Duet Display Offers Tethered Solution to Turn an iPad into an Extra Display for Mac [Updated]

[RASTERMAN]

It's useful for some of us! $10 for a responsive 2nd or 3rd display? You bet!

I’m loving on Duet. $10 for another display? You bet it’s worth it for some of us!

I do a lot of remote support involving screen sharing. Now I have three displays: 24-Inch Cinema, MBP13 and now the iPad 3 via the 30 pin. 24,13, 9.7… Nice!

Thinking about setting up my iPad 2 as well, but for now, these three displays are pretty slick. I’ve tried something like this before, but the Wi-Fi based stuff was a bit too laggy and the Mac App side was nowhere nearly as neat and tidy.

Finally, I think I have to do a bit of reading… Not sure how the touchscreen functionality is supposed to work, but it doesn’t so far for me. Other than that, Duet seems to be working well as a third display tho it’s only been installed for 15 minutes. I do expect it to get a ton of use.

Cheers!

---RASTER

 

[markyr17]

I was waiting patiently for this but I must say it was very disappointing. Its a total CPU hog and its not as smooth as they make it out to be. When trying to scroll you end up dragging things around which gets really annoying. For simple viewing its fine but actual input and execution hasn't been too great for me so far. I've tried it on my iMac 27 and MacBook Pro Retina 15. I have an iPad Air 2 so my hope was that this would take advantage of the extra power somehow but doesn't look like thats the case. Hopefully the next few versions will make this better. My advice is.. wait a few versions because at this time its a quick money grab. Its not ready for prime time in my opinion. The CPU hog factor alone makes it a huge downer..

Thanks for the honest review

 

[Freyqq]

If Apple upgraded the Lightning connection to USB 3, I bet this would work much better.

 

[Alrescha]

The requirement is accurate, it is iOS 5.1.1 but some users are having issues.

Earlier you said:

Don't purchase if on iOS 5.1.1. I do plan to support it very soon."

So I see two things:

1) You know it does not work on old iPads.
2) You let everyone on the planet think that it does, and hope to be forgiven.

I am all for "accentuate the positive" and all that but I think you crossed a line.

A.

 

[pdaholic]

I just hooked up my iPhone 6+. Turned the resolution and fps down. I was able to watch video very comfortably using Vlc media player. This is much better than using the wifi based solutions. Definitely not zero lag though. I'm using the latest model MBPr. I'll give a more thorough report when I have time to play with it later.

 

[FlaccidSnake]

On a MBP Retina, the display settings gets reverted to "Best for Retina" settings. So if you prefer a scaled resolution, this might be an issue for you.

Hope they'll provide an option to be able to upscale the host computer's screen resolution.

For now, I can't be using this on a day to day development basis.

 

[Basic75]

I'm a bit confused by the reviews, is everybody using duet display seeing 150-200% CPU usage on the Mac side, or only some of you? When CPU usage is so high, is that all the time or only occasionally? What is the lowest number?

 

[Johnny Vegas]

So I have a handful of headless mac servers at work. Would this app allow me to use my iPhone as monitor in a pinch? Does tapping the screen work as a mouse click?

 

[Basic75]

Sorry, another confusion, regarding "retina mode": When I attach a retina iPad to use as second display there are three possibilities for the resolution:

- 1024x768
- 2048x1536 1:1 pixel mapping (everything very small)
- 2048x1536 with normal retina-style pixel-doubling (1024x768 "layout" pixels)

Which of these three possibilities are supported by duet display?

 

[Kroner]

I'm a bit confused by the reviews, is everybody using duet display seeing 150-200% CPU usage on the Mac side, or only some of you? When CPU usage is so high, is that all the time or only occasionally? What is the lowest number?

Mine goes from 20-170%. (This with 60fps and retina).

 

[Ploki]

Expensive, buggy and virtually the same as Air Display except you need a wired connection. I am not sure why this is a news story.

How does this compare to Air Display? https://avatron.com/applications/air-display/

Air Display is useless and I deleted it in a pinch, request a refund even, it has tons of visual artefacts, it starts working bad when you saturate your wifi, its extremely laggy. This has some lag, but its not very noticeable, and for a secondary display is actually useful.

I'm not going to be using it yet, still some bugs to iron out, but I think I'll keep it.

On 2014 rMBP 15 2.8 using 100-200% cpu usage. Fans going nuts. Not sure this is ready for primetime.

weird, I'm on 2012 15" 2.7 and it works fine. Not spectacular, fine.

Earlier you said:



So I see two things:

1) You know it does not work on old iPads.
2) You let everyone on the planet think that it does, and hope to be forgiven.

I am all for "accentuate the positive" and all that but I think you crossed a line.

A.

Well, obviously he does know now... Doesn't mean he knew it before.

 

[Dimwhit]

DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME! I went into system preferences-display and dragged the Menu Bar to the iPad display... this totally screwed it up and had to do hard reset of both rMBP and iPad! Be ware!

When I first connected my phone, it defaulted to having the menu bar and dock on my phone. It did really screw things up. My mouse didn't work at all. But I was able to launch System Preferences by tapping on it on my phone. Opened Displays, and I was able to move the menu bar back to the proper monitor and getting working without having to do a hard reset. So that was nice!

 

[Alrescha]

Doesn't mean he knew it before.

If he did not know the viability of the app on the platform, then I suggest he should not have claimed that it worked.

Every mention of this app in the media that I have seen makes the same claim: "all iPads, iOS 5.1.1 or better". Lots of suggestions of how nice it will be to put that old iPad back to work. One has to presume that the source of the feature list comes from the developer.

I believed, and I bought the app. I installed the drivers, shut everything down for the first time in a month, rebooted. I fired up the old iPad, reset it and installed the app. Nothing. Just in case I restored it and set it up again. I come here, and there it is: "don't purchase if on 5.1.1, I do plan to support it very soon."

I have seen too many software releases from too many companies to believe that this is news to the developer. Fool me once...

A.

 

[ashdelacroix]

I agree with Alrescha.

 

[Basic75]

Ok, pulled the trigger, now for a torture test I'm watching YouTube with Chrome in a Windows VM running full-screen on the iPad via duet display.

It works!

 

[fxmx42]

I wonder if I could use Photoshop/Illustrator with a nice Jot stylus through this Duet thingy.

 

[fanchee]

On 2014 rMBP 15 2.8 using 100-200% cpu usage. Fans going nuts. Not sure this is ready for primetime.

Exactly the reason I'll stay away. I read a review on MacWorld recently that said just this. High cpu usage, no thank you.

 

[cheesyappleuser]

All that hate must surely come from people who think this app ruins the "purist" concept of iOS and OS X, whatever they think it is.
This app allows you to extend your workflow, somehow removing the need of getting, let's say, an external display.
It just makes sense, and it's crazy how this been released just now.

 

[bradleyjx]

Just so people have another data point:

- Late 2011 MBP (2.2 i7, 16GB, SSD, Yosemite)
- iPad Mini Retina
- Normally in "Retina 30fps" mode

The CPU bounces between taking ~20% and taking ~100%. (more towards the latter) I'm guessing that improvements would be coming in this regard. (for instance, dropping the FPS if there is nothing going on on the other screen) It looks like it takes a baseline 50% CPU, then both the retina mode and the 60fps option double the CPU.

I've hit a couple occasional bugs, but nothing I'd consider a major issue. (Dark Mode turned on randomly on the iPad for a while...) Otherwise, this is pretty much exactly what I'd be looking for in something like this. You can't use this today on-the-go and expect to get good battery life, but what I really need is a good, small second monitor for traveling, and this provides that easily.

Sidenote: if the FPS and the resolution are causing the CPU issues today, I'd love to use this with even lower options - if they could get the power down to a normal program level for a laptop, I'd easily live with 10-15 FPS and/or color restrictions.

Sorry, another confusion, regarding "retina mode": When I attach a retina iPad to use as second display there are three possibilities for the resolution:

- 1024x768
- 2048x1536 1:1 pixel mapping (everything very small)
- 2048x1536 with normal retina-style pixel-doubling (1024x768 "layout" pixels)

Which of these three possibilities are supported by duet display?

The two options on the program correspond to the 1st and 3rd options you mention. It also allows for the screen to be refreshed @ 30fps or 60fps.

 

[PhiLLoW]

Not even a free trial to test if it really works?

Not gonna buy...

 

[BoxOfSnoo]

Not even a free trial to test if it really works?

Not gonna buy...

The iTunes App Store doesn't allow free trials. Did you not know this by now?

 

[Archer1440]

I have been using this for the past 40 min here at work, with my work-issued 11" MBA (2011) and personal iPad Air2.

CPU is around 25%, fans just reached a slightly audible level at around 38 min of use.

Showing the October Apple keynote on the iPad, and have a bunch of windows open on both screens.

Was delighted to see the interactivity with the iPad screen was so useable.

Will be using with my 2014 rMBA when I get home and will report an update.

I can see many uses for this app. Impressed so far.

 

[dev201]

I've been using duet for the last 45 min or so.
Very happy with this option over wireless solutions.
Twelve South Hoverbar + duet + ipad 4 = fantastic setup for some addition screen real estate.

Yes, there is some cpu usage, but running this on a 6-core nMP is no problem. Mac Air might be a different story.

I cannot get touch response to work correctly... No a big concern of mine, but I'd like to play with hex3 in Pixelmator. When I touch the screen, the courser jumps all over the place and clicks are not registered.

Advice?

 

[PhiLLoW]

The iTunes App Store doesn't allow free trials. Did you not know this by now?

I know this. Why not offering a free download on the page that works for 24 hours or something?

There are other ways to enable the user a better experience.

Just downloaded a cross-device time management software and a diary last week. Both have 1 month premium included. After one month you have to make an in app purchase. It worked fine for me. So don't tell me it's impossible.

 

[AllanMarcus]

Imagine being on the other side of the world moving from one hotel to another every few days. I doubt you'd opt to bring a monitor to accompany your laptop, but using an iPad as a secondary screen is much more realistic option.

There are lots of portable USB powered monitors what work great for this scenario.

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The iTunes App Store doesn't allow free trials. Did you not know this by now?

Yes it does! Just not by that name. devs just cripple some important feature and then use IAP.

IAP will be even more common with Family Share, since IAPs aren't shared.