buying a mac for my boyfriend. He would prefer to use a desktop setup rather than a laptop. I have a MacBook Pro and would like to know, if I were to buy him an iMac (as opposed to either a Mini or Pro with a cinema display), would I be able, when he's not using it of course, to plug my MacBook Pro in to the iMac to use the screen?

Thanks!

F

By default, there is no way to use it as an external monitor as there is no port to input video as there would be on a regular monitor, it only contains a video-out port in the form of mini-DVI.

Well, if both machines run Leopard, you could take advantage of the new Back-to-My-Mac feature, which provides remote desktop access. In essense, you could use Back-to-My-Mac on his iMac to gain desktop access to your MBP. The iMac would thus sort of be like a monitor for the MBP. I have no idea if the screen resolution could be changed though. It might look pretty flakey...