I have to admit the new iMacs are just to damn gorgeous. The LED-backlit display is really bright and inviting. Now, embracing new processor family from Intel and powerful graphics from ATI Radeon, the new iMacs are really an amazing All-in-one solution. If you are looking for a new desktop, get an iMac.

Recently, I wrote on Connecting Multiple External Monitors to your Macbook Pro. Many friends contacted me who are currently deciding between Macbook or an iMac. All of them had the demand to have an extended desktop available for their ever demanding increase in desktop real estate. As I’ve already covered the Macbook and Macbook Pro scenario, its time to look at the new iMacs.

iMac 21.5″

The 21.5″ iMac in my opinion is a very practical size and machine for a family computer and also a pro user. With 1920 by 1080 pixels resolution, using Mini DisplayPort output with support for DVI, VGA, and dual-link DVI (adapters sold separately), its quite easy and natural to hook up extra screens. The 21.5″ supports for extended desktop and video mirroring modes and allows simultaneously support full native resolution on the built-in display and up to a 30-inch display (2560 by 1600 pixels) on an external display.

Apple has decided only to make 27″ LED Cinema Displays now, so we have to look for other makes for our needs. Here are few which I think will do the job well.

The old 24″ LED Cinema Display, if you are lucky to grab one, is my first choice as it meets the size closely. At $780, its expensive but you are guaranteed the closest match to your new iMac display. Buy Apple LED Cinema Display 24-Inch.

Beyond Apple, the following are a good choice:

Samsung EX2220X 21.5-Inch 1920 x 1080 5ms 16.7M High Performance Widescreen LCD Monitor with LED
Buy Now $180

ViewSonic VX2250WM-LED 22-Inch (21.5-Inch Vis) Widescreen Full HD 1080p LED
Buy Now $165

HP 2210m 21.5-Inch Diagonal Full HD LCD Monitor – Black
Buy Now $194

iMac 27″

Ah! The 27″ iMac. Don’t you just love this mighty machine. Now, what I think can be one great setup would be add the upcoming 27″ LED Cinema Display with your iMac 27″. That would create an enormous 2 X (2560 by 1440 pixels) resolution at your disposal. Apple designed the 27″ Cinema Display to complement the bigger iMac. See the picture below:

Beautiful isn’t it? Costly, definitely!

More than 1 Screen?

Whoa! 1 extra screen with your iMac not enough? Well, ofcourse you can add more. And to achieve that you need to get yourself one these. I’ve discussed about using these gadgets to hook up your macbook / macbook pro with external screens, please do read it though it works around a particular need.

Make sure before purchasing any device, you must have answers to your following questions:

• What port it will hook up to e.g., USB, firewire, Mini DVI etc.
• What is the Max resolution available through this device e.g., 2560 by 1440 pixels
• What monitor I’m going to use and what max resolution it will support.

Conclusion:

The iMac is now a complete power house capable of delivering great results for both average and pro users. Extend the screen size to get maximum utilization. I hope you have enjoyed this article. So whats the solution you are going for?

Virtualization products have been out there for Macs allowing you to run Windows and other operating systems from within Mac OS X. It was only when Apple introduced Boot Camp, which allows you to natively install Microsoft Windows on your Mac, the real attraction started for Macs. People who were reluctant switching to Mac earlier, were now more appreciative of their purchases.

Boot Camp

Right from Apple’s site:

Have a Windows application you need to use once in a while? No problem. Every new Mac lets you install Windows XP and Vista and run them at native speeds, using a built-in utility called Boot Camp.

Setup is simple and safe for your Mac files. After you’ve completed the installation, you can boot up your Mac using either Mac OS X or Windows. (That’s why it’s called Boot Camp.)

People involved with high performance applications such as 3D and appreciative of Mac hardware usually use Boot Camp to run Windows as native. But if you want to enjoy both the worlds and hate rebooting to switch back to Mac OS, you better try one of the following apps.

Wine Bottler

Wine Bottler, a free application which lets you run Windows applications in such a way that they run right in the native OS X environment. Its based on the famous Wine project on nix platform. Its not click and run ideally, requires a bit of getting things done but nothing unachievable. There is an excellent article on Mac.Appstorm on using Wine Bottler.

CrossOver Mac

Similar in functionality like Wine Bottler but with more intuitive usage and support, CrossOver Mac allows you to install many popular Windows applications and games on your Intel Mac. Once installed, your application integrates seamlessly in OS X. Just click and run your application directly from the OS X Finder. Not all applications are available for installation, but the current available list is pretty decent. The pro version costs $57 ($12 discount).

VMware Fusion 3

Moving on, if you want a more realistic experience where you are not bound to run a select list of applications, then look beyond Wine Bottler and CrossOver. VMware Fusion is a very decent application rightfully providing the juice to run your most demanding windows applications. This is what VMware has to say:

Run the most demanding Mac and Windows applications side-by-side at maximum speeds without rebooting. With more than 80 new features in VMware Fusion 3, including 5X better 3D graphics performance and 35% faster end-to-end performance in version 3.1, it’s never been easier to run Windows on your Mac.

At a discounted price of $61.99, its a very good purchase to fulfill your needs.

Parallels Desktop 5 for Mac

If you want to really enjoy the best of both worlds keeping your Mac running at best, look no further. Parallels Desktop 5 for Mac is the best option out there. This is what they have to say about their products:

Mac OS or Windows? Parallels Desktop 5 for Mac lets you seamlessly run Windows and Mac OS X side-by-side, drag-and-drop your files between operating systems, and run Windows software on your Apple computer without rebooting.

Faster
•    Run Windows 7 with Aero
•    Enjoy Snow Leopard
•    Use 1000s of Windows applications

Smarter
•    Share files between Mac and Windows
•    Use Windows apps like Mac apps
•    Connect your favorite USB devices

More Powerful
•    DirectX 9.0c/9Ex with Shader Model 3
•    All the security you need for Windows
•    No compromise on performance or speed

Parallels Desktop 5 for Mac is available at a discounted price of $59.99 ($20 off).

Recommendation:

I would recommend trying out 30 day trials of the app you like before going for the purchase. I have tested all of them and would recommend Parallels Desktop 5 for Mac as it beats the competition with so much to offer. Now, I can run Visio instead of look a likes.

What are the benefits of jailbreaking?

People with jailbreak iPads can download apps which allow them to customize everything from homescreen images to icons. The most sought after feature “multitasking” running apps in the background, so you can enjoy browsing the web while listening to your favorite tunes. Once your iPad is jailbroken, Cydia, a jailbreak application store have apps that let you do pretty much anything. Usually, there are only one or two apps that make sense in jailbreaking. for some, its just the experiencing how to jailbroke your iDevice.

What I can run on Jailbroken iPad?

Cydia is the official underground app store, which gives you access to thousands of apps and hacks available for your iOS devices. Its best to download apps which are updated for iPad. Then there are apps, which run great on all devices. There are plenty of sites which keeps an updated list apps working on iPad. Here’s one from MacStories and similar thread on iPadForums.

So what is the downside of Jailbreaking?

According to Apple, Jailbreaking voids warranty. So if something goes wrong during your jailbreaking, which is unfixable (usually everything is), Apple won’t accept your claim. You can always restore your iPad to factory settings and there will be peace.

What happens to my App Store apps?

Don’t fret, all your iPad purchased apps will run just fine. And you can continue to get more apps from the App Store without any issues.

How to Jailbreak your iPad?

If you haven’t updated your iPad to the latest OS upgrade to 3.2.1 and still running 3.2, please visit this excellent article on how to Jailbreak your ipad.

For folks, like me who have upgraded their iPads to 3.2.1, the new web based Jailbreak.me solution is out. Read here about it.

So whats next?

If jailbreaking brings any value to you, go ahead give it a try (on your own risk). For me, I’m going to wait for the iOS 4 to be released for the iPad this fall.

With other platforms, it much easier for manufacturers to develop extensions. With Apple and its proprietary dock connector, manufacturers have a much harder challenge to create add-on for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. One of the first extension for the iDevices is the Square payment platform through the headphone jack. Working on the same concepts, a little known company called ThinkFlood has developed Redeye mini. If you’re not familiar with RedEye, it’s a small dongle, which plugs into your iDevice’s headphone jack and when paired with the RedEye application, turns your iDevice into the ultimate universal remote control.

From Thinkflood website:

RedEye hardware adds infrared capability to your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad so that you can control thousands of devices, from TVs and cable boxes to lighting systems and air conditioners. Together with the RedEye application  you have complete control over your home theater and many other devices that use infrared signals. Create custom activities around the things you do most — listening to music, watching movies, channel surfing — so you can spend more time doing and less time punching buttons.

How it works:

• You download the free App from the App Store
• Plug in the RedEye mini to your headphone jack.
• The application gives you the ability to setup rooms, select manufacturers and train the app for your devices. (45,000 plus). You can also manually train the app for your device.
• You can define activities, which are bundled tasks that would have required 3 different remotes to do the task
• The best part about the RedEye solution is the endless customization options to choose from different button styles, re-arrange the layout, and even combine the buttons from different devices, all on the same screen.

Where to Buy:

The RedEye comes in two models, you can read a comparison about the products here on ThinkFlood site.

RedEye is a USB solution which sells for $171. Buy RedEye now from Amazon

RedEye mini connects with your iDevice through the headphone jack and sells for $49. Buy RedEye mini now from Amazon

The RedEye products are welcoming addition to the iDevice platform. Looking forward to more cool devices coming up for the platform.

The latest iteration of the Macbook Pro are significantly advanced machines with Intel’s latest i5 and i7 (on customized orders) processors. Being the ultimate mobility platform, these quality machines can very well support high performance tasks such as graphics, number crunching etc. Although the Macbook Pro’s screen itself is great but then there are times where you would like to work on a bigger screen. Connecting your Macbook Pro to an external machine couldn’t be easier. You just need a Mini-DVI converter to your choice of monitor input i.e., DVI, VGA etc. There are people who are just not satisfied with 2 screen solution (1 Laptop + 1 External monitor). In those cases you need more than just one converter cable.

In this post we are going to discuss one such scenario where a wintel desktop machine connected to dual 22″ Acer displays needs to be replaced with Macbook Pro. Before we begin, there are few things you need to know about the solution you are developing.

• Macbook Pro Model & Generation:
  Each iteration of Macbook Pro has a different hardware, which in the needs to be supported by the solution. You can find out about your Macbook Pro by going to Apple > About this Mac > More Info on the Top OS Menu. In my case its the following:
  Model Name: MacBook Pro
  Model Identifier: MacBookPro 5,3

  This is a 5th Generation Macbook Pro with 1 Mini DVI port.

• Screens and desired Resolution
  Its very important to know about the hardware you have. In my case the screens are Acer X223W Q, each supporting 1680 x 1050 resolution.

  If you haven’t purchased your monitors yet, please make sure that the hardware you’ll use to connect them supports the screen’s optimal resolution. There is no point in viewing your mac in low res.

• Screen Setup
  Lastly, you also need to decide how are you going to use the extended desktop. Will your solution require you to have Macbook Pro screen active or would you use it without it? What and where you would like to things to appear? This will require some getting used to but trust me the extended real estate available, you’ll just love it.

In my research I have found the following solutions, which doesn’t mean this is it. There may be more solutions available now at the time you are reading this article. If possible check with the Apple Store / Genius Bar as newer products are released frequently.

Matrix DualHead2Go & TripleHead2Go

The Matrox uses your Macbook’s Mini -DVI port (you’ll need the Mini-DVI to DVI converter) to connect to 2 or 3 external monitors depending on your requirements. This is a good solution with minimal hardware addition you will need to get the task done. Most of the mainstream manufacturers are supported with different resolutions. The Matrox solution comes in multiple editions: Analog, Digital & DP edition, chose the right one that works for you. Please make sure to read the features of the Dualhead2go ($264) and TripleHead2Go ($300) products in detail before purchasing.

DIAMOND BVU195 USB Display Adapter (DVI and VGA with included DVI to VGA adapter)

In my case the problem with the Matrox solution was the resolution available on the screens was not supported. On searching I came across the USB solution from Diamond. It requires you to connect it to your Macbook Pro and connect the screen to to device. So for each monitor you will need one adapter. I would recommend also looking at buying a USB hub to save the USB ports on the Macbook. When connected each monitor is recognized as an independent screen and you can play with it as required. The Diamond BVU195 HD USB Display Adapter is a good choice for multiple monitor solution, which is for around $74 each. Don’t forget to download latest drivers from DisplayLink site. There is a great post on using Diamond BVU195 here.

Other viable solutions:

There are solutions available for the ExpressCard / 34 slot but Apple has decided that now only 17″ Macbook Pro’s can only have them. If your Macbook has a ExpressCard / 34 slot, then please do look at ViDock 2 from Village Tronic. There is a great post by here about using this solution. Other products from Village Tronic are also good, do give them a look.

There is a also similar solution to ViDock from Magma called ExpressBox 1, which costs around $725.

Tritton technologies have SEE2 Xtreme, USB to DVI or VGA External Video Card under $100.

Kensington also has under $100 product called Kensington K33928US UNIVERSAL MULTI DISPLAY ADAPTER

EVGA has to models available EVGA 100-U2-UV16-A1 UV Plus ($55) supporting 1600×1200 Resolution and EVGA 100-U2-UV19-TR UV Plus 2048×1152 Resolution ($84.5). Nice post here on using this hardware.

If you happen to own an iPad, Air Display ($10) turns it into an extra monitor.

… and there maybe other vendors too. If I’ve missed someone, please do mention in the comments.

Conclusion:

You know your budget and problem better than I do. The many possibilities discussed above will solve your problem. I would advise you to discuss the specifics from the store from where you are purchasing the equipment. Make sure the drivers are available for Mac. Try to buy from a store who accepts back your purchases.

Image via OS X Daily