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Filed under: Hardware, Peripherals, Reviews

TUAW review: ViDock Gfx multi-monitor solution for MacBook Pro


I love screen space. At the same time, my primary machine is a 2nd Gen, 17" MacBook Pro, which offers only one external DVI port. In my greedy quest to add more external monitors to my home workstation, I've tried a smorgasbord of products. I quickly gave up on USB to DVI solutions due to poor refresh rates and unmanageable color, and the closest I'd been able to come to a workable solution was Matrox's TripleHead2Go. The biggest drawback to that solution (and it ended up being big enough that my TripleHead2Go is gathering dust in a corner) is that the 2 or 3 monitors you hook up to it end up being treated as one large monitor. This means that you have fewer options in positioning your displays, and -- at least with 2 monitors connected -- things like menubars, the application switcher and even newly created windows and dialogs all pop up in the split between monitors. It works, but not well enough.

We'd heard tell of a product from Village Tronic called the ViDock Gfx, but after several disappointing experiences with other products in the same vein, I hadn't been ready to shell out for another try. Then, we got a review unit and it became clear that there was, in fact, a usable solution to the MacBook Pro's multi-monitor dilemma. Read on for my impressions after a week with this unique product.

Continue readingTUAW review: ViDock Gfx multi-monitor solution for MacBook Pro

Filed under: Hardware, Cult of Mac, Rig of the Week

Rig of the Year (So Far)



Digg today brings us our first TUAW rig of the day/week/month/year. Owned by flickr user washington_dc_photographer, this workstation sports three 30 inch Apple Cinema displays, 1 G5 Quad, 1 G5 Dual, 1 15 inch PowerBook, 6TB of external storage, 6 CF card readers, and a 15 inch Sony wireless TV. I can only imagine the kind of money that he must have spent on this setup, but I certainly see why this would be needed for a full time professional photographer shooting large RAW files and running Aperture.

In any case, this setup certainly sets a high bar for future 2007 rigs, so don't forget to submit yours to the TUAW flickr pool.

Filed under: Software

Parallels Workstation 2.1 beta6


Parallels has cranked out a 6th beta of their most excellent virtualizating Workstation software for Intel Macs. Fixes and improvements in this latest version include:
  • USB fixes (more devices supported: PDA, scanner, etc.)
  • Shared Folders fixes (added support for guest Windows 2000)
  • Network improvements: host-only networking
  • Custom video resolutions support added

Filed under: OS, Software

Macworld reviews Parallels, tests other OSs


Rob Griffiths has posted a thorough review of Parallels Workstation, the impressive new (and free while in beta) software that allows you to run other operating systems in a virtual environment within Mac OS X.

Overall Rob is very pleased with his experience. He first tested Windows XP and even posted a video to demonstrate just how well this software can run most Windows tasks within Mac OS X, even on his Intel-based Mac mini. Rob also points out some of the really handy and unique abilities PW offers, such as being able to use the same clipboard between Mac OS X and Windows XP - that's right, you can install an extra set of tools from Parallels (which many say should simply be included in the app's install from the get-go) that will allow you to copy in Mac OS X and paste into Windows XP, and vice-versa. Rob also tested various other OSs, including Fedora Core and Debian, and at one point has three running - usably, by his standards - at the same time.

It's a very interesting read, especially if you're interested in your Intel Mac's other OS capabilities. Check it out.

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