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slinky0390

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 22, 2005
156
0
... just wondering what size monitor you guys are running with your 12" g4 powerbook. i want to get a 27'' lcd tv and use that but im not sure if the powerbook can support that much screen
 

Bear

macrumors G3
Jul 23, 2002
8,088
5
Sol III - Terra
slinky0390 said:
... just wondering what size monitor you guys are running with your 12" g4 powerbook. i want to get a 27'' lcd tv and use that but im not sure if the powerbook can support that much screen
It's not the screen size, it's the resolution of the screen that matters.
 

slinky0390

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 22, 2005
156
0
the resolution is 1280 by 768.. i think thats what it is... i noticed that that resolution isnt listed on the display options.. will my powerbook detect the monitor and change to that resolution or am i just **** outa luck
 

bousozoku

Moderator emeritus
Jun 25, 2002
15,603
1,760
Lard
slinky0390 said:
the resolution is 1280 by 768.. i think thats what it is... i noticed that that resolution isnt listed on the display options.. will my powerbook detect the monitor and change to that resolution or am i just **** outa luck

If the PowerBook is connected to the display, it should detect it and display the resolution.
 
I've been using my iBook G4 spanning to a HDTV 1280 x 720 for about a year. Type's a little small from the coffee table with the wireless keyboard and mouse. Your VRAM gets split in half. With my iBook, that means I miss out on some graphic effects. My TV is a Westinghouse, and when I plugged it in, the resolution not only came up, but there was a 27" Westinghouse color profile available to select in the Displays Control Panel.
 

Josh

macrumors 68000
Mar 4, 2004
1,640
1
State College, PA
0333286.jpg



oh...
 

slinky0390

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 22, 2005
156
0
jayscheuerle said:
I've been using my iBook G4 spanning to a HDTV 1280 x 720 for about a year. Type's a little small from the coffee table with the wireless keyboard and mouse. Your VRAM gets split in half. With my iBook, that means I miss out on some graphic effects. My TV is a Westinghouse, and when I plugged it in, the resolution not only came up, but there was a 27" Westinghouse color profile available to select in the Displays Control Panel.

if i got a 19 or 20 inch will the vram sill have a significant loss, cus i want to get this monitor for editing video
 

slinky0390

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 22, 2005
156
0
jayscheuerle said:
Mirroring the display means no video loss, but you're stuck with your portable's resolution. Spanning displays halves the VRAM. Half for each.

what if i was going to run the powerbook with the lid closed
 

ITASOR

macrumors 601
Mar 20, 2005
4,398
3
slinky0390 said:
what if i was going to run the powerbook with the lid closed

Then you use all your VRAM on the other screen. That's what you wanna do!
 

slinky0390

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 22, 2005
156
0
kk.. well instead of just kinda getting half answers that confuse me.. lol.. im planning on using the monitor as the primary display when im at my desk, and i want to use the powerbook with the lid closed. what size monitor would you reccomend for a 12" g4 powerbook, or a monitor that would work flawlessly with a 12" powerbook. a dell 19" lcd tv with the resolution of 1280x768, a westinghouse 27" lcd tv with the resolution of 1280x768, or a 20" apple display with the resolution of 1680x1050. oh by the way the all have 6.7 million colors.
 
slinky0390 said:
what if i was going to run the powerbook with the lid closed

From what I can tell in Apple's Support, you're still losing VRAM if Mirroring is activated. It sounds like you'll be wanting to span instead of just mirror, because of the aspect ration differences. Turn down the resolution and bit depth and refresh rate on your powerbook so that it demands as little VRAM as possible.
 

aquajet

macrumors 68020
Feb 12, 2005
2,386
9
VA
jayscheuerle said:
Mirroring the display means no video loss, but you're stuck with your portable's resolution. Spanning displays halves the VRAM. Half for each.

Mirroring also requires splitting VRAM between both monitors.
 
slinky0390 said:
kk.. well instead of just kinda getting half answers that confuse me.. lol.. im planning on using the monitor as the primary display when im at my desk, and i want to use the powerbook with the lid closed. what size monitor would you reccomend for a 12" g4 powerbook, or a monitor that would work flawlessly with a 12" powerbook. a dell 19" lcd tv with the resolution of 1280x768, a westinghouse 27" lcd tv with the resolution of 1280x768, or a 20" apple display with the resolution of 1680x1050. oh by the way the all have 6.7 million colors.

VRAM isn't as important to Video work as it is to games, so you should be fine with the higher VRAM Powerbook even if you have to split it. Again, with mirroring, your external monitor will have the same resolution as your powerbook. I only have an iBook, so I don't know if in clamshell mode you can use a higher resolution. If you are using this machine as a work machine, I would go with the higher resolution Apple Display. You'll appreciate the extra space. 1280 x 720 doesn't leave me much room for palettes.
 

slinky0390

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 22, 2005
156
0
jayscheuerle said:
VRAM isn't as important to Video work as it is to games, so you should be fine with the higher VRAM Powerbook even if you have to split it. Again, with mirroring, your external monitor will have the same resolution as your powerbook. I only have an iBook, so I don't know if in clamshell mode you can use a higher resolution. If you are using this machine as a work machine, I would go with the higher resolution Apple Display. You'll appreciate the extra space. 1280 x 720 doesn't leave me much room for palettes.

ok.. im under the assumption that when an external monitor is plugged into the powerbook, the monitors optimal resolution comes up in the display pane. correct me if im wrong.. im just kinda concerned about all of this because its a pricey purchace and i dont want to screw up. the whole reason for the larger monitor is because i have been doing tons of video and photoshop editng and ive been getting eyestrain headaches mainly because im sitting 2 inches from my laptop so i can see every detail
 

aquajet

macrumors 68020
Feb 12, 2005
2,386
9
VA
jayscheuerle said:
I can't find anywhere that says it does so in clamshell mode, where ONLY an external monitor is driven. I've been looking around for a bit..

When I use my Powerbook in clamshell mode, all VRAM is used by the external monitor.
 

slinky0390

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 22, 2005
156
0
aquajet said:
When I use my Powerbook in clamshell mode, all VRAM is used by the external monitor.
hmm.. im getting confused, im gonna sound like a newb but, what is the definition of VRAM and what is it used for
 
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