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Dell 2005FPW + New iBook?

J

Jojitsu

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 26, 2005
7
0
Okay, so I have a Dell 2005FPW monitor from a lil' while back, and am wondering, if I were to get one of the new iBooks (saw the 12' for my sakes), would it be compatable and run smoothly with the larger monitor... or should I go for something else.

I already have the dell monitor for our old desktop, but will be switching and hope to keep it in my dorm and and use the iBook for it's portability if need be.

Just wondering if it would work or if I *really* need to spring for something a bit better.
 
I'd like to know the answer too. I'm pretty sure it'll only be able to run at 1024x768 or whatever resolution the iBook natively supports but hopefully I'm wrong.
 
Uggh. I basically reposted this question. My concern is how the screen spanning hack works. Is the resolutions supported? And how well does it work on 16MB of video?
 
If I had to guess, the iBook would have trouble driving that big of a monitor with 16 mb of VRAM smoothly. Anything is possible, but I doubt it. Sorry... :(
 
ham_man said:
If I had to guess, the iBook would have trouble driving that big of a monitor with 16 mb of VRAM smoothly. Anything is possible, but I doubt it. Sorry... :(
Click to expand...

That's what I kind of figure. So the question I guess is, has anyone tried this with a rev A-C PB?
 
tsk said:
That's what I kind of figure. So the question I guess is, has anyone tried this with a rev A-C PB?
Click to expand...

I think it needs to be a Rev A-B PB. My Rev C has 64 MB VRAM. I wish I could help, as I have a 2005FPW and what not :(
 
oh great. when you run it at that resolution, does it feel choppy and slow or does it run smoothly.

also, since you're connecting it with an analog connection, how does analog compare to DVI in quality. Would you be able to tell the difference?
 
Mood said:
oh great. when you run it at that resolution, does it feel choppy and slow or does it run smoothly.

also, since you're connecting it with an analog connection, how does analog compare to DVI in quality. Would you be able to tell the difference?
Click to expand...

Well no, it's not choppy using expose or dashboard with my PB. I'm also using DVI, so it's not lacking in quality on that front :)
 
I have a Dell 2005FPW with the last revision iBook 12" (1.2GHz Radeon 9200). You have to use the screen doctor hack to get native resolution on the Dell. The quality on VGA is superb, better than any other laptop or graphics card i've used on the monitor. Personally i can't tell the difference between the iBook using the VGA connection and my main PC (hiss?) using DVI on a Geforce 6800GT. Whereas the VGA on the 6800GT is noticably worse quality.

Expose and dashboard are a bit choppy because the memory splits in two (16 MB for each screen no matter what you do) and moving big windows can be a bit slow too. Although not so much it would bother you usually.

If you have any other questions just ask. I'm actually using the Dell 2005FPW with my iBook right now.
 
tsk said:
That's what I kind of figure. So the question I guess is, has anyone tried this with a rev A-C PB?
Click to expand...

I have a Rev B PB and it works perfectly fine thus far, playing a movie in fullscreen on the Dell right now and typing this, dashboard causes the audio to skip a tiny bit thou but that is it.
 
crowdaddy said:
well what about mirroring on the 2005fpw, does that look okay at least?
Click to expand...

It looks just as well as any 1024x768 signal will look. Either it will be a small box on your screen or it will be stretched and look quite horrid.

Get the spanning doctor hack, you do NOT want to run a gorgeous screen like this at that low resolution.
 
This is not a direct answer, but I was wondering this too, and so I got my Rev A iBook G4 / 800 :D and hooked it up to a 2001FP here, spanning with the hack. We don't have a 2005FPW handy, so I can't try one. The 2001 is running at 1600x1200, and it *is* choppy, but it works. My system even had a display profile for it, although I had to re-calibrate it to get it looking similar to my iBook screen (which I trust, based on printed digital photos)

Exposé drops a lot of frames. :rolleyes: But, I have a Terminal, iSync, Address Book, iCal, Mail, Safari (about six tabs), Adium, iTunes and Word all open and non-hidden at the same time, on one screen or another, and it does function.

It would be very usable for non-game non-video stuff, like laying out a bunch of spreadsheets while writing a report. I don't know about anything that requires actual animation. I'll give that a try.

But at any rate, given that the original iBook G4 supports 1600x1200, I'm pretty sure the new one will support the WS resolution, which actually has quite a few less pixels than this screen does.

Ahhh, eep, I just realized I'm doing this on battery. :eek: I suppose it would perform quite a bit better if I was rocking the power supply! :rolleyes:

Ahhh, a man could get used to this setup, though! :D

EDIT: I just wanted to add that I'm now trying this on wall plug power and it's substantially better this way. :D Again, though, usable for non-game, non-video purposes...dunno about doing this for 3D or even 2D intensive stuff.
 
TBi said:
I have a Dell 2005FPW with the last revision iBook 12" (1.2GHz Radeon 9200). You have to use the screen doctor hack to get native resolution on the Dell. The quality on VGA is superb, better than any other laptop or graphics card i've used on the monitor. Personally i can't tell the difference between the iBook using the VGA connection and my main PC (hiss?) using DVI on a Geforce 6800GT. Whereas the VGA on the 6800GT is noticably worse quality.

Expose and dashboard are a bit choppy because the memory splits in two (16 MB for each screen no matter what you do) and moving big windows can be a bit slow too. Although not so much it would bother you usually.

If you have any other questions just ask. I'm actually using the Dell 2005FPW with my iBook right now.
Click to expand...

How do you think it will work at 1280x1024? Would it be better than your performance on the 2005FPW, with the new iBooks graphics card and all? Do you feel the iBook getting hot or anything. I'm going to be so scared to try this on a brand new computer. Hacks are something I like to do.
 
ITASOR said:
How do you think it will work at 1280x1024? Would it be better than your performance on the 2005FPW, with the new iBooks graphics card and all? Do you feel the iBook getting hot or anything. I'm going to be so scared to try this on a brand new computer. Hacks are something I like to do.
Click to expand...

Remember... *any* LCD will look fairly bad when it is run at a resolution less than its standard resolution. A 1905FP that's made for 1280x1024 will look much, much better than a 2005FPW running at that res.

My iBook didn't seem to heat up that much (at external 1600x1200), although it was definitely working harder. I didn't get fan action. I did, once, get skipping in iTunes when I tried to use the scroll wheel to scroll in Word, with several other apps open, and sometimes windows when moved would fail to update while in motion (being replaced, instead, with a white box until I dropped it in its new location).
 
mkrishnan said:
Remember... *any* LCD will look fairly bad when it is run at a resolution less than its standard resolution. A 1905FP that's made for 1280x1024 will look much, much better than a 2005FPW running at that res.

My iBook didn't seem to heat up that much (at external 1600x1200), although it was definitely working harder. I didn't get fan action. I did, once, get skipping in iTunes when I tried to use the scroll wheel to scroll in Word, with several other apps open, and sometimes windows when moved would fail to update while in motion (being replaced, instead, with a white box until I dropped it in its new location).
Click to expand...

Oops, should have been more specific. I was wondering if it would work nicely on my LCD which is 1280x1024 natively. What do you think? I would only do it if exposé and things worked normal.

I guess I could always try it. I'll wait until they post that it definitely works on the new graphics card though.

I can't wait to get my ibook!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
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