Powerbook with display

[jensepollense]

I'm thinking about buying a Cinema Display in maybe a few weeks. I have a 12" Powerbook and was wondering if I wanted to just mirror the screen, how it would happen. Since the two don't have the same screen ratio, would it just have black lines at the sides or what?

 

[Richard Flynn]

I'm thinking about buying a Cinema Display in maybe a few weeks. I have a 12" Powerbook and was wondering if I wanted to just mirror the screen, how it would happen. Since the two don't have the screen ratio, would it just have black lines at the sides or what?

The external display would be forced to the same resolution as the PB. As a result, it will be very blocky, since the PowerBook's resolution is considerably lower than any of the Cinema Displays'. As far as I'm aware, there would also be black pillars on either side of the display on account of the different screen aspect ratios. It'd be far more productive to span your desktop across the two displays, even if you're not using the PowerBook screen when plugged into the external display; at least that way you can use the full resolution of the ACD.

 

[nplima]

if you switch off the screen on your laptop (close the lid) you can adjust the resolution of the external screen to any of its supported settings.
If you decide to have both screens on while mirroring, then yes there will be part of the scren that will end up unused.
If you decide to have both screens on and mirroring off, then you can have 2 independent screen settings, using 100% of the capacity of both screens and the computer.

 

[jensepollense]

Thanks. Now it makes sense.

I was thinking about it and decided that if there's no way to use the ACD's full resolution then it'd be a waste of money, but it's not so it's all good.

 

[spacepower7]

best

I set up my powerbook and 20" ACD together. Anytime I connect to the 20" ACD, it becomes the main monitor, and I put my Mail and messenger on the laptop screen which is off center. I can even watch quicktime movies on the laptop full-screen while working on the 20" web browsing and other not-too-intensive things.

 

[jensepollense]

Could I get some opinions if you think it's worth getting an external display or if it's a waste of money?

 

[Richard Flynn]

Could I get some opinions if you think it's worth getting an external display or if it's a waste of money?

As always, it depends what you're doing on your computer, and for how long. If you just spend say an hour a day writing email, and quickly browsing the web, then you should be able to continue just fine with the 12-inch PB screen. But if you're spending longer periods at a desk with the machine on, or you're doing work which would benefit from far more screen real-estate, then you should definitely consider the external display. I've never really used a 12-inch but I can imagine that for extended periods of use it would get a bit painful both for the eyes and for the neck! (Although I'm quite tall.) Whereas, if you have a monitor on your desk, you can fit more on, things are bigger, and the display is at a height that is more comfortable for viewing over extended periods.

So, no, I don't think that getting an external display is at all a waste. I personally like the ACDs, though there are many people here who will argue that they are relatively too expensive (especially compared to Dell displays), while others have arguments that the ACDs are better calibrated for colour work. You can do a search and find several threads where that subject is debated; there have been a few threads very recently in this forum [Mac Peripherals].