[miacomet]

I was thinking about getting an iBook or a PB + a 20" display for home use and for travel use. And I have a few questions....

1) Is the iBook good for attaching to an external display?

2) What resolutions does it support?

3) Can you use the external display with a external KB+M and with the iBook lid closed?

4) Is the Apple 20" the best display to get?

Thanks!

[wataru]

You have to use the firmware hack to get spanning support. On mine, with spanning, I'm offered up to 1280x1024. I have an 800MHz iBook G4. The newer ones might do better.

[miacomet]

Also, can you hook the iBook up to a DVI display like Apples?

[mduell]

1) Depends what your display is.

2) 1024x768 and lower (without a hack).

3) No, as far as I know the iBooks do not support closed lid operation.

4) No, far from it.

The only way to hook an iBook up to a DVI display is with a $300 adapter (and it doesn't look that good anyway).

If you use the spanning hack to get higher resolution, look at an LCD that has a VGA port and 1280x1024 resolution (like the Dell 1704FP or 1901FP).

[miacomet]

Thanks mduell! I guess it's a currerent PB if I want to close the lid (which is what I want).

Did any of the rumors say that the new intel iBooks would support DVI and higher resolution display's?

[harrisjamieh]

I use the spanning hack, and it offers 1280x1024, though I have only tried it on a display with a maximum resolution of this, so I do not know if it will go higher. If you type VGA to DVI in google, it gives some results that seem to suggest the only way of using a DVI display with a VGA source (such as iBook), then you cannot buy a simple cable, it must be some sort of conversion box, which takes up extra space.

I have my doubts about using an iBook with a 20" cinema display, thats if you can even get it to work. My reasons for me doubting the setup is the lack of VRAM in the ibook. The iBook has only a video card with 32mb of RAM. This means that if you use the screen spanning hack, you are only going to be able to use 16MB of RAM on the rather large cinema display, which would most probs lead to poor preformance on the large display. I have heard that the mac mini does not run fantastically on a 20" ACD, and thats with all 32 MB of its VRAM going to the display.

If you can afford it, then I would say to go with the powerbook if the large external display is a deffinate want. The 12" PB has native DVI support, and 64 MB of VRAM. Granted this still isnt a huge amount but it would give you 32MB of VRAM on the 20" ACD, which in my opinion seems to be the minimum amount for one of those things. If you can stretch a bit more, then the 15" PB has a video card with 128MB of VRAM, which would in my opinion be much better for such a large display. If you wanted to you could even run a 30" ACD of a new 15" PB.

If you can stretch to it, for £150 more than a 12" PB + 20" ACD combined, then you could get a 17" powerbook, which offers superior performance to the 12" and also has a new screen which actually has the same amount of pixels in it as the 20" ACD, meaning that you can physically have the same number of windows open and visable on the new 17" PB as you can on the 20" ACD.

[miacomet]

Yeah the 15" PB is not so desirable for me. I want a small one for travel.

[harrisjamieh]

Well then the 12" PB will still be adequate, and much better than the iBook. I have a feeling that powerbooks can be run with the lid closed, which would then give the external display the whole 64 MB of VRAM, which would be pretty good. Dont quote me on this though

[miacomet]

Yeah I'm pretty sure the PB's do run with the Display closed.

[iMacfan]

Remember that the powerbooks need power, monitor, mouse and keyboard all connected in order to run closed.

David.

[miacomet]

Yup