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Use old MBP as External Monitor?

S

sinktip

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 12, 2011
31
0
My son is 13 and gets some occasional gigs as a DJ at the pre-teen dances in our area. He uses a 2010 MBP (OSX Mavericks) to play music and would like to have an extra monitor to use while spinning.
He would like to use the old 2008 15" MBP Unibody (Snow Leopard 10.6.8) as the monitor. This suits me fine as we already have the old beat up MBP and it's probably better to have him carry that thing around than a nice new external monitor.
Is it possible to do this? Firewire? What are the settings required?
 
S

sinktip

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 12, 2011
31
0
That sounds good, but the network connection might be a problem if he's at a gig (they might not have an open wifi connection).
I guess we were hoping for a cable only way of connecting. If it's not possible then it is what it is.
Grant
 
simsaladimbamba

simsaladimbamba

Guest
Nov 28, 2010
22,670
31
located
sinktip said:
That sounds good, but the network connection might be a problem if he's at a gig (they might not have an open wifi connection).
I guess we were hoping for a cable only way of connecting. If it's not possible then it is what it is.
Grant
Click to expand...

Network connections can be wired, thus my recommendation of a Gigabit Ethernet cable, which costs maybe 5 USD for a short one, and the 2010 and 2008 MBPs have that Gigabit Ethernet interface.

Here are two images showing the ports on the 2006 to 2008 Aluminium MacBook Pros and the 2008 to 2012 Unibody MacBook Pros:

mac-book-pro-ports.jpg
macbookpro-110224-4.png

The port I mentioned is called "Gigabit Ethernet" in both images.

A Gigabit Ethernet cable, also called "Cat5+" or "Cat6" cable, looks like this, and can be had in various short lengths like 30 centimetres or longer or whatever non-metric equivalent you have to use.
MR2ss_2014_04_01_pA1_GigabitEthernetCable.png
 
S

sinktip

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 12, 2011
31
0
Sorry, I was unclear. I thought you were saying it needed both a network connection and an ethernet cable together in order to work.
Grant
 
S

sinktip

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 12, 2011
31
0
Resolved

This worked well. I think my kid is going to be a super happy boy when he gets home from school.
Thank you,
Grant Brown
White Rock, BC
Canada
 
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