iPad as a Secondary Monitor

[Masterfox72]

So I wanted to use my iPad as a secondary monitor for my desktop and my laptop but I wanted to know the best app.

I came across display link which was free and worked for my desktop but it seems to be Windows only as it won't work on my MacBook Air.

Then I looked up a few more apps and found DisplayPad and AirDisplay which were 2.99 and 9.99 respectively, but I was wondering which is the best app to use for this? Because 10 bucks is sure a lot for an app.

 

[whuybr0]

AirDisplay

I'm very pleased with AirDisplay.
'It just works' after the first (easy) configuration.

You can leave the OS X app running and whenever your fire up the iOS app the computer recognizes the iPad as your secondary display.

I chose this app because you can use the touch-screen to control OS X on the iPad screen. I don't know if the other apps support this now, but I believe when I downloaded the app, it was the only one with 'touch-control'.

Maybe start with the free app and wait for a discount on AirDisplay. I believe I bought it when it was on sale.

 

[Macman45]

AD with the HDMI adaptor works well.

 

[Masterfox72]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

I'm very pleased with AirDisplay.
'It just works' after the first (easy) configuration.

You can leave the OS X app running and whenever your fire up the iOS app the computer recognizes the iPad as your secondary display.

I chose this app because you can use the touch-screen to control OS X on the iPad screen. I don't know if the other apps support this now, but I believe when I downloaded the app, it was the only one with 'touch-control'.

Maybe start with the free app and wait for a discount on AirDisplay. I believe I bought it when it was on sale.

Air Display also looked very polished to me as well, but do you recommend that it is worth ten dollars for?

 

[lilkangster]

Be warned about display link and air display though there are certain models of macbook air/macbook pros that it does not support if you are running Lion. Has something to do with the video card drivers, which eventually they apple will fix but for now make sure your MBA is not one of those models before making the purchase. To answer your question about AirDisplay I have been using it for a while now and it works great.

 

[ghall]

Another vote for AirDisplay.

 

[Masterfox72]

Another question. If I got Air Display and mirrored my desktop, could I use it as a remote desktop so I could use my iPad as a mini-computer running Windows, or no?

 

[archdelux]

Seems like everyone is voting for Air Display, but no one has commented ton DisplayPad.. is it just because no one has used it?

Anyone with any experience with both apps care to comment?

 

[ReallyBigFeet]

All the solutions you've listed work.

However, $700 is a lot of money for a 1024x768 secondary monitor, especially considering the performance of the iPad as a monitor.

For an every-once-in-awhile novelty kind of thing....I get it. For everyday use, no way.