iBook monitor SPANNING

jet powersjet powers
Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
<a href="http://www.macparts.de/ibook/"; target="_blank">http://www.macparts.de/ibook/</a>;



From the <a href="http://www.powerpage.org/story.lasso?newsID=9606"; target="_blank">powerpage of O'grady</a>.



Jet

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 12
    defiantdefiant Posts: 4,876member
    wow. seems to be software related.

    another one why apple keeps distance between the PowerBook and the iBook
  • Reply 2 of 12
    lucaluca Posts: 3,833member
    Preventing the iBook from running while closed might also be software-related.



    The iBook can be used as a DVD player for a TV, correct? I mean, you can connect the two and play a DVD on a TV, right?
  • Reply 3 of 12
    relicrelic Posts: 4,735member
    Man that pisses me off, I knew the ATI chipset in the new ibook could handle spanning. Why limit it, Apple already has a speed disadvantage why further cripple their hardware. A 800 dollar PC notebook el-cheapo has video spamming. Apple, your consumer products suck, to expensive and way under their value. <img src="graemlins/oyvey.gif" border="0" alt="[No]" />
  • Reply 4 of 12
    lucaluca Posts: 3,833member
    Read my post in General Discussion about Apple removing features from their consumer lines that cost nothing or very little to add. I'm pretty frustrated with them too. I'm not planning on getting an iMac, so that's not what I really care about, but I am planning on getting an iBook, and them removing all these features is really annoying.



    The iBook can't monitor span, because Apple limited the software. It can't run while closed, because they limited the software. It can't accept PC cards, because they didn't build it into the hardware, even though every single other laptop I know of has a PC card slot. The one that most concerns me is the dangerous and scary task of replacing the hard drive. Sure, it's possible, but it's very difficult and they obviously didn't want people adding their own hard drives.



    It's one thing to make the hard drive in a desktop irreplaceable. At least you can get an external FW drive and be done with it. But on a laptop, you need to be able to take your data with you.



    Anyway, returning to the discussion at hand, I think that merely removing the provision for monitor spanning was very stupid, but not "crippling." Sure, I'd like to have that option, if possible, but most people aren't ever going to use it even if it was available. Making it difficult to replace the hard drive and not providing a PC card slot is what cripples it. It's not like video spanning or running while closed is quite important enough to justify purchase of a PowerBook for $1000 more, it's just enough of a drawback for the iBook that it's frustrating.
  • Reply 5 of 12
    satchmosatchmo Posts: 2,699member
    [quote]Originally posted by Relic:

    <strong>Man that pisses me off, I knew the ATI chipset in the new ibook could handle spanning. Why limit it, Apple already has a speed disadvantage why further cripple their hardware. A 800 dollar PC notebook el-cheapo has video spamming. Apple, your consumer products suck, to expensive and way under their value. <img src="graemlins/oyvey.gif" border="0" alt="[No]" /> </strong><hr></blockquote>



    Why do you care? If they suck, and a PC is your thing, then why are you even here?

    And BTW, it video spanning, not spamming!
  • Reply 6 of 12
    alcimedesalcimedes Posts: 5,486member
    note: the guy barely got the spanning to work at all. then when it did it was at 640x480. not sure if that's the max the card can do, but that would explain why it's just disabled.



    [quote]Anyway, returning to the discussion at hand, I think that merely removing the provision for monitor spanning was very stupid, but not "crippling." Sure, I'd like to have that option, if possible, but most people aren't ever going to use it even if it was available. Making it difficult to replace the hard drive and not providing a PC card slot is what cripples it. It's not like video spanning or running while closed is quite important enough to justify purchase of a PowerBook for $1000 more, it's just enough of a drawback for the iBook that it's frustrating.<hr></blockquote>



    the HD is hard to replace. i've done it but wouldn't do it again. i wanted to upgrade. however, if that's your major concern, there are just as many possibilities for external FW drives for an iBook as there are for a desktop.



    as for the PC slot, what exactly did you have in mind? 90% of the PC cards i've ever seen installed were either; a. modem b. network card c. firewire port.



    you have all three, what were you thinking of using that you can't?
  • Reply 7 of 12
    composercomposer Posts: 212member
    [quote]Originally posted by alcimedes:

    <strong>as for the PC slot, what exactly did you have in mind? 90% of the PC cards i've ever seen installed were either; a. modem b. network card c. firewire port.



    you have all three, what were you thinking of using that you can't?</strong><hr></blockquote>



    A couple that I can think of:

    1. Audio Processing PC Card, Fostex makes one.

    2. Flash/Memory Stick Readers



    Sure there are analgous devices available through firewire/usb connections, but sometimes havin everything in one place makes for a much friendlier computing experience, no?
  • Reply 8 of 12
    torifiletorifile Posts: 4,024member
    While pc notebooks may have pc card slots and easier to replace hd's they don't have the same form factor of the ibook. Not even close. If you want to cram all that stuff in something as small as the ibook, you've got to make some sacrifices. The spanning thing, I agree, sucks though.
  • Reply 9 of 12
    murbotmurbot Posts: 5,262member
    [quote]It can't run while closed, because they limited the software.<hr></blockquote>



    This is a good thing, isn't it? The iBook doesn't have the luxury of having a case design that dissipates heat like the PowerBook does, so letting heat escape through the keyboard is a must. I'd think that an iBook would get rather toasty after 8 hours running with the lid closed...



    Even if I could, I don't think I'd run an iBook with the lid closed. I'd be scared of cooking the little guy.



    Maybe this little discovery about the display spanning will get some of the more technically-apt Mac users to tinker with it a little more. Maybe we'll get lucky and someone will come up with a workable solution? Could be interesting.



    [ 07-16-2002: Message edited by: murbot ]</p>
  • Reply 10 of 12
    lucaluca Posts: 3,833member
    Good point about cooking... they could make it so there's an option to have it either sleep or stay on while open, and if the temperature reaches a dangerous level, it just sleeps. The default would have to be sleeping while open, because running while open is only useful for a few things like outputting to a TV.



    As for the PC cards, I know that most are for modems, ethernet, or firewire, but my laptop doesn't have firewire because it's four years old. I had to get a PC card for that. I'm sure four years down the line there will be some new type of connection that I'll want but I won't have because of the lack of a PC card slot.
  • Reply 11 of 12
    klinuxklinux Posts: 453member
    I have two PC laptops (and more desktops_ at home and I concur with the other posters that the the iBook has pretty much everything I need built-in and thus eliminating the need for a PC card slot. Yes, a memory card reader might be nice (for example, Sony VAIO laptops has a memory stick slot built in), but I already have a firewire reader that use for both my PC and the iBook.
  • Reply 12 of 12
    i-bent-my-wookiei-bent-my-wookie Posts: 326member
    [quote]Originally posted by Luca Rescigno:

    <strong>

    The iBook can't monitor span, because Apple limited the software. It can't run while closed, because they limited the software. </strong><hr></blockquote>



    The iBook can run closed if you have an external keyboard and mouse attached (not sure if that is a bug with sleep mode or not). BUT apple strongly advises against it because the heat distribution is comprimised with the top down. My iBook gets pretty warm (not Ti warm, but...) and with the top down that can damage the LCD and the internals. Also another bullet for the "no g4 in iBook" gun.



    I do wish I had monitor spanning but Im not going to sell my iBook because it doesn't... I mean it is a consumer machine, many users are beginners and wouldnt even know what to do with a second monitor.



    And if you want it get the Ti, because it is BARELY bigger than an iBook (and its thinner) so I dont buy it when people say "I wont get a Ti because its too big"....



    you wont get a Ti because it costs a lot more. Pick one of those babies up and an extra 1" or so in width means nothing... those things are sweet and light!



    The 14" iBook is the monster of the group.
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