Question about airplay.

dantheman5398 said:

Hey guys I just purchased a 15" retina macbook pro and I was interested in using my tv as an external monitor. Are there any that would allow me to wirelessly use my tv as a display? An apple tv is the obvious soulution however I don't need one for anything other than a wireless display reciever, are there any cheaper options? I also no just an HDMI cable would work but I would love to remain wireless. Anyway thanks a lot guys.

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This is going to be much more practical with Mavericks where the AirPlay display can act as an extended desktop, but I would think an Apple TV would still be the cheapest way to do it. Don't expect to game or anything, as the latency is rather poor, but for video streaming it's pretty solid.

I was a bit intrigued by your question so I did a little research. Every other wireless HDMI solution I found was both as or more expensive and would require something plugged into your Mac as well as the TV.

Note that currently only a few apps can output directly to Airplay and for anything else Airplay can only mirror your main display and not give you a true additional monitor. This will change under Mavericks.

A wired solution, or someone else's wireless HDMI, would give you an actual second desktop until Mountain Lion.

dantheman5398 said:

ok thanks a lot guys I was really only curious about this for watching youtube video and doing some light web browsing. Would an apple tv be alright for this?

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For that the ATV would serve your purpose well. Also the least expensive route to go. You won't be disappointed.

Using the aTV you can even watch YouTube without turning on your Mac at all!