[Usual Suspects]

i 'm still not decided if i'll go with a 12" iBook or PB...

the iBook has everything i want, but i absolutely need an extra monitor at higher resolutions for photoshop!

that's where the spanning hack comes in... problem solved? let me ask a few questions:

how comfortable is spanning? i could imagine myself having all palettes and the dock on the iBook, with my photographs on the second screen.

can you choose how the screens are placed logically (like left-right or one on top of the other)?

and how important is the amount of videoram? i don't do anything in 3D and i don't play games. will 16 MB (half the ram for each screen) be enough for photoshop and main OS X usage (exposé)?

[bluedog]

I have been using the G3-900mHz ibook with the spanning screen hack and it works great. You can set the resolution to a fairly high setting, although my monitors I currently have to spare only go to 1280 width.

The second screen appears just like a second monitor on a regular desktop machine. The only issue I have with the hack, is that it no longer gives the 'mirror' option for when you DO want to simply mirror the main display. That could have been because I was at the time hooked up via the S-Video though.

You should be able to do what you like though, and quite well. If I were you I'd be sure to get better than the 16MB video ram, just for the speed of the generation of a card with that little video ram. If you can't afford more, it will likely do just fine though.

Good luck!

[wataru]

Originally posted by Usual Suspects:
i 'm still not decided if i'll go with a 12" iBook or PB...

the iBook has everything i want, but i absolutely need an extra monitor at higher resolutions for photoshop!

that's where the spanning hack comes in... problem solved? let me ask a few questions:

how comfortable is spanning? i could imagine myself having all palettes and the dock on the iBook, with my photographs on the second screen.

can you choose how the screens are placed logically (like left-right or one on top of the other)?

and how important is the amount of videoram? i don't do anything in 3D and i don't play games. will 16 MB (half the ram for each screen) be enough for photoshop and main OS X usage (exposé)?

With the spanning hack, both the iBook and the PowerBook offer the same features with regards to spanning.

I don't know what you mean by "comfortable." It's just like using a second monitor on any other system.

Yes, you can choose the logical placement of the screen in the Displays prefpane.

16MB per display is fine in my opinion, and I haven't heard people complain about it in general. Since 16MB is the minimum requirement for Quartz Extreme, you won't have to worry about loss of speed due to no QE.

[nJm]

I've been using it on my 12" G4 1Ghz iBook. I just drag the menu bar and dock over to the external screen and use it at 1280x960. I usually turn off the backlighting for the LCD, although sometimes I use it for iChat/ICQ and iTunes.

It is great as every time you unplug the external screen the iBook puts everything back to normal, but remembers the settings so when you get home again and plug in your bigger screen, it puts the dock back on it at the resolution you were using last time etc.

I haven't noticed a slow down at all, and even stuff like watching DVDs is unaffected. I have the stock 256mb of ram too.

[ginoledesma]

I love the spanning hack. I thought at first that the resolution would be limited to 1024x768, which is the maximum supported by the iBook's main display. I'm pleased to note that I can go as high as the monitor allows it to (1600x1200 on a 21" monitor).

Monitor spanning is a really nifty feature, and I've not had any noticeable side-effects with it, if ever there should be one.

[Usual Suspects]

thanks for all the replies

i never used two screens... and i wanted to know if pairing a small 12" with a big 19" would be practical and usable. i think i'll go at the local shop and ask there if i can test this setup (with a powerbook - off course) ;-)

anyway, you've been really helpfull... as always!