Turn my Imac Flat Screen as slave monitor for my powerbook 17

[flashgordon]

I'm looking to use the screen of mo imac 20 flat screen monitor as slave monitor of my powerbook 17. Is there a way to open it and unplug the flat screen monitor from the videocard of the Imac and plug the monitor on my powerbook 17?

I know I was able to do it with a old Imac turquoise. It was a SVGA port.

Thanks to answer....

 

[jxyama]

I'm looking to use the screen of mo imac 20 flat screen monitor as slave monitor of my powerbook 17. Is there a way to open it and unplug the flat screen monitor from the videocard of the Imac and plug the monitor on my powerbook 17?

I know I was able to do it with a old Imac turquoise. It was a SVGA port.

Thanks to answer....

is there a way? yes, probably. but you'll need to be pretty darn skilled with electrical equipment/tools, i imagine...

 

[flashgordon]

Do you know what type of connector is it?

 

[26139]

...

Why don't you just open it up and look at it?

 

[neut]

 

[Norouzi]

I don't think you'll be able to do what you want unless you hapen to be an electrical engineer. I used to be a service tech for an apple dealer and the display cable from the monitor on the Flat Panel iMac does not use any standard connection to the logic board. You would need to build an interface to plug the display cable into so that it could connect to the DVI port on your PB. Even if you were able to do that the iMac's monitor is also powerd by the single display cable so you would also need to find a way to power the flat pannel and I have no idea how you would even start that. My advice is to just buy a cheep second monitor for you PB.

 

[Abstract]

Hehe, yeah sure, go and try it out. Make sure to tell us how it goes.

 

[Sun Baked]

Sometimes you have to wonder why people want to do this, especially if they want to keep an iMac2 operable.

Then you have to just laugh about the number of threads like this that there are.

 

[flashgordon]

ok thanks

 

[40167]

I'm looking to use the screen of mo imac 20 flat screen monitor as slave monitor of my powerbook 17. Is there a way to open it and unplug the flat screen monitor from the videocard of the Imac and plug the monitor on my powerbook 17?

I know I was able to do it with a old Imac turquoise. It was a SVGA port.

Thanks to answer....

There may be software for it... on pc's theres a piece of software (forgot the name of it) but over a network you can make 2 computers into one system with dual monitors... used it before, its actualy quite good. ~ But as far as a mac version, I don't know if that exists.

Edit: http://www.maxivista.com/ << thats the piece of software

 

[davegoody]

WHY ????????

Are you Mad ?

 

[wPod]

i have an excelent idea! i have a 19" CRT monitor . . . i would be perfectly willing to trade this for your iMac. . . then not only will you have a nice external monitor, but it will also be larger than that of your imac!

 

[kgarner]

Why does everybody think this is insane. I agree that doing this kind of thing without knowing what you're doing would be ludicrous, but i have seen on other websites where someone did somethin like this to an eMac. I personally would find this feature very useful. I wish Apple would make it possible. I say, if the machine is out of warranty, and you have the cojones to figure it out, more power to you. Hook this up through a KVM and away you go. If it could be done properly and tastefully, it would be one hell of mod.

 

[neut]

Why does everybody think this is insane. I agree that doing this kind of thing without knowing what you're doing would be ludicrous, but i have seen on other websites where someone did somethin like this to an eMac. I personally would find this feature very useful. I wish Apple would make it possible. I say, if the machine is out of warranty, and you have the cojones to figure it out, more power to you. Hook this up through a KVM and away you go. If it could be done properly and tastefully, it would be one hell of mod.

well a CRT (1897) is one thing; an LCD (1971) on an Flat-panel iMac (2002) is something very different. it surely would be an amazing feat. to have an ametuer figure this one out.

though, this question is asked a lot by my non-tech freinds...


peace.

 

[jxyama]

Why does everybody think this is insane. I agree that doing this kind of thing without knowing what you're doing would be ludicrous, but i have seen on other websites where someone did somethin like this to an eMac. I personally would find this feature very useful. I wish Apple would make it possible. I say, if the machine is out of warranty, and you have the cojones to figure it out, more power to you. Hook this up through a KVM and away you go. If it could be done properly and tastefully, it would be one hell of mod.

well, clearly, the person asking doesn't really know how to even go about doing this. since iMac is all-in-one, it's like asking if i could open up my PB and use the display as an external. just because iMac is a "desktop" doesn't make it any "easier" to pull out the display. laptop and iMacs are both "all-in-one" computers.

notice that people rarely ask if laptop displays can be taken out to be an external - that's because people realize the inherent difficulty in opening up a laptop and re-wiring the display. iMac is no different. that's why it might be conceived as "insane." (that's a bit strong, imo.)

when you buy an all-in-one, the display is tied to the computer. that's the definition of all-in-one and part of the reason iMac's price, for components included, is cheaper than a comparable G5 PM and an LCD display would cost - because the display is tied to the computer. if apple made it a feature to be able to disconnect the display and use it with other computers, 1) it's no longer all-in-one, 2) iMac costs will increase as display setup will need to be modified to accept input signals from external sources and 3) conflict with the standalone displays they offer.

 

[Sun Baked]

notice that people rarely ask if laptop displays can be taken out to be an external - that's because people realize the inherent difficulty in opening up a laptop and re-wiring the display. iMac is no different. that's why it might be conceived as "insane." (that's a bit strong, imo.)

Not too strong.

Usually if they are smart enough to do it, they don't need to ask.

It's possible, but not too easy to do with something that has little spare room inside like a laptop or iMac.

 

[½win½lin]

Excuse my naivete, but if I have a 12" iBook or PB and a 20" iMac why is it so wrong to want work directly on the *Book using a decent sized monitor?

All the laptops have a video out capacity, and the iMacs provide a decent quality, well sized screen.

The opposite point, made by jxyama above, is with laptops being used in the same way. But who wants to work on a tiny screen of a laptop (17" PB owners not included!) from their desktop system, which almost certainly came with a decent monitor anyway?
The situation is just much less likely to occur.

A video input of some description (certainly not needing any dismantling of the computer), maybe even a mini-vga (like the output) which would be very discrete on the iMac, would be an excellent feature.

 

[jxyama]

Excuse my naivete, but if I have a 12" iBook or PB and a 20" iMac why is it so wrong to want work directly on the *Book using a decent sized monitor?

All the laptops have a video out capacity, and the iMacs provide a decent quality, well sized screen.

The opposite point, made by jxyama above, is with laptops being used in the same way. But who wants to work on a tiny screen of a laptop (17" PB owners not included!) from their desktop system, which almost certainly came with a decent monitor anyway?
The situation is just much less likely to occur.

A video input of some description (certainly not needing any dismantling of the computer), maybe even a mini-vga (like the output) which would be very discrete on the iMac, would be an excellent feature.

i guess there's nothing wrong with wanting to. but when you bought the PB and the iMac, you know what you paid for - two computers with built-in displays. so thinking that it should be somehow easy for iMac to display PB screen as a feature is a bit misguided. it's not what you paid for.

to make dual input display a feature on an iMac would completely go against the philosophy behind it, that of an all-in-one computer. you are not buying the display. you are buying a computer with a nice display.

do realize that you'd need to put in a switch, as well as input port, to enable such a feature. sounds like too much trouble to cater to very small number of users. most users of iMac would use the machine until it's dead and move on to a new one... as "most" (in terms of numbers) users do with any brand of computers.

providing an additional video output is simple. you just need to pull another signal out. being able to display an external input is very hard because it necessitates the display to be a standalone display and then, the only thing connecting the display to the coupled iMac would be a physical connection and nothing more. if apple wanted such a feature in the iMac, apple might as well simply sell a headless iMac. (and they haven't - hence external input capable iMac will not happen as long as they maintain their philosophy behind the iMac.)