I am going off to college to live in a dorm in the fall and won't have room for a normal desktop setup. I was wondering if there was a way to use a Macbook Air as the monitor, keyboard, and mouse for a 2012 mac pro. Not using remote desktop as that tends to be slow and inefficient. This way I would only have to make room for the tower and not all the other stuff too.
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Can you control a Mac Pro through a Macbook Air?
- Thread starter Jake0604
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The keyboard, trackpad, and screen are all hard wired to the laptop. There are no external connections for them to be connected to another computer.
Remote Desktop (screen sharing in OS X) is the only way I can think of to do this, but as you've already noted, it's not the same thing as a direct connection.
Remote Desktop (screen sharing in OS X) is the only way I can think of to do this, but as you've already noted, it's not the same thing as a direct connection.
No, I don't think so. But I think there is a way you can do something similar with an iPad and a Bluetooth Keyboard and Mouse. There is an all (whose name escapes me) that allows you to use an iPad screen as the monitor for your Mac via USB, and then use a small BT keybaord & mouse to navigate. It makes for a VERY small setup. I used it once with an Intel NUC running OS X. Otherwise, you might just want to consider downsizing peripherals. Small monitor, wireless keyboard & mouse. I know dorms can be rather unaccommodating for desktops...
I have been trying to figure this out for weeks now. Its so strange that apple is making the most portable hex core machine ever yet it cant be controlled with their ultra portable laptops? Come on!
The technique I had wasn't ideal but was pretty simple. By not ideal I mean that there was a small delay with my screen... I wouldn't want to play games on it.
I think it was Screen Sharing plus something else maybe?
I used it that way in 3 hotels in Europe. In the US (and in Chile) I was in an office and could find a screen.
JM
I think it was Screen Sharing plus something else maybe?
I used it that way in 3 hotels in Europe. In the US (and in Chile) I was in an office and could find a screen.
JM
You will need a monitor, keyboard and mouse for the initial setup of the Mac Pro, but you can then use Team Viewer and a whole load of other remote desktop stuff. Team Viewer works pretty well, but none of the remote desktop apps on the Mac are a patch on what's available for Windows. It's good enough if for example you are running VM's on your Mac Pro and want to instigate setup of the VM's before you remote desktop directly to them. If you are running apps like Photoshop on the Mac Pro then the experience via remote desktop of any kind will be terrible, even over gigabit ethernet.
Downloaded it but don’t use it. I wanted to be able to control my Macs over a network, (or rather be able to use an iDevice as a dumb terminal). I can’t believe Apple haven’t jumped on this.
You're in the Mac Pro forum. We're the kings of "I can't believe Apple hasn't jumped on this." Good point. I’ll rephrase, I’m disappointed but not surprised that Apple hasn't jumped on this.