DisplayPad ($2.99) is one of the coolest apps currently installed on my iPad. Now that it’s set up, all it takes is one tap and a mouse click to turn my iPad into a wireless secondary monitor for my Mac (no PC support at the moment — sorry folks).
Adapting To A Second Monitor
As amazing as this app is, it did take a little getting used to. I used Spaces (multiple desktops) quite heavily on the Mac before picking DisplayPad up for review, and I quickly found that having a temporary second monitor didn’t quite work with the way my Spaces were set up. I tended to lock certain apps (Firefox, iTunes, etc.) into specific spaces so that I could always feel like I had a clean machine, even if several apps were running at once. However, since Spaces apply to every monitor attached to the Mac, I’d often find my iPad with a completely empty screen, since very few of my apps were set to show in All Spaces.
It would be a different story if I kept the iPad permanently docked with DisplayPad loaded, but since I use the tablet so often I’ve opted to simply turn Spaces off. DisplayPad has become more practical ever since.
Quick Setup
I’ve had DisplayPad for a few weeks now and, although I still don’t use it in the day-to-day, I love the flexibility that it offers. All I need to do is activate my quick multi-monitor setup is make sure the iPad and Mac are on the same wi-fi network, load DisplayPad up on the iPad, and activate the connection from the (free) menu bar app on my Mac. After that it’s just a second until the OS X Aurora wallpaper magically appears on my iPad.
As a nice little touch, DisplayPad also makes sure to show the name of your actual iPad on its setup screen. Cool!
Mirrored Monitors
If you don’t want to run DisplayPad as a second monitor, you can have it run as a mirror of your Mac’s display. With mirror mode activated, your actual Mac display will downscale in resolution to match the iPad’s 1024×768 screen, and everything you do on your Mac will show up on the iPad a split second later.
I haven’t yet found a genuinely cool use for this, but I’m sure that one is out there (I’m just not clever enough to think of it).
Flexible Monitor
One of the coolest little features of DisplayPad is the way that it plays on the extra capabilities of the iPad. Taps count as clicks, two finger scrolling works just as on iOS, and you can even tilt the whole display into portrait mode and have everything automatically adjust.
Blurry Movement
I can’t display everything on the iPad – videos, screensavers, and anything that requires a lot of movement always look grainy – but for mostly-static apps, DisplayPad shines. Objects are a little blurry as you drag them around the screen, but once an app is settled in position for about a second, it sharpens right up.
What I Use My Second Monitor For
Once DisplayPad is all set up, I’ll usually throw Twitteriffic, Adium (instant messenger), and iTunes onto the iPad so that the apps function almost like widgets. A quick glance to my right shows a couple of new tweets, any new Gtalk messages, and the name of the song that’s currently piping over iTunes.
I also really like the idea of using the iPad as a palette display while using Pixelmator, thereby freeing up the entirety of my MacBook’s 13” display for displaying the image I’m working on.
Conclusion
For $2.99, I think DisplayPad is pure magic. It’s a useful enough utility to keep around on your iPad, stays tucked away in the menu bar on your Mac, and is a great way to harness the iPad’s screen real estate when you know you’ll be hunkering down to work at your Mac.
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DisplayPad was provided by Clean Cut Code for review on iSource. For further information regarding our site’s review policies, please see the “About” page.
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