Mac Monitor Mirroring Versus Monitor Spanning
Monitor mirroring is present on iMacs and iBooks that have external video ports. When an external monitor is connected to the video port of any of these computers, whatever appears on the built-in screen is also visible on the external one. The external monitor will only display at the same resolution as the internal monitor.
Monitor spanning is present on all G4 Powerbooks as well as G4 towers with video cards that have DVI and ADC ports. When an external monitor is connected to the video port of any of these systems, they will appear as a separate second monitor. What appears on it is separate from what appears on the other monitor attached the system. The second monitor's resolution can be set independent of the first monitor's resolution.
There are several third-party hacks available on the Internet that allow users to enable monitor spanning on systems that only allow monitor mirroring. Their use is discouraged because they can potentially cause serious damage to the system firmware and will void any system warranty.
Note: The new Intel iMacs, MacBooks and MacBook Pros will do monitor spanning.
Current Record: 1227
Create Date: 04-17-2003
Last Reviewed: 02-21-2008
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