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Multiple Monitors on a G4 PowerBook
Wednesday, June 21, 2006 / Laptops & Notebooks
Can I connect more than one monitor to a PowerBook?
I am a writer, so I like to have one monitor for viewing graphics, one for text, and I would like to add one more for Internet research. I can’t afford one large 20-22 inch monitor. Now I have a 17-inch LCD I plug into my laptop, which gives me 2 “desktops.” Can I add “viewable real estate?”
Splitting your VGA monitor connection across two displays is possible. You can also split a DVI connection but it is more difficult and, because of that, is more expensive. A better alternative is to look into buying a PCMCIA video card. VillageTronic has the VTBook graphics card that will give you a second display port. This will allow you to have three displays (including the PowerBook display) without impacting your video performance.
The VTBook provides a DVI port that can support Apple’s 20″ and 23″ displays, along with a large variety of generic PC displays. If you are trying to connect a VGA display, you’ll have to pick up a cheap DVI to VGA adapter. Once you have the PCMCIA video card you should be able to use the built in display-spanning feature to add desktop space.
I hope this gets you the screen real estate you wanted.
