Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

Tim916 · Oct 25, 2005, 10:34 AM

I'm thinking about buying a 12" PB because it's so portable, but I would like to be able to use a large external display. Has anyone used the Dell 2405 or Apple 23" with the 12" PB? If so, how does it perform?

ben.mcguire · Oct 25, 2005, 10:43 AM

I think there are alot of threads that have covered this already

mduell · Oct 25, 2005, 12:39 PM

Yes. The 12" has no problem connecting to it, but the graphics card is weak so you may notice sluggishness and lag when using Expose or other effects.

bleee · Oct 25, 2005, 03:06 PM

I do at home and I haven't noticed any problems if your just working, but I only get between 10-13fps in world of warcraft.

Tim916 · Oct 25, 2005, 03:10 PM

Thanks for the replies, guys. I'm not planning on playing games, this will be mostly for photoshop, and web browsing so it sounds like it will work fine.

hakstooy · Oct 26, 2005, 10:44 AM

Expose and Dashboard work fine for me. No choppiness.

giggs11 · Oct 27, 2005, 05:22 PM

The performance will mostly be based on the video card, as others have stated. I've used an external LCD (17" Hitachi) with my 12" PB and its been fine. No problems with Expose or Dashboard either.

iREZ · Oct 27, 2005, 05:24 PM

it works fine on my dell 20" lcd, and if i run my machine in clamshell mode expose n dashboard work just fine. remember my machine has half the vram of the current stock.

cler_babe · Nov 5, 2005, 03:46 AM

hey i've got a 12" as well and have been looking for a external moniter to work from home. I tried hooking it up to my roommates 2405fpw and it doesn't work. you can get a full screen but the resolution is way to bad for me to use that one. So I checked out the dell site to figure out the specs to see what was compatable and sure enough it says they're not. But the 20" 2005fpw should work perfect.

check it out <http://www1.us.dell.com/content/lear...amp;~tab=other

tooki · Nov 5, 2005, 11:04 AM

You DO realize that there are different versions of 12" PowerBooks, right? Some have VGA, others have DVI output.

Which did not work for you? I see no reason that either version of the 12 incher shouldn't work, though.

tooki

GbV · Nov 5, 2005, 03:10 PM

I have the 1.33Ghz 12" PB with a 2405fpw. I have it hooked up via DVI and it works great. I don't notice any lag with expose or dashboard. If I'm using both the laptop screen and the external (screen spanning) then there might be just a *little* bit of lag with expose etc. And yes, World of Warcraft runs pretty slowly on the 2405fpw in fullscreen (10-14fps). All in all, I'd say go for it! You won't be disappointed.
Jay

cler_babe · Nov 6, 2005, 02:10 AM

Originally Posted by tooki

You DO realize that there are different versions of 12" PowerBooks, right? Some have VGA, others have DVI output.

Which did not work for you? I see no reason that either version of the 12 incher shouldn't work, though.

tooki

yeah i do realize that. i've got the DVI and i guess i just haven't figured out the whole "spanning" thing yet cause when i mirror my 12 inch to the 2405, it is just all stretched out and the resolution isn 't as crisp as i'd like it.

Really it depends on your graphics card. On the link i submitted on my last post dell shows that the 12" isn't compatable with the 2405 so i don't know.

phantomo · Nov 6, 2005, 07:59 AM

I thought my old threat resurrected... http://forums.macnn.com/69/mac-notebooks/268403/12-rev-b-and-dell-fpw2405/

lilrabbit129 · Nov 6, 2005, 12:51 PM

If you're mirroring then yes it will look like the crap. When you mirror you're limited by the lesser of the 2 resolutions, meaning that the 2405 is running at 1024x768. If you span then each LCD can run at their native resolution.

hakstooy · Nov 6, 2005, 10:49 PM

Yeah, you need to span. All I know is that if the 12" isn't compatible with the 2405, then I really managed to snooker my boss into getting me a 24" monitor for drafting despite only having a 1024x768 resolution.

colosodian · Nov 7, 2005, 07:50 PM

How is dvd playback on fullscreen?