The ViBook is a little box which lets you hook up an extra display via USB. The $130 dongle hooks into a USB port on one side and a DVI port on the other, and — judging from the video of the ViBook in action — it is pretty capable. If you’re kicking an old school, you can also hook up to a VGA-capable monitor with an adapter.
The ViBook works on both Mac and PC once the drivers have been installed, and from then on all you do is hook up the monitor and it will spring into life, acting as if you had a second video card (although not quite as capable). PC users come out on top, though, as they can use up to six of these on one machine (Macs only support four). In fact, PC users win when it comes to multi-monitor setups in general — they have a big selection of utilities for customising the layouts. The Mac has almost none (mine can’t even remember where to put my windows when I hook a monitor up to my MacBoook).
The ViBook is no exception and comes bundled with a couple of Windows utilities to customize the taskbars and the like. Brett Terpstra of the Unofficial Apple Weblog checked one out and posted a video of it in action. Dragging movies between screens looks smooth. At least I think it does — my connection is flaky today and I am getting — rather ironically — very stuttery video.
The ViBook, additional displays via USB [TUAW]
Product page [ViBook]
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