12" powerbook running 20" Cinema display

[Sabbath]

I currently have a 12" 900MHz iBook and a 20" cinema display that I am forced to run off my PC at the moment :(

I am considering upgrading to a 12" powerbook so I can run my mac on the display. Does anyone have any experience on how well the nvidia graphics cope with a cinema display? Is it noticable slow with monitor spanning? Much faster just using the external monitor? Also is it possible to turn off the laptops display without closing it. ie like lid closed operation but with the lid open (I'm worried about the heat damaging the screen). I just wish they'd put the ATI 9600 in the 12".

I really love my iBook and would be very sad to see it go, its the perfect portable/couch computer in my view (long battery life without much heat) but I really need to be able to use my mac screen with my mac. So any other suggestions? Nothing in the whole Apple line up really shouts out at me for this purpose, I cant afford a dual G5 and dont want a single one for the prices theyre asking. The dual G4s are tempting but just feel like they'll go out of date much quicker than the G5, and the bigger powerbooks are just not what I'm after. Oh how I wish for a G5 cube at a reasonable price.

Damn those new iBooks mine must have depreciated a good £200 yesterday :(

[mymemory]

The best deal for me right now is a 12" PB. I do not know about the optional screen but they ran weel with 16MB of video ram a long time ago. With 32 I see no problem. I have 8MB of vram in my Pismo and I'm ok.

Do not forget that many thing were done with 2MB of Vram. The PowerMac 9600 and early G3's had 2MB of VRam and 6MB at the most runing 21" CTRs with no problem. Just the SGIs had 8 or 16MB at that time.

[FuzzyBallz]

How is the 12" PB deal unless you want over a GB of RAM, Alu shell, 80GB HD, super drive, plus the $1K premium of the equally powerful 14" iBook?

[QCassidy352]

this really isn't the thread to debate the 14" ibook vs. the 12" PB. Those discussions are already all over this site.

Although in this case, the 14" ibook is not an option because it does not support external monitor spanning. It has to be a powerbook for what sabbath wants to do.

[sahnert]

don't the new iBooks have external monitor support?

[sahnert]

just checked my 12" PB manual about the open screen thing. You can use it that way with what's call "mirroring" the external monitor just displays the same thing as the PB monitor. don't know whether there is any way to turn of the screen while leaving the monitor on.

[panphage]

Originally posted by sahnert
don't the new iBooks have external monitor support?

Yes, as do the old ones, as long as it's a VGA monitor which the apple displays aren't. And the ibook can only mirror the main display, not span like the powerbooks. I think there's a hack to allow spanning with an ibook, but that still doesn't change the lack of a DVI out.