iPad As A Second Monitor

[mattsouthern]

Does anyone use their iPad as a second monitor through AirDisplay, if so how do you find the experience? I'm especially interested in hearing from people with the new iPad and what they think of the HiDPI mode.

 

[pward]

I have tried AirDisplay with the new iPad; it's a bit laggy but works OK in 'normal' mode, although everything displays very small on the iPad display.

On my configuration (Mid 2010 iMac with i5 CPU, 4GB RAM + new iPad), HiDPI was so unreliable as to be unusable. It would work for a few seconds then display a blue screen on the Mac and then dump me back into normal mode. I worked with the developers for a few days trying to troubleshoot the problem (they provided good support BTW) but they didn't have a similar Mac and were unable to reproduce the problem.

I ended up asking for (and receiving) a refund.

Shame as it looked to be a good idea. It's possible that it's just a problem with my particular Mac configuration so YMMV.

 

[Meyvn]

Does anyone use their iPad as a second monitor through AirDisplay, if so how do you find the experience? I'm especially interested in hearing from people with the new iPad and what they think of the HiDPI mode.

I don't have the new one, but I used AirDisplay as another monitor on my iPad 2 for quite some time. It was neat, but the framerate over WiFi was never as smooth as a directly-connected monitor. I think it's going to improve as better WiFi connections arrive, though.

 

[brand]

I think it's going to improve as better WiFi connections arrive, though.

The new WiFi standards will do nothing for the iPads that are using the old standards. You will also need a new iPad that incorporates the new WiFi standards to take advantage of the new standards being offered by new access points. I assumed that you were talking about 802.11ac but wasn't sure I just used the generic term WiFi standard.

 

[Menge]

I'm also curious about using an iPad as a secondary display. Sounds intriguing, but I'm feeling too cheap to spend 10 bucks on something that I don't know if works well or not.

 

[ranjeetsodhi]

I'm also curious about using an iPad as a secondary display. Sounds intriguing, but I'm feeling too cheap to spend 10 bucks on something that I don't know if works well or not.

I use Splashtop Xdisplay to use the iPad as a second display. It works amazingly well (there's a slight lag, but you liked won't be using this for streaming video games)

I use this app quite a bit when on the road with my work laptop - amazing to have a window open on the iPad, and another on the windows computer.

 

[xav8tor]

+1 for AirDisplay. The new iPad is a great second monitor and input device with it. For ten more bucks you get another monitor/desktop LCD tablet input device you already own. I admit though, forget video etc. unless you have a perfect, FAST wifi net. Ad hoc may help some but that too has limited speed.

 

[Meyvn]

The new WiFi standards will do nothing for the iPads that are using the old standards. You will also need a new iPad that incorporates the new WiFi standards to take advantage of the new standards being offered by new access points. I assumed that you were talking about 802.11ac but wasn't sure I just used the generic term WiFi standard.

Yes, I am aware how WiFi standards work. I know that the OLD iPads will not get any better at it by the addition of newer, better WiFi. However, presumably, NEW iPads will continue to be produced in the future.

I'm not even sure that 802.11ac will be enough anyway, though, frankly. Maybe with a perfect signal, but that would be pretty touchy.

The other possibility would be lowering the video quality for AirDisplay/things like it. I think that might be the more realistic option for now.