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12" PowerBook and 20" Cinema Display

N

nesbitt_a

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Nov 1, 2003
313
0
Guys,
I'm considering buying a 12" PB with a 20" cinema display -- and was wondering about a few things:
1) Can the 12" handle the 20" cinema ok?
2) Resolutions on the 20" when connected to the 12"
3) Does the 12" get really hot, and lots of fan noise when powering the 20"?
4) Can people post pics of their powerbook/cinema display combinations? :)


Cheers, A.
 
It should work fine. A friend of mine has it set up that way, with a 12" PowerBook, 1.33Ghz.

I myself have a 20" Cinema Display on a 15" PowerBook, 1.5Ghz and it runs perfectly. Both PowerBooks are able to drive the 20" ACD at its native resolution.

Here's my current setup:





 
The powerbook handle the 20" display with no problem, not even heat problem or noise. For me is a perfect setup.
 

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Huezo said:
lol!, the 2005FPW :p

The Cinema Display is much better.
Click to expand...
I just love fanboys :rolleyes:

Apple have had more than their fair share of problems with LCDs recently, so let's not even get started down that road.
 
edesignuk said:
I just love fanboys :rolleyes:

Apple have had more than their fair share of problems with LCDs recently, so let's not even get started down that road.
Click to expand...

Thanks for beating me to it. :D

I may end up eating my words on the Dell monitor, but then again I might not have the "backlight" issue on my sample.
 
mymemory said:
The powerbook handle the 20" display with no problem, not even heat problem or noise. For me is a perfect setup.
Click to expand...

I recently switched from a old crt (vga1152x870) to a brand new 1280x1024 LCD(dvi).
After the switch my powerbook (12" 1.33ghz) is heating up a bit more.
Earlier I almost never heard the fan comming on, but now its on often on, even when only surfing. The GPU temp was raised from an average of 50-60°C to 57-65°C. I'm not having any coolpads or other stands for it (planning to get one soon), I suppose it would help a bit.

It not damaging and I'm not having any slowdowns with expose, but the fan is much more on than before.

btw, i'm using both the external and the built-in screen at once. If you are only using the external screen I suppose you won't have much problems, but be prepared to hear the powerbooks fan running sometimes. It always much quieter then my G4 tower anyway.. I

When you have your powerbook at the desk it's not a problem if it's a bit hot, and when you are using the powerbook on your lap (without the external display) then there is not problems with heat at all, the lastest revs are much cooler running than the rev A (867mhz) which was heating up quite a bit (never owned one, but I have heard lots of complains about it)

Anyway, I would wait untill mid January, because apple would probably update the powerbook at MWSF (Macworld). It migth mot be a huge difference, but it's never nice to buy a new computer and the next week a new and faster model is introduced at the same price...
 
cluthz said:
I recently switched from a old crt (vga1152x870) to a brand new 1280x1024 LCD(dvi).
After the switch my powerbook (12" 1.33ghz) is heating up a bit more.
Earlier I almost never heard the fan comming on, but now its on often on, even when only surfing. The GPU temp was raised from an average of 50-60°C to 57-65°C. I'm not having any coolpads or other stands for it (planning to get one soon), I suppose it would help a bit.

It not damaging and I'm not having any slowdowns with expose, but the fan is much more on than before.

btw, i'm using both the external and the built-in screen at once. If you are only using the external screen I suppose you won't have much problems, but be prepared to hear the powerbooks fan running sometimes. It always much quieter then my G4 tower anyway.. I

When you have your powerbook at the desk it's not a problem if it's a bit hot, and when you are using the powerbook on your lap (without the external display) then there is not problems with heat at all, the lastest revs are much cooler running than the rev A (867mhz) which was heating up quite a bit (never owned one, but I have heard lots of complains about it)

Anyway, I would wait untill mid January, because apple would probably update the powerbook at MWSF (Macworld). It migth mot be a huge difference, but it's never nice to buy a new computer and the next week a new and faster model is introduced at the same price...
Click to expand...

There was a fair bit of fan noise with my 15" PowerBook (but it was a first edition aluminum) when I had used it for a while. I'll just be using the 20" screen on its own, probably not the laptop screen at all. I'm a bit concerned about the fan noise and level of heat.

How is the 12" without a display connected. Hot? Excessive fan noise?
 
i have the 12" rev. b and it´s great without a monitor connected. sitting on a table it doesn´t heat up much and thus no fan noise. obviously depends on what you´re doing with it. processor intensive tasks for extended periods of time will have it heating up and ergo the fan switching to a higher level.
 
nesbitt_a said:
There was a fair bit of fan noise with my 15" PowerBook (but it was a first edition aluminum) when I had used it for a while. I'll just be using the 20" screen on its own, probably not the laptop screen at all. I'm a bit concerned about the fan noise and level of heat.

How is the 12" without a display connected. Hot? Excessive fan noise?
Click to expand...
i use it closed completely with a 15" Samsung LCD and it suprisingly isnt very hot at all. i would say since the screen is down, the heat has more place to go... which is a bit scary for the built in lcd but i have been assured by apple phone and in store apple reps that it is designed to run that way...
 
rozwell said:
i use it closed completely with a 15" Samsung LCD and it suprisingly isnt very hot at all. i would say since the screen is down, the heat has more place to go... which is a bit scary for the built in lcd but i have been assured by apple phone and in store apple reps that it is designed to run that way...
Click to expand...

They are designed to run better with lid closed?
 
nesbitt_a said:
They are designed to run better with lid closed?
Click to expand...
not better, but it was design to be able to run closed. i think it has to do with the lid being a good heat dissipator. there for rather than getting hotter for less ventilation it evens out because of the extra aluminum to take the heat.
 
nesbitt_a said:
There was a fair bit of fan noise with my 15" PowerBook (but it was a first edition aluminum) when I had used it for a while. I'll just be using the 20" screen on its own, probably not the laptop screen at all. I'm a bit concerned about the fan noise and level of heat.

How is the 12" without a display connected. Hot? Excessive fan noise?
Click to expand...

The 12" isn't hot at all without the display connected, the fan also never comes on while surfing or writing. The fan does ofcourse come on with some gaming.
There are two fan speeds (atleast?) the first level is very low, but the second is quite noisy. its very seldom the fan is noisy, and the times its noisy i'm playing games with sound+music, so it's not disturbing.

rozwell said:
i use it closed completely with a 15" Samsung LCD and it suprisingly isnt very hot at all. i would say since the screen is down, the heat has more place to go... which is a bit scary for the built in lcd but i have been assured by apple phone and in store apple reps that it is designed to run that way...
Click to expand...

The 15" external screen is probably only 1024x768 resolution, which is less demanding than running the internal screen so heat shouldn't be a problem at all. I have much less fan noise when i used a 1152x870 screen than the 1280x1024 screen.

Today i've run with the internal screen of, and the fan comes much less on now than it did when i was running both screens.

I must admitt that i'm very picky about noise issues, when I got m lacie d2 extreme (fanless ext. hd) I found it noisy.
 
cluthz said:
The 12" isn't hot at all without the display connected, the fan also never comes on while surfing or writing. The fan does ofcourse come on with some gaming.
There are two fan speeds (atleast?) the first level is very low, but the second is quite noisy. its very seldom the fan is noisy, and the times its noisy i'm playing games with sound+music, so it's not disturbing.



The 15" external screen is probably only 1024x768 resolution, which is less demanding than running the internal screen so heat shouldn't be a problem at all. I have much less fan noise when i used a 1152x870 screen than the 1280x1024 screen.

Today i've run with the internal screen of, and the fan comes much less on now than it did when i was running both screens.

I must admitt that i'm very picky about noise issues, when I got m lacie d2 extreme (fanless ext. hd) I found it noisy.
Click to expand...

I'm exactly the same. Absolutely hate noise.
 
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