anyone using their laptop as a desktop w/ 2nd monitor/kybd/mouse?

[tahoedrew]

I run a MBP (early '08) exactly as you're thinking both at my office and at home. The office has an Apple 20" screen, the home has a Dell 20" screen. I use a bluetooth keyboard at both locations, the work mouse is wireless, the home mouse is wired and plugged into the Dell. Both locations have JBL Creature II speakers. The office has a WD portable HD that serves as a CCC backup, along with an 80GB Firelite FW drive and an OWC dual-drive RAID enclosure plugged into the FW800 port for HD Video editing. The house has a MiniStack, another OWC external enclosure and an OWC dual-drive FW800 RAID enclosure for a Time Machine backup.

I run my monitor spanned at both locations, I've got a beautiful 15" screen and two beautiful 20" screens, why wouldn't I use them all?!

~A

[robfilms]

mattkime wrote:
>>as for hard drive size, my mbp is still under applecare so if i swapped out the 160gb and put in a 500gig i thought i would void my warranty.

nope! your warrant will be fine.

>>i can live with several 1tb hard drives one for the iphotos and the other for the itunes. i just need to remember to turn them on before i simply click on the application.

how many TB of photos and music do you have??

if you get a 24" monitor, you'll probably look at it instead of your laptop screen.

matt-

very helpful info about the warranty. thank u. is there anything online i can read that suggests the same? (not that i don't believe u-i'm just one of those guys that needs to read it for himself )

i have 70gig of iphoto pix and about the same of itunes. i'm sure if i can slot in a 500gb into the macbook pro, that should satisfy me for a moment.

thanks for sharing your obvious experience.

be well

rob

[robfilms]

tahoedrew-

thanks for the snap shot.

do u always leave the mbp open so u are seeing 2 screens?

what is your work methodology using 2 screens?

something like, mbp opens to the files or your work product while the 2nd monitor is email and web?

are u using some form of a laptop stand to keep the bottom of the mbp cool?

very helpful, thank you.

it is always fun to think about redesigning my workspace.

be well

rob

[DRR]

I have a MBP resting on a rain design mStand next to a 22" Dell monitor. I use both monitors. I suggest that if you go the route of using both monitors, get a stand for the laptop so the two screens will be at similar heights. When I'm using this setup at my desk, I plug into gigabit ethernet and my MBP backs up via Time Machine to a 3TB server in the basement. The server also houses media, downloads, and other reference data that I don't need to have on my machine locally.

Bluetooth mouse and keyboard, because I hate wires.

[mattkime]

not finding any direct references but here you go -

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=600384

[btfc]

I asked that exact question at two Apple stores recently and got this answer, quoted from mattkime's Macrumors link:

"It does not void the warranty on the Macbook Pro classic to replace your hard drive.

Apple's official stance is, if you break it, then you void the warranty, but if you can take it apart properly without breaking anything and replace the drive, then your warranty will remain intact. I know this 100 percent because I replaced my own harddrive on my revision A MBP, and later when I had logic board problems, the warranty still worked fine and the genius told me that Apple would not cover the hard drive anymore, but everything else was warrantied."

[mikebw]

Go To Top wrote: Who buys desktops anymore?

People who need 12Gigs of RAM, and 16 processor cores, that's who.

[btfc]

Oh, and my setup is similar to tahoedrew's picture; a great use for a second screen is for palettes in Photoshop, Final Cut Pro, etc.,or to run stock tickers, weather info, iTunes, or movies while having a document fill your main screen.

[robfilms]

mattkime-

thanks for the link.

after reading that thread, i'm not sure if replacing the hd in a mbp 2.4 santa rosa would void my applecare.

i might just have to live in the world of external drives, sigh, or get the drive replaced by an apple certified tech.

anyone know what a drive replaced by an apple tech would cost?

tia

rob

[mattkime]

I think its pretty easy to replace the drive. anyone who states that its difficult never did an ibook - those are hard!

I can do it in about 15 minutes. just make sure you have the right screwdrivers.