Our computer has 2 monitors hooked up side by side right now. However, by Christmas, I'll have enough money to buy a laptop. I'm wondering, is it possible to extend the desktop to 2 monitors - on a laptop? I know they have a VGA port on the back, but is that used to "steal" the image onto the monitor instead of the laptop screen, or can it be used to share the desktop? If not, are there any other ways to extend the desktop on laptops? I have no one laptop in particular as a choice right now, so if I need to purchase one that has a special specification for this, I'll buy it. ................................................................ And while we're talking laptops, do you think it's worth it to spend the big bucks on extra RAM, or high processor speed, or Intel's "Extreme Edition" processors? Do they make a significant difference, or is it too little a difference for too much a price? (1gb ram to 2gb ram is like $1000 difference!) Also, if I replace a router I have now with a wireless one, what will I need for the laptop to have internet? IS the network card for THIS purpose, or is that a whole different story? And will it work from 50 ft away? ................................................................

Depends on the brand/model I guess. My fathers Dell laptop can stretch the desktop over to an external display, but my IBM laptop (a quite old one though) can only clone the display.

OTOH, there's always MaxiVista and Win2VNC
Those two of course require a second computer..

Quote:Original post by v0dKA
And will it work from 50 ft away?

thatll be a stretch...wireless modems really go good for about 30-40 ft with 1-3 walls inbetween...anything else gets a bit choppy. more walls also = bad bad!

All of my laptops do it. Just make sure when you're getting the laptop. Most new ones I've encountered are like that, but a few of the economy model ones can have dodgy graphics cards.

Quote:Original post by Gauvir_Mucca
As for RAM, I upgraded to 512 MB. Any more than that on a laptop is overkill, I think.

I'd say that is depends on the workload and the OS.

I think that most new laptops have this capability, though you need to check the particular brand you are interested. I would personally recommend going with an AMD Athlon64 based system. You'll get the same performance as an Intel based system, but at a much lower cost. I haven't been able to find a price lower than what is listed on the Compaq/HP website. The graphics card on the system is decent, but it may not be optimal for your purposes. Though, if you wait a couple of months, I heard some rumours that HP/Compaq would be coming out with some new notebooks with newer GFX cards.

Your best bet is to read as many reviews as possible...

I still recommend the Athlon64 system, though my opinion is slightly biased.

Quote:Original post by RavuyaIf you're not too worried about using Windows all the time, I recommend you consider a Powerbook. I couldn't be happier with mine.

Amen to that. I love my PowerBook Ti! ... and they've had multi-monitor support for as long as I can remember.