Monitor Spanning with macparts.de, anyone tried this?

Question

Gang,
I am looking for a new desktop and I was thinking of a iMac G5 2.0GHz. But I really need 2 monitors and so I saw that this guy has this firmware update that allows multiple monitors on iBooks, iMacs and others.
I can see what he is doing but there is very little information on what can be done, resolution etc... I have a 19" Priceton LCD on my PowerBook I would like to use with the iMac.
Anyone used this? upsides? downsides?
THanks
Gordon

Answer 1

Hi Gordon. I'm encouraged by your post. You clearly know more about this stuff than I do, but I'll try to lay out a couple facts as I know them.
The 'video out' port on the iMac is physically the same as on the 12" Powerbook. Ie. both Mini-DVI to VGA and Mini-DVI to DVI dongles that come with the PB (and neither of which come with the iMac - $20 each) will physically fit into the back of the iMac.
Apple offers the Mini-DVI to VGA adapter as an option for the iMac - same part number and everything.
The video card with Rev. B iMacs is the same card as low-end PowerMacs. Obviously it has software crippling to better-distinguish the two lines. Spanning Doctor should realize it's full potential - which as you say SHOULD be able to push out a DVI image as well as VGA.
My LCD is the same res. as yours (which is a stupid Microsoft-invented resolution that's not even close to 4:3). Some months back (when I was first researching my switch to Mac and before I bought my PB) I saw a page showing a Rev. A iMac spanning to a 17" LCD but they used a VGA-DVI converter because - according to that guy - the iMac could only output to VGA while his LCD was DVI only, so he had to convert. His claim that it's only VGA-out seems to stem from the Apple specs - but then those specs also say it can't span.
What are the conflicts that you've read about? Any specific posts I should read? I keep hoping some experienced Mac geek will come on and tell us that the software's great and it spans beautifully to DVI.
I'm confident that the video card on the Rev. B iMacs will easily push both monitors. My PB with half the VRAM (and a mid-grade 64mb card at that - the nVidia as opposed to the beefier Radeon that the 15" PB comes with that's also 64mb) is sufficient: expose and dashboard and other VRAM intensive tasks are fluid and lovely.
As for PowerMacs, I'd love one, but it is a lot more money. I spend most of my times overseas, so I need a Mac that can be carted around in a suitcase, so the iMacs size/feature ratio is a big bonus for me.
Hate to sound like a parroting prognosticator, but if you're even somewhat in the market for a PowerMac don't buy till after Sept. 20th (Paris Expo) when many believe they'll launch dual-dual PowerMacs.
Any thoughts about the matched-pair debate? I don't think I'd be satisifed with 1gb, 1.5gb is unmattched, and I wonder if 2gb is over-kill. I'm entirely unsure about the whole thing.
Anyway, I'm sad that since I'm selling my PB (with both dongles) I'll have to re-buy both VGA and DVI dongles for the iMac since I plan to also drag the iMac around as the ultimate Keynote Companion (I'm already dreaming of scanning my 'notes' pane on the much-bigger screen than 12" PB). Might look for a cheaper DVI-VGA adapter and just buy the one over-priced Apple adapter.
Keep me posted on what you're thinking!
Thanks,
Alex
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