Monitors, Mice, and MACinations

ANTVGM64

Howdy, so for my new personality-not-resume job (which is great, but a lot of work and spreadsheet intensive), I have been directed to purchase the following:

A keyboard
A Mouse
A Monitor

That will connect to a laptop. The problem is that I have a macbook pro because I'm a big dorky mc dorkface. Now I would imagine the best way to go about this would be to buy a regular monitor, a bluetooth keyboard, a regular old mouse, and a mini-DVI-to-VGA cord.

My question to you is: are there any special nuances I should be aware of when buying this mini-dvi-to-VGA cord? How much should I expect to spend? Can I get one at Best Buy? Ideally I'd like to buy all this stuff tomorrow and show up with it as a 'hey look how productive I am' kind of thing.

How much should I expect to spend on a bluetooth keyboard? I don't care really about aesthetics, I just want it to work and work properly as I don't want the fact that I own a macbook pro to be a burden.

Aioua

ANTVGM64 wrote: »

Howdy, so for my new personality-not-resume job (which is great, but a lot of work and spreadsheet intensive), I have been directed to purchase the following:

A keyboard
A Mouse
A Monitor

That will connect to a laptop. The problem is that I have a macbook pro because I'm a big dorky mc dorkface. Now I would imagine the best way to go about this would be to buy a regular monitor, a bluetooth keyboard, a regular old mouse, and a mini-DVI-to-VGA cord.

My question to you is: are there any special nuances I should be aware of when buying this mini-dvi-to-VGA cord? How much should I expect to spend? Can I get one at Best Buy? Ideally I'd like to buy all this stuff tomorrow and show up with it as a 'hey look how productive I am' kind of thing.

How much should I expect to spend on a bluetooth keyboard? I don't care really about aesthetics, I just want it to work and work properly as I don't want the fact that I own a macbook pro to be a burden.

1. Are you sure it's mini DVI and not mini-displayport?
2. Why VGA? If you're getting a new monitor it should have DVI at least, if not HDMI and DisplayPort.
3. A lot of newer monitors will also have a USB hub built in. With some clever cord wrangling you can have a setup that's nearly a dock. Keyboard/mouse go into the monitor, and then you just need to plug the video and the monitor's USB out into your lappy.

ANTVGM64

Awesome thanks. I got it all figured out. Ya know what's weird, I have a Tech Job and Tech certifications, but am so...immersed in my tech job that anything new or fancy just sails right over my head.

Second question: What are the disadvantages of using an old 720p TV as a secondary monitor? Will resolution be all weird?

Cog

It will look like ass and the laptop may not support running two different displays at two different resolutions. That would force everything to run in whatever the 720 TV can support, bringing it all down to the lowest common demonitator of ass.

By the way if you're buying all this shit for work, you should be having work reimburse you and therefore buy something decent.

MagicToaster

ANTVGM64 wrote: »

Second question: What are the disadvantages of using an old 720p TV as a secondary monitor? Will resolution be all weird?

I've never had a problem dealing with dual monitors of different resolutions on my Macbook Pro. At home, I connect my 13in computer (1280px x 800px) to a Thunderbolt display (2560px x 1440px) or, when I need to work and my daughter wants to watch Finding Nemo, I connect it to a 50" 1080p and both resolutions are managed great. At work, I have a similar set up: A 27in iMac connected to a 24 Dell crap monitor. It manages both resolutions fantastically.

Are you running Mavericks? Multiple monitors are best dealt by Mavericks.