Considering Switching

Hi everyone,

I had a question that I was pondering for some time... I was curious if you could use a dell 17inch flat panel monitor with a powerbook to extend your desktop... Or does it have to be an apple cinema display? Also can the ibook run two monitors at once (one monitor being the built in lcd screen like the powerbooks)?

The reason I ask is because I bought a laptop PC back in april, and it's been treating me fairly. It's a Dell, and I can't tell you how much their support SUCKS (please excuse my french), but it is absolutly terrible. I have never had a harder time understanding instructions or solving problems with computer related support before. One of my issues was that the computer... on occation... would refuse to wake from sleep after the lid was opened... Well that is just great considering that half my work did not save yet! Also the DVD playback is horrid. When I asked support they advised me to set the computer to never go to sleep when I am away from it... "well what if I want to put it to sleep?" I ask. Their response is that it is a software problem and they try to shuffle me off to someone else who charges $50 to solve your problem... But I highly doubt that it is software when I've reformatted the computer to factory default settings...

So anyway, I am a highschool senior, and after messing with my friends mac, and the mac mini at best buy, I find the OS very intuitive and responsive. I really like the feel of the OS. So it is in my plans once I am accepted to a college, to sell my pc, and use the college discount and buy either a powerbook or ibook, and a seperate display (preferably from dell, because I have a online credit card there and could purchase a $300 monitor without too much hassle, otherwise I'd just wait awhile until I could buy one with cash).

So I know it's a ways off but I just wanted to put that question out there, and also inform any other "soon to be switchers" not to consider a PC, especially a dell (from my experiences at least... Others may have had more luck).

Thanks a lot for reading,

Looking forward to getting a mac in February 06!

You can use any display you want. The powerbooks have DVI out as standard, and they'll drive anything with up to 1920 X 1200 resolution (equiv. to Apple's 23" display.) So any powerbook will handle your monitor no problem; OSX automatically detects monitors.

As for getting a Powerbook: go for it!

sevenhelmet said:

You can use any display you want. The powerbooks have DVI out as standard, and they'll drive anything with up to 1920 X 1200 resolution (equiv. to Apple's 23" display.) So any powerbook will handle your monitor no problem; OSX automatically detects monitors.

As for getting a Powerbook: go for it!

Click to expand...

Upgraded 15 inch and 17 inch can handle up to the apple 30 inch and still support their own screen for screen spanning..

thanks for the replies... Wow 30 inches is a lot. However, the powerbook that was in my price range was a 12" (still in highschool... heh), and I figured that since I already have a wireless logitech keyboard and mouse, getting a second display would extend my working area when at the desk, and then I could always detach it to carry it around campus.