Using iMac as extra monitor from Macbook Pro

[marc7290]

Hi, I've been trying to use my iMac as a secondary monitor from my Macbook Pro. I've tried screen spanning doctor, and got it working, but the refresh rate on the iMac seems off, when moving something on the iMac or putting any kind of moving media on it, it gets very blurry, leading me to believe it's the refresh rate.

Connecting them to each other and to the same network seems to have the same refresh speed, so I'm wondering if there is another way to do this rather than just to use screen spanning doctor. I'm pretty sure I used ethernet and not a firewire so it could just be the slower speeds causing the problem, but I don't know if a firewire would even be much better simply because the difference between connecting the computers both to a network and directly connecting the computers is negligible.

Anyway, just looking for some help on dual monitoring these two, thanks.

 

[Scottsdale]

Hey, I just saw a KVM USB switch that allows you to use a notebook as a monitor, keyboard, and mouse (trackpad). Was a belkin I think. I don't know if it works for the Mac or iMac specifically, but it may be worth looking into.

I thought it looked pretty cool. I have had times when I had a computer with no monitor, but I had a notebook available. So, iMac seems similar except just need the monitor portion to use with your Notebook.

Good luck.

 

[iToaster]

Sending the sheer volume of data required to run a display over a network is pretty tough (like streaming a HD movie except twice as fast and at a greater resolution). This is the reason we have dedicated cables for this, but what you are trying is possible, my best guess for your problem is that the computer has to compress the image so it can get it to the other screen over your network fast enough, thus, a faster connection might help. When I screen share between two computers, a FireWire connection provides a fairly stable image.