Dell 2005FPW and new iBook - good combo?
Hi all
Just got a new iBook G4 (12" 1,2GHz) (after someone broke in and stole my old trusty powerbook G4 400).
However I would like to hook it up to a bigger screen and the Dell seems like a good value. Will the 9200 radeon be adequate to run the 1680x1050 res?
I don't really use any graphics intensive apps, I mostly browse, do office apps, some non-graphic science apps and I do watch an occasional DVD...
Any help appreachiated.
:-)
P.S. the Dell web-site states "compatibility: PC" - this isn't something to be worried about right?
Just got a new iBook G4 (12" 1,2GHz) (after someone broke in and stole my old trusty powerbook G4 400).
However I would like to hook it up to a bigger screen and the Dell seems like a good value. Will the 9200 radeon be adequate to run the 1680x1050 res?
I don't really use any graphics intensive apps, I mostly browse, do office apps, some non-graphic science apps and I do watch an occasional DVD...
Any help appreachiated.
:-)
P.S. the Dell web-site states "compatibility: PC" - this isn't something to be worried about right?
Comments
http://www.rutemoeller.com/mp/ibook/ibook_e.html
... to get the ibook to run anything but mirrored 1024x768 mode. Dunno if the iBooks vid card will drive that big on the external screen, some of the other lads will chip in with the max rez it can run after the hack is applied. If the Dell has a VGA in port then you are ok pending said hacks effectiveness.
Originally posted by Luca
No. The iBook has only VGA, while the Dell uses a DVI connector. Even if you run the hack, there's no way to connect it.
Not quite. The 2005fpw has analog, DVI, component and s-video inputs. Provided the 9200 can drive it... it's possible. I have no clue what the 9200 can do though.
Anyways, a stupid question: will running the hack woid waranty?
Thanks
Originally posted by :-)
I must admit I was rather surprised to find out that I need the hack, to support other than 1024x768 res, I always thought the hack was to allow expanded desktop as opposed to mirroring, but I guess I just got the terms mixed up... Or maybe it's because I don't see any use of having an external monitor (except a projector) running @ same res...
Anyways, a stupid question: will running the hack woid waranty?
Well, the intended use is to drive a projector. As a consumer product Apple dont want you to use an external monitor with it. Also does nice TV out
As for warranty, it doesnt cover operator error, which running this hack would certainly classify as. Fortunately the only people Ive ever heard of having issues are those with old machines with video cards which dont support dual screens.
Should you need to send you Mac in for other reasons the hack can be turned off.
Look to arstechnica A/V forum for the Dell coupons/specials/etc that let you get the 2005FP cheap.
Unfortunately cheap screens are not worth offering to us Europeans. This according to Dell-logic. I checked out the local Dell webpage and special offers section, they have one common section for consumers and business, and the only item was a PowerEdge server... yeah, I think every other consumer is really interested in that. Somehow I wasn't.
Originally posted by ipodandimac
two macs play really nice with each other. mac + windows kinda sucks.
What's that got to do with this thread?
I tried the hack with a 19" sony monitor at our lab today, it worked so so with 1600x1200, especially clamshell mode seemed a bit dodgy, but that seems to be a general problem according to the hack documentation...
While I would love to have the al mac screen I don't think it justifies the 100% pricediff... (with cuopon, dell = $600, that is if I can get it to work
Unfortunately cheap screens are not worth offering to us Europeans
Well actually I'm an exchange student from Denmark, so I might as well get myself some cheap hardware while I'm here (that's also why I'm getting a powerbook before I go back - they're roughly 40% cheaper here
I'll decide what to do later, but thank you all very much for your help
:-)
Originally posted by :-)
I tried the hack with a 19" sony monitor at our lab today, it worked so so with 1600x1200, especially clamshell mode seemed a bit dodgy, but that seems to be a general problem according to the hack documentation...
While I would love to have the al mac screen I don't think it justifies the 100% pricediff... (with cuopon, dell = $600, that is if I can get it to work
Tell me about the hack trouble. (I'm considering going from 15" PB to 12" iBook.) Was the trouble only with clamshell? What happened exactly?
I don't think screen spanning is quite as important as I once did, and I can't imagine needing clamshell, but it's very bad if you can't use an external screen with decent Hz and res.
For some Apple screen actually delivers less, since it has DVI only and the comparable Dell/HP/Benq give you DVI/VGA/composite/SVHS so you can switch it between two computers and a game console if you like.
Well actually I'm an exchange student from Denmark, so I might as well get myself some cheap hardware while I'm here (that's also why I'm getting a powerbook before I go back - they're roughly 40% cheaper here
Go for it. I just wish both Dell and Apple got their heads out of their arses regarding Europe. They can't do anything to VAT, but similar base pricing and taking the Euro exchange rate into consideration would be a start.
iBook in US = 999$, iBook in Finland webstore = 1100e, of which 200e is VAT. The remainder 900e = 1200$, so Apple extra charge for foreign devils is almost exactly 20%, and on the web so there is no real infrastructure that costs anything.
Originally posted by Gon
What's that got to do with this thread?
Tell me about the hack trouble. (I'm considering going from 15" PB to 12" iBook.) Was the trouble only with clamshell? What happened exactly?
Well, in spanning mode, I got to control all of the settings, so here the only problem I found was slow response switching from screen to screen, and the magnification effect in the dock might as well have been turned off (it came with huge delay...).
In clamshell mode, the system prefs quitted when I tried to open the displays option, so the only way to adjust res and frequency was adding displays to the menubar - this however seriously limits the options, and it gave me only the option I had earlier run under spanning mode (i.e. 1600x1200) and further I could no longer choose 75hz... I do hope this will be less of an issue with an LCD display...
I guess the only way to be sure everything is in your control is to get a powerbook - and I do sometimes miss my 15" display, also the iBook doesn't have the same "feel" to it, not to mention the coolness factor 8) .
One other thing I noticed is that during fast user swicthing I no longer got the "cube" effect when going to the login window, this (and some of the other issues) was most likely caused by running high res on a small GPU...
Hope this answers your question? I only tried the 1600x1200 res cause that was what I was interested in, and I didn't spend a long time to see if some of the problems were easily solved...
:-)
Originally posted by :-)
I guess the only way to be sure everything is in your control is to get a powerbook - and I do sometimes miss my 15" display, also the iBook doesn't have the same "feel" to it, not to mention the coolness factor 8) .
OK, my questions got answered. Obviously, the real problem was in clamshell mode and otherwise it seems the system couldn't provide quite enough VRAM for everything. I think there was some talk that a hacked iBook makes a clear 1:1 division of its VRAM to drive the two displays. I don't know if a Powerbook also does that, but if it does, it doesn't seem to be a problem with the larger amount of memory.
If I switch, I won't have the 'coolness factor' problem, in fact I think the white iBook looks nicer than PB! Obviously it's worse in practical terms because of heat dispersal.
Originally posted by Gon
OK, my questions got answered. Obviously, the real problem was in clamshell mode and otherwise it seems the system couldn't provide quite enough VRAM for everything. I think there was some talk that a hacked iBook makes a clear 1:1 division of its VRAM to drive the two displays. I don't know if a Powerbook also does that, but if it does, it doesn't seem to be a problem with the larger amount of memory.
Well, Quartz Extreme doesnt work on 16mb video cards. The system is smart enough that when you run a dual head card it condsiders half the varm to be allocated to each card, hence Quartz Extreme is no longer operational.
You can hack QE to run on lower end cards, it just requires editing a prefs file. Apparently the file is
/System/Library/Frameworks/ApplicationServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/CoreGraphics.framework/Versions/A/Resources/Configuration.plist
Well, Quartz Extreme doesnt work on 16mb video cards. The system is smart enough that when you run a dual head card it condsiders half the varm to be allocated to each card, hence Quartz Extreme is no longer operational.
Well in clamshell mode "all" 32mb should go to the external monitor then, and QE should work, right? As I remember i didn't though...