[BRussell]

I'm considering replacing a dual 800 desktop computer with a 1.5Ghz 15" PowerBook + 20" display. The idea is to "dock" the laptop at my office and then take the laptop home in the evenings/weekends. I would want to close the laptop and use an external keyboard and mouse with the external monitor - I don't think I'd be using spanning. Desk space is a bit of a premium too.

Does anyone have experience with this type of set up? Pros, cons? Suggestions? Would the wireless keyboard and mouse work in this situation?

[Casper Crane]

get the 17-inch and keep it open if you're not going to span. the screen is quite large.

i use one in my home office, which i hardly ever leave. when i travel i take it with me, and it's fairly portable.

i thought i would want to do what you are suggesting, until i got the 17-inch. it's more than ample. and now i am planning on getting a bluetooth mouse and giving up the external keyboard because the one on the Powerbook is so much nicer to type on.

just my advice. ever since getting the 17-inch, i have stopped pining for new hardware. and this is a rev. A. for me, that's saying a lot.

[BRussell]

Yeah I've considered that. But I became interested in the docking option because 1. this would be paid for by work so an extra display wouldn't be a cost to me and 2. I ride my bike a lot, so the smaller the better for the laptop.

[Macola]

See this thread:
http://forums.macnn.com/showthread.p...hreadid=209075

IMO, the dock isn't worth it.

[buddhabelly]

I use my TiBook both at school and home. At home I have the 20" cinema display, logitech mx 700duo or something key/mouse combo.

It gets fairly light usage while I'm on campus. Mostly opening and demoing reaktor files, some mixes and rough video edits. And note taking.

At home, I plug in the monitor, usb hub to the monitor and 1 firewire cable to a Motu 828mkii and a couple of FW harddrives. Ohh and the power charger. And then I use it HARD. lIke 8-10 hours mixing, programming etc etc.

The fan comes on quick when your doing intensive work, whether you have the book closed or not. I've been thinking about gettin a stand, but I tried just raising the laptop up on a book and it hasn't seemed to help very much.

Overall not bad, only 4 things to plug in when I get home. I'm happy for the most part.

[RealMadrid]

I have exactly the setting you are thinking of and doing the same as you plan. At work my PB 12' Rev. B is plugged into an external CRT (unfortunately my Apple 17' LCD recently suffered the "dimmed light illness") and I'm using external KB and Blueetooth mouse.

To make pluggin in easyer I have fixed all the cables so they stay in place when unplugged. Also I have made two blocks about 3 cms high to rest the PB on. This provides cooling on the bottom. Finally a fan connected to the usb bus blows very gently and unhearable underneath the PB preventing the internal fans from coming on. So I have managed it to be completely silent all day long in every situation.

As for the size I chose the 12 for it's portability. The screen size is enough for some occasional work at home.

[Simon]

Originally posted by BRussell:
Does anyone have experience with this type of set up? Pros, cons? Suggestions? Would the wireless keyboard and mouse work in this situation?

I use a very similar setup to what RealMadrid mentioned.

I have a rev b 12" PowerBook that I use daily at work but also at home or on the road. At work I hook it up to an old 21" CRT, at home I have a SD. At both places I have an extended keyboard and a mouse as well as an AC adapter. When I arrive at the lab in the morning I hook up the PowerBook and I'm ready to go. When I get home, I hook it up to my home peripherals the same way. On the road I just use it like a notebook, w/o any mouse or keyboard. The 12" screen doesn't have much area, but the display is sharp and the benefit of having a very portable notebook yet still full-featured is worth a lot to me.

This solution probably isn't the cheapest, since you need an additional screen, keyboard, mouse, etc., but it gives you the best of both worlds: a very compact notebook and a fine desktop machine.

And yes, the bluetooth mouse and keyboard work just fine; a work colleague of mine uses his PowerBook that way 24/7.

Depending on how much you plan to use it on the road, how small it has to be and what your budget is, you have to decide which PowerBook to buy. I went for the 12" because I don't need a huge screen to write code or papers (which is what I do for a living), but I want to be able to use it everywhere, even when I have to fly Continental's crappy economy class.

If you have the cash, I can only recommend you try it. This setup has entirely convinced me and I suppose I'll stay a PowerBook user for quite some time.