No matter how you look at Apple products, the screens are not big enough. MacBook Air or Pro? Not big enough. iPad or iPhone? Nice resolution, but still the squinting goes on.
The only real winner is Apple’s 27-inch iMac or Cinema Display. Wouldn’t it be great to have such a large, crystal clear display attached to your iPhone or iPad, or MacBook?
Grow Your Screen With A Click
Until Apple’s scientists and engineers perfect some kind of growing holographic screen which emanates from any Apple device, we’re stuck with the screens we have.
Yes, you can add a second screen to a Mac notebook. That’s expensive.
And, there’s AirPlay Mirroring coming to the iPad one day.
In the meantime, there’s Air Display, a couple of apps that turn your Mac’s screen into a display for another Mac (or, Windows PC). Or, it turns an iPhone or iPad into a display for a Mac (or, Windows PC).
It’s almost like Remote Desktop in reverse.
Mac To Mac To iPhone To iPad (to PC)
Air Display is completely wireless (duh!). For your Mac, your iPhone or iPad acts as a remote display, as if a second, smaller display was connected to your Mac (or PC).
And, you can connect another Mac’s display, say a larger 27-inch iMac display, to a MacBook Air, and get the benefits of two displays.
Why? If you’re running a MacBook Air, MacBook, or even a MacBook Pro, then you know the screen real estate problem. There’s never enough.
Instead of buying an extra display, simply use the display on a nearby iMac (or, any Mac with a larger display).
Or, go crazy and hook up two MacBooks to each other and swap displays. Or, instead of adding another display to your desktop Mac or Mac notebook, prop up an iPad and use that as a second screen.
Yeah, I know. The possibilities get a little nutty after awhile. It’s a strange new look at an old friend—screen sharing. But in reverse. I use screen sharing on my iPad to check on my Mac, but never the other way around.
The guys who develop Air Display also produce Air Sharing and Print Sharing for Apple iOS devices, so they have some experience with wireless technology. The real negative is that Air Display is Mac App Store only, with no try-before-you-buy option. That’s fine for an app that’s 99-cents or $1.99, but not for one with a real price tag.
