TB 500: use VGA or DVI w/adapter?

I need to add an ext. LCD to an original TiBook 500. Does it make any difference in PQ if I get a PCMCIA/DVI card instead of using the VGA port? Thanks.

Hi, Philip. What display make and model do you intend to use? Does it have both DVI-in and VGA-in ports?
I wouldn't expect a DVI adapter to make any difference in the quality of the signal being sent to the display by the Powerbook's internal video. If the DVI card you're considering is a full-fledged video card in its own right, and generates a DVI signal independent of the built-in VGA video circuitry in the Powerbook, then I'd expect a better picture on the external display than if you simply connected it to the Powerbook's VGA port.
Other things to consider:
A PCMCIA-slot video card would tie up that slot and prevent you from using it for any other purpose (that would make such a card a nonstarter for me, but of course your needs may be quite different). But in a Powerbook, the MC Card slot is the only place to add a second video card.
A PCMCIA-slot video card would probably generate quite a bit of heat, in a part of your Powerbook that isn't very effectively cooled because most PC cards don't require much cooling. I'd expect the internal fan to run much more of the time, and I'd make sure the Powerbook was only used in well-ventilated, comfortably cool workplaces.
A PCMCIA-slot DVI video card would probably improve picture quality dramatically on a high-quality external display such as Apple's — which outperform all others I've ever seen. Whether it would have an equal effect on an inexpensive third-party display, I'm not sure. A cheap, low-end third-party display might restrict your maximum picture quality more severely than the connection protocol or even the quality of the input signal does.

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