Advertisement Productivity pros swear by multiple monitors, but we don’t all have the luxury of carrying around huge screens and endless wallets. On the other hand, the iPad has become pretty ubiquitous, and it can really help you Many people separate the personal computer and the iPad into two different worlds - the PC is for work and the iPad is for fun.

But I think both devices don't have to be on. What if I told you there was a way you could use your iPad as a second monitor, extending your desktop with precious extra inches? That would be pretty amazing right? Well here are three that let you do just that. ($4.99 In-App Purchase, Mac & Windows) Ease of Setup: Poor SplashTop is already the brand leader in high-performance remote control software for your PC or Mac via an iPad (you can even watch movies), so a second display app is a natural fit.

In fact, the same Splashtop Streamer app is used on the PC/Mac side as the display driver. Software installation is pretty basic, but I was a little perturbed to see permission required for an app called itself Kextinstaller; from my hackintosh days, I know kexts (key extension?) are core system files, and messing around with them incorrectly is one of the few things you can do to break a Mac.

The things I do in the name of testing. When youre finished with all that, switch over to the iPad, launch XDisplay and you should see that your computer has been automatically discovered. Tap on it and it should connect, though it took a few refreshes for me and looked like the computer was breaking in the process. Eventually though, the screen will be extended and a helpful hint system displayed. Performance: Great A three-finger tap will open the app settings, one of which is to switch between smooth and sharp.

In smooth mode, video playback was great, but text is fuzzy. In sharp mode, video was still playable, but mouse response took a nosedive. Most text was easy to read, but clearly not “retina” grade. It’s also worth noting that touch controls mouse movement, so you should be able to draw into desktop applications with this app if you wanted. And because the app is resolution independent, you can also zoom in.

Splashtop XDisplay is free to download with a 10 minute limitation, and is currently on 50% sale at $4.99 to unlock the full app. It’s a pain to setup and the required steps aren’t obvious or documented in any central place, but it does work exactly as it says on the tin, and being able to switch between sharp text or smoother graphics makes it suitable for a wide range of applications. ($9.99, Mac only) $9.99 might seem like a high price to pay for an app which is rated 2 stars average and only Mac compatible, but I had no specific issues using this, so can only assume the ratings came form previous buggy versions. Ease of setup: Great Install the connector software and restart – that’s it. No passwords, no hidden driver installs.

It just works. The interface on MiniDisplay for the iPad is simple, with a nice image of any recognized machines. Select the machine, and a few seconds later you have an extended desktop. If your Mac has a user password set, you’ll need to enter that.

Performance: Atrociously slow but crystal clear The lag is unbearably slow – it would take a few seconds or so to drag a window onto the extended desktop and have it appear. Just writing text into an email or Evernote is acceptable. The text however, is crystal clear – it’s obviously using the native retina resolution of the iPad, which explains the lag. Video playback is impossible, but if writing emails or reading small chat displays is your main use case, you might appreciate the retina graphics.

Use Ipad As Second Screen For Macbook

Mouse movement is performed using a single tap, so no drawing is possible. Mini Display is a universal app, so you can also run it on your iPhone – though only one device can be connected at the same time which means no lining up every iDevice you own for fun. It’s also worth pointing out that the higher resolution of the iPhone makes it completely unusable for, well, anything. ($9.99, Mac & Windows) Ease of setup: Great Again, a single install and no passwords to set or additional steps required. If there was any confusion about what to do, launching Air Display on the iPad explains exactly what you need to do for either Mac or Windows, including how to setup an ad-hoc Wi-Fi network if needed. To actually start using the display, activate and select the second device from the menu bar in the Mac or Windows AirDisplay host. Note: there used to be a free version of this app that has since been withdrawn – the developers found it was butchering sales of the full app.

Performance: Reasonable Again, Air Display uses the full resolution of an iPad – which is approximately the same as my iMac, so the pixel density renders a lot of apps unusable, though with incredibly clear detail. Here’s some tiny Photoshop menus, for example. Video and general usage is very laggy, though subjectively didn’t feel as bad as Mini-Display. You can even draw directly into Photoshop, smoothly but albeit with a noticeable second delay between touching and having the line appear. Significantly, AirDisplay also includes the option to not use retina resolutions – it’s tucked away in the preferences. Disabling this puts it on par with XDisplay’s sharp setting, and makes everything more responsive and UI elements more reasonably sized. The Winner To be honest, trying to use the iPad as a second screen just made me squint an awful lot no matter what the app.

Then again, my main work machine is a 27″ iMac – if you were to place the iPad alongside a 13″ MacBook Air, you might be more appreciative of any extra inches you could get your hands on. For basic tasks like keeping a chat window open, checking a mail client or perhaps as a status monitor – the iPad works admirably. The clear winner for me in this round-up though has to Splashtop XDisplay. Yes, it doesn’t display at retina resolution, but in practice this is actually better than the other apps which ended up displaying windows at incredible detail, but so tiny as to be useless. XDisplay lets you switch between a higher quality (though not retina) resolution, and something more than acceptable for smooth video playback. It’s sadly let down by the complex and somewhat daunting install process.

Use Ipad As Second Monitor For Macbook Pro

AirDisplay comes an admirable second once you disable retina graphics, and the setup is far friendlier. It’s a tough call between the two. Have you found a better solution to use your use iPad as a second monitor? Let us know in the comments if you have, or if you use your iPad as a second monitor often – we’d love to hear your experiences and what kind of apps you dock there. Intro image: Explore more about:.

Has anyone found a reason the iPad cannot be used as an external monitor to view images? This would be for on location use to review images and in general to just allow art directors to approve shots. All post processing etc. Would be done back at the studio. If it can be used as a monitor two accessories soon to be seen for the iPad will be a hood for daylight viewing and a connector arm to attach an iPad to a tripod. Thought of getting a SD- CF adapter and use a Eye-Fi card in the camera or get the Apple 'iPad Camera Connector Kit' and tether the camera directly to the iPad.

Use Ipad As Second Screen For Macbook Air

I had one of the camera connectors for the iPod which was useless so I hope the iPad connector works better. I know there will be a number of folks asking why don't you just use the laptop? I can and do but the idea of just handing around an image on a device with the form/function of the iPad is just to good to ignore. Especially if I can download the images wirelessly to it. If anyone remembers shooting Polaroids (especially the 8X10s) you know what I mean. Plus it's just another reason to justify buying one.

M2 Saw this: And it wasn't specific to the information I am looking for. What I want to know is if there is a real live 'You-Cannot-Do-This-Because' answer out there. It looks like there isn't a reason the iPad couldn't be used as an external monitor for just viewing images. It's probably too early to be asking but I was hoping someone who has actually knows whether or not it can be used for this has an answer. I don't need a storage device or plan to do any PP or critical color correction with it. Just want to be able to have a device I can hand to an art director or stylist so they can review an image. The most demanding task I would ask of the iPad is the ability to drop the masthead of a magazine on an image to review how a cover would look.

Gaussian blur wrote: Or do it wirelessly on an iPhone, right now: I would be really surprised if they aren't going to update that for the larger screen on the iPad. Since iPad apps are almost exactly iPhone apps, they probably will update it for the iPad. However.don't forget that DSLR Camera Remote requires a real computer! The system requirements are a 1GHz processor and 1GB RAM.

It only uses the iPhone as a near-dumb terminal. If you really want a tethered display app for the iPad that does not require the horsepower of a desktop/laptop computer to receive, pre-process, and store the raw images, that will have to be a completely new app that can function under the performance and disk space limitations of the iPad. Whilst I have been waiting for the release of the canon WFT-E5A wireless file transmitter and grip for the canon 7D dslr i came across this With the WFT-E5A, and Canon EOS Utility, photographers can pair their camera wirelessly through a browser or dedicated software for complete remote Live View composing, shooting and image transfer. This means easy control of the shoot through a computer, netbook, iPod Touch or iPhone, onsite or off, and is a simple and effective way to confirm and shoot no matter the physical location of the subject and photographer. If this works for iPod Touch or iPhone, it should work for the IPad also. This would be great for event work and weddings etc.

I have a feeling transferring pictures onto that thing is going to be painfully slow with their adaptors. I know they are trying to keep it locked down but not including at least one real USB port kinda pisses me off. I only use CF cards and the only thing I consider fast enough is my Sandisk USB reader. Maybe will be ok for my P&S but no way for my dSLR will I be transferring pictures direct. My CF cards have more memory for cheaper anyway.

I have a feeling the 100 dollar price increase from 16GB to 32GB is mostly pure profit for them. Bradleyg5 wrote: I have a feeling transferring pictures onto that thing is going to be painfully slow with their adaptors. That is a real concern since the original iPod Camera Connector from 5 years ago was known to be very slow, which had the side effect of eating up more battery life on both devices (the camera and the iPod). It remains to be seen whether Apple has made significant improvements for the new adapter. I only use CF cards and the only thing I consider fast enough is my Sandisk USB reader.

You haven't lived until you've experienced the transfer speed of a FireWire reader! Easily faster than my USB 2.0 reader. Graybalanced wrote: I have a feeling transferring pictures onto that thing is going to be painfully slow with their adaptors. That is a real concern since the original iPod Camera Connector from 5 years ago was known to be very slow, which had the side effect of eating up more battery life on both devices (the camera and the iPod). It remains to be seen whether Apple has made significant improvements for the new adapter. The old adapter only worked with a couple versions of regular iPods, not something running OS X. The iPad is significantly faster than those iPods and the old adapter was also a very ugly hack.

I'd be very surprised if the new one is anywhere near that slow. Bradleyg5 wrote: I have a feeling transferring pictures onto that thing is going to be painfully slow with their adaptors. I know they are trying to keep it locked down but not including at least one real USB port kinda pisses me off. I only use CF cards and the only thing I consider fast enough is my Sandisk USB reader. Maybe will be ok for my P&S but no way for my dSLR will I be transferring pictures direct. My CF cards have more memory for cheaper anyway.

I have a feeling the 100 dollar price increase from 16GB to 32GB is mostly pure profit for them. I agree, I am not a fan of the iPhone/iPodTouch but this thing seemed to be a way not to carry a laptop when traveling around but when using the d-slr and willing to transfer/store images the iPad doesn't look promising, we'll have to check the speed transfer via adaptor, true, but then what about the storage capacity??? Not a problem of mine as my cameras are low MP count but imagine somebody with a D3/D3x or 5DMkII/D1MkIV, how many pic would they store on the 16/32GB memory of the iPad? I guess we'll have to wait for an iPadMkII to see some more storage at an affordable price and, possibly and hopefully, to some competition from other manufacturers (but the osX system can't be beaten!). Well now it's a matter of hours to know what this new thing is gonna be like, if it can be of some real use for photographers or just an iPhoto like thing to show pics to friends.

The iPad uses the same storage technology (flash) as your camera. So, if you're a person who goes through 8 GB memory cards as though they were potato chips, the iPad is not a good storage device for you. It might be an excellent display device.

Sony walkman nwz-s610 driver for mac windows 10. It might be a good field uploading device (depends on the software, but it does have WiFi and optional 3G). But it's not a good replacement for one of those little portable (card reader / 160+ GB hard drive) gadgets - any more than one of those gadgets is a good replacement for an iPad as an e-book reader.