[Mallrat]

I was thinking instead of looking at the 15inch imac and wanted a brighter screen, I shoudl do this.

Get a nice montior, an external keyboard and mouse (got that) and turn my laptop into a desktop when I'm at home.

that way, when I do upgrade to a G5 I already have the monitor.

And it might be cheaper than getting a new imac.

I love the imac screen. Is it digital?

Anyway, what monitors do you use with your ibook.

And does closed lid operation work if you have an external monitor, keyboard and mouse hooked up or do you need to do something special?

I have an ibook 500.

[engaged]

I used my Late 2001 iBook as a laptop for several months; got an Apple Pro Keyboard, a Logitech MX300 mouse and an NEC-Mitsubishi Diamond Pro 740SB 17" monitor. I now use the monitor with the PC that I've since built, and still use the iBook as a quasi-desktop with just the mouse and keyboard attached. The optimum resolution of the monitor is 1024 x 768 so it works well, as far as I'm concerned.

The iBook had to remain open to mirror on the external monitor.

I don't know what you mean about the iMac display being 'digital'!

[zacharydz]

I am using my iBook 700 as a "desktop" with an intellimouse Optical, a pro keyboard, and a Samsung SyncMaster 151s. It works quite well. I used the spanning hack, but I am currently using mirrored mode. I dont run my iBook close, just because I'm paranoid about it overheating. I've heard that if you close the iBook, and are using an external mouse, it is workable. I just tried that now. I closed the lid, it went to sleep and then I clicked the mouse. It woke up and I was able to use it with the lid closed. But then it went back to sleep after about 10 seconds. Perhaps that is due to something in Pather, since I have heard people claimng that works in Jaguar.

[issandr]

I've been doing this for a few weeks now. running alternatively a iBook 500 Mhz (Dual USB), an iBook 900Mhz and a Tibook. They all work great, and of course the Tibook has that spanning feature which is cool. There's a hack to enable that in later iBooks, but it can be dangerous. People in these forums seem to have successfully carried it out though, including with the new iBook G4s running Panther.

I use a cheap ergonomic A-Shape PC USB keyboard (with a kernel extension called DoubleCommand to use the Alt key as Command and the Windows key as Option), a Microsoft Optical mouse, and a 17" Samsung SyncMaster 753DFX monitor. All these things are pretty cheap -- about $130 altogether I think.

I spend a lot of time in front of my laptop (my only computer) and I think I should have done this years ago. Having a bright screen that is elevated to near eye level will do wonders for your neck and back. The keyboard (and you can get some pretty fancy ones as long as they're USB) is nice, if only because the iBook's own keyboard is fragile in the long run and you get the extra number keypad.

I have to get a new iBook because mine died (well, the LCD) and I can't wait for repairs, which would probably cost more than the ebay value fo the iBook. I think I'll end up getting the cheapest one, and then buy either a G5 or a decent used G4. And I'll have the monitor ready to go with it.

[siliconwarrior]

<bitterness>

Apple turned my out of warranty iBook into a
desktop with a faulty battery.

</bitterness>

http://www.anotherstory.com

[Mallrat]

Originally posted by issandr:
I've been doing this for a few weeks now. running alternatively a iBook 500 Mhz (Dual USB), an iBook 900Mhz and a Tibook. They all work great, and of course the Tibook has that spanning feature which is cool. There's a hack to enable that in later iBooks, but it can be dangerous. People in these forums seem to have successfully carried it out though, including with the new iBook G4s running Panther.

I use a cheap ergonomic A-Shape PC USB keyboard (with a kernel extension called DoubleCommand to use the Alt key as Command and the Windows key as Option), a Microsoft Optical mouse, and a 17" Samsung SyncMaster 753DFX monitor. All these things are pretty cheap -- about $130 altogether I think.

I spend a lot of time in front of my laptop (my only computer) and I think I should have done this years ago. Having a bright screen that is elevated to near eye level will do wonders for your neck and back. The keyboard (and you can get some pretty fancy ones as long as they're USB) is nice, if only because the iBook's own keyboard is fragile in the long run and you get the extra number keypad.

I have to get a new iBook because mine died (well, the LCD) and I can't wait for repairs, which would probably cost more than the ebay value fo the iBook. I think I'll end up getting the cheapest one, and then buy either a G5 or a decent used G4. And I'll have the monitor ready to go with it.

wow this might be the way to go. I was looking at buying a new ibook, but mine works fine (needs a new battery) but I would like a bigger screen for when I'm spending time editing or surfing the web for hours.

I'm excited now.

But I'm still unsure if I should spend 300 bucks to do this.

I prefer to type on my laptop actually, it's just the screen sometimes can hurt the eyes.

When I'm just doing websurfing and e-mail, I'd prefer the bigger screen, but to write I like the typewriter type feel of the ibook.

[issandr]

Originally posted by daredevil:
wow this might be the way to go. I was looking at buying a new ibook, but mine works fine (needs a new battery) but I would like a bigger screen for when I'm spending time editing or surfing the web for hours.

I'm excited now.

But I'm still unsure if I should spend 300 bucks to do this.

I prefer to type on my laptop actually, it's just the screen sometimes can hurt the eyes.

When I'm just doing websurfing and e-mail, I'd prefer the bigger screen, but to write I like the typewriter type feel of the ibook.

If you're iBook is getting old, I would recommend putting as much RAM as you can afford in it. It really makes a difference, and RAM from crucial.com and similar retailers is much cheaper than Apple's. The screen and keyboard don't need to be expensive, as I've said, even if the Mac fanatics in these forums that only a super-expensive Apple LCD will do. I find that a lot of the people who lurk in MacNN forums (and other forums) are technology fanatics or pro-users whose needs are way beyond the average users. The great thing about Macs is that they seem to get old much slower than PCs (can you really use Windows XP comfortably across three generations of Pentium chips?). Mac OS X, incredibly, seems to be getting less processor-hungry with Panther (at least this is what I'm extrapolating from the fact that older G3 computers feel faster with Panther). RAM is really more important than speed with OS X, much like it is with Linux.

Even if you like using the iBook keyboard, it's not really feasible if you also want to use the monitor. But there's plenty of keyboard available, so if you shop around I'm sure you'll find one suitable for you. I recommend MacAlly's keyboard's -- big and clunky, but great feel. I live in Egypt, where it's difficult to get cheap Mac stuff (what is it with Apple prices outside the US!?!?), so I had to get a PC keyboard, but I love those MacAlly ones.

[El Mago]

Definitely put your money into a nice big monitor and go to town. You get 2 monitors for monitor spanning use and the nice little package instead of a huge ol' desktop. I wouldn't do it any other way. Wish I would have thought of it sooner than 6 months ago. I have all my plugs situated at home, and then just take the ibook to school when I need it. When it is at home, it doubles as my secondary monitor. Very slick.

[Mallrat]

Originally posted by El Mago:
Definitely put your money into a nice big monitor and go to town. You get 2 monitors for monitor spanning use and the nice little package instead of a huge ol' desktop. I wouldn't do it any other way. Wish I would have thought of it sooner than 6 months ago. I have all my plugs situated at home, and then just take the ibook to school when I need it. When it is at home, it doubles as my secondary monitor. Very slick.

What monitor do you have hooked up? Waht keyboard and mouse.

Can you use a bluetooth module and a bluetooth keyboard and mouse and still get lid closed operation or not?

That would be cool. I could get rid of all the stupid wires and use my ibook as a desktop when I feel like it.