Prolonged Use of iBook Screen Hack

[Peter Griffin]

I have a question for those of you at MR who have experience with the iBook screen hack. I'm currentlylimiting the time I spend using this hack because of the detrimental effects it might have on the iBook (1.33 ghz g4). For those of you who've used this hack long term, have you noticed anything bad about this hack? Should I try to limit my use to only when necessary? I love the idea of gaining extra real estate but not at the price of my new toy. Thanks in advance.

 

[StealthRider]

As far as I know, there is no issue with using the hack. The iBook's hardware is designed to handle spanning, but this is disabled in low-level software. All the hack does is re-enable it.

 

[jap4n]

i heard the only damage you can do, is using the ibook in clam-shell mode.. This is because it cant dissipate the heat quickly and can easily cook the chips inside.

havent heard of screen spanning to do damage... I'd say at the most, it would use more of the video ram? so could reduce drawing speeds?

 

[YS2003]

I cannot help thinking that there is a reason why Apple did not include this screen spanning mode with iBook. Maybe they felt the longevity and system stability may be compromised by this hack after long use (by stressing the graphics components of iBook). I am not going to do this hack on my iBook (I am lucky in this sense as I have the PBs with ACDs already and I don't need to do this with iBook). For some people who has only an iBook, this hack can be their necessity for better viewing experience using iBook.

 

[wordmunger]

I cannot help thinking that there is a reason why Apple did not include this screen spanning mode with iBook.

Of course there is a reason: they'd prefer it if you bought a PowerBook.

 

[sreedy]

For those of you who've used this hack long term, have you noticed anything bad about this hack?

I've had mine hacked for about a month but have been using the spanning for about 8 hrs straight a day at work 5 days a week and then back to normal at home. I have noticed nothing ususual, I have been keeping an eye out for anything wierd and have been monitoring the Graphics card temp to make sure it doesn't start overheating...... so far no change bar the normal ±5% normal varience I saw before applying the hack.

So 160+ hrs of use and no issues yet.

 

[davegoody]

NOT quite true !

I cannot help thinking that there is a reason why Apple did not include this screen spanning mode with iBook. Maybe they felt the longevity and system stability may be compromised by this hack after long use (by stressing the graphics components of iBook). I am not going to do this hack on my iBook (I am lucky in this sense as I have the PBs with ACDs already and I don't need to do this with iBook). For some people who has only an iBook, this hack can be their necessity for better viewing experience using iBook.

The only reason that Apple do not support screen spanning on the iBook (or iMac) is to differentiate between the consumer models (anything with an "i" before it like iBook or iMac etc) and the Pro series machines like the PowerBooks or PowerMacs. There is NO reason why you should not have this hack enabled on your iBook it will NOT do any damage or stress the components in any way - I would just not recommend using the iBook for any length of time with the lid closed as heating MAY be an issue, but only in this case. I have used Screen Spanning Doctor (search on Google) on iMacs and iBooks on many occasions with absolutely no problems whatsoever.

 

[TBi]

Well i don't see the GPU with the hack and dual screen enabled running any hotter than the GPU playing games. Now running games with dual screen might cause a problem However i wouldn't worry about it, and if you are worried about it don't do it.

If you read the forums on the screen spanning doctors website you'll read a lot of horror stories but they were nearly all on older models which had a tendancy to blow up even if you didn't have the hack.