iBook w/ 20" External LCD?

[Hosemeyer]

I plan on using my iBook with my 20.1" LCD when ever I'm at my dorm, and use the 12.1" screen when ever I'm out. Does anyone know if this thing will run a 1680*1050 screen decently? I'm not planning on games or anything of the like. I mainly want it for when I'm working in photoshop/dreamweaver... more space usually makes work quite a bit easier.

The monitor is a Dell 2005FPW which is almost exactly the same as the 20" cinema display (same panel, different electronics)

 

[Hosemeyer]

Sorry, I should clarify... I have one of the newest revisions of the 12" iBook.... 1.33 GHZ ect...

 

[Avalon]

The iBook does only screen mirroring, when connecting an external screen, so it would run at the same resolution as the build-in screen (1024x768).
There is a hack to allow using the external screen as 2nd screen, but I don't know if it allows to shut off the build in screen, or if it will allow the resolution needed for your screen.

And also, the iBook comes only with VGA-out, no DVI. I don't know which connections your Dell screen has, but Apple's screens need DVI-D, they can't be used with the iBook.

 

[Hosemeyer]

So it won't allow me to do the 1680*1050..... I'd prefer that it is mirroring...

Maybe I won't be selling my desktop after all... ugh.

The dell has both DVI and VGA.

 

[Benjamindaines]

You have two options for this
1 save up your money and buy a 12 inch powerbook (it will do everything you need plus it has dvi incase you decide to go with an apple monitor)

2 use Screen Spanning hack a quick google search will bring it right up. (if you go with this option you can use spanning and clamshell mode but on an ibook clamshell mode ill destroy your screen)

If i were you I would go with option one.

 

[Hosemeyer]

You have two options for this
1 save up your money and buy a 12 inch powerbook (it will do everything you need plus it has dvi incase you decide to go with an apple monitor)

2 use Screen Spanning hack a quick google search will bring it right up. (if you go with this option you can use spanning and clamshell mode but on an ibook clamshell mode ill destroy your screen)

If i were you I would go with option one.

What does your Option two mean.... could you retype it please?

 

[Hosemeyer]

I'm trying that hack.... it works, besides I can't get it to go into the display properties during the clamshell mode.

argh.

I talked to the apple support, he had no clue what he was talking about (he was saying the video card could only support 1024*768 and that is why it couldn't go any higher.

Are you guys absolutely sure that the powerbook will allow a secondary screen at virtually any resolution?

 

[Benjamindaines]

Are you guys absolutely sure that the powerbook will allow a secondary screen at virtually any resolution?

here you go http://www.apple.com/powerbook/graphics.html

 

[Benjamindaines]

2 use Screen Spanning hack a quick google search will bring it right up. (if you go with this option you can use spanning and clamshell mode but on an ibook clamshell mode ill destroy your screen)

re-phrased: the hack will allow you to run the ibook with the desktop extended over two monitors and plugged into one monitor with the lid closed. But running and ibook with the lid closed will destroy the LCD monitor in ibook due to heat build ups (the PowerBook is designed to be run with the screen closed the ibook is not.)

 

[Hosemeyer]

The screen on the powerbook is supposed to be better aswell right? I heard something about being brighter and some other things... I hope they don't go and kill me with the $100 return fee if I just exchange it for the powerbook.

 

[Benjamindaines]

Yes the screen is suppose to be better but I dont really notice that much of a different.

 

[D3v1L80Y]

The screen on the powerbook is supposed to be better aswell right? I heard something about being brighter and some other things... I hope they don't go and kill me with the $100 return fee if I just exchange it for the powerbook.

As far as I know, they are the same screens...but I guess I could be wrong.

 

[Benjamindaines]

As far as I know, they are the same screens...but I guess I could be wrong.

Maybe its only the 15" and 17" that have the better screen.

 

[sarahsboy18]

According to the Apple site all Powerbooks (12-17") are all "TFT"... all iBooks are "TFT XGA"... I don't know for sure if the "XGA" signifies a difference or not. But I do know that the screen on my 17" Powerbook is considerably brighter and can be viewed from an angle. Whereas my iBook you pretty much have to be looking straight on to see anything.

And seeing how there is no listed difference between the 12" or 17" Powerbook models I assume the 12" Powerbook would be just as good as my 17".

 

[fujihatake]

XGA just means the resolution is at a certain level

 

[lil]

XGA just means the resolution is at a certain level

As a quick reference in case this helps

VGA - 640x480 (although used sometimes to denote a CRT output...)
SVGA - 800x600
XGA - 1024x768
SXGA - 1280x1024 (5:4 ratio instead of 4:3)
SXGA+ - 1400x1050 (4:3 ratio again)
UXGA - 1600x1200

WSXGA+ - 1680x1050 (widescreen)
WUXGA - 1920x1200 (widescreen : double check this one, not 100% certain!)
Of course others exist, such as WXGA (wide-XGA resolution) and I think even resolutions like QXGA which is very high res, but I don't know the dimensions and they don't come up often. Is WXGA 1280x768?

When it says TFT XGA, that's just telling you the native resolution that LCD panel will run at. In my experience PowerBook displays are brighter than the iBook ones but it's generally a close run thing.


Just to add what everyone else has says, real bummer the iBook can't do what you want but it's Apple's big selling point between the iBooks and PowerBooks. Also the guy at Apple probably said the ATI Radeon 9550 in your latest 12" iBook can only go up to 1024x768 as an easy option to describe the iBook's limitation. However I can assure you a 32MB VRAM 9550 can go much higher than 1024x768, or XGA resolution :flower:

HTH,

Vicky.

 

[manimoney]

Hi,

I have the exact same 12 Inch iBook as you and the same Dell 20 inch widescreen display. I dowloaded the screen spanning doctor hack and was able to drive the external monitor at its native widescreen resolution. Also I was able to span display across the two monitors. The external display resolution was fantastic and there was no problem at all in terms of clarity.

However, when you connect the external monitor the OS allocates 16 MB to each monitor only. There is no way of setting all 32 MB to the external display, even if you run in clamshell mode. I found this to be a problem only when running a movie on the external monitor. If you play a movie and at the same time try to use you ibook screen then you will see the movie picture become distorted because the comptuer is running out of VRAM. This was only a problem while multi-tasking when the movie was playing. It works great in you just play a movie alone.

About the screen on the iBook becoming damaged if you run in clamshell mode - I don't think this is a credible statement and AFAIK there are no studies or data to back up that statement. In any case there is no advantage of running ibook in clamshell mode...as opposed to the powerbook where running in clamshell mode will dedicate all 64MB Vram to the eternal display.

Mani

 

[fearlessfreap24]

i have been using my iBook with a 36' CRT monitor and it works great. it will only go to 1152Xwhatever but it is great when you are coding HTML and PHP for a webpage.

 

[DejaDingo]

I have the exact same 12 Inch iBook as you and the same Dell 20 inch widescreen display. I dowloaded the screen spanning doctor hack and was able to drive the external monitor at its native widescreen resolution.
Mani

Could you please be more specific about the hack? Where to get it, and what are the risks?

I need to replace my Dell 21" CRT with a 20" LCD, and the monitor will be attached to an 8 port KVM switch that serves as a common "head" for all my machines: WinXP, Win2K, Linux(Fedora) and my iBook running OS X (10.3). I need stable crisp text and graphics, no games or movies.

I need to make sure the new monitor will be compatible with the analog video through the KVM switch and also that I can take advantage of the native resolution, which is the whole reason I am looking at the 20" as opposed to a 19". The candidates are Dell, Samsung and ViewSonic, different prices, but seemingly similar in performance and quality from what I read. However, none really say they have Mac support -- or since I am using the VGA-out on the iBook, is this really an issue?

Thanks for the help.