Have an extra iPad around your home that you no longer use? I kept my iPad 2 for years before finally upgrading to the iPad Air 2, which meant the iPad 2 was just sitting in my desk drawer. But why waste a perfectly good iPad, right?
When you open the application, you will receive some really simple instructions that will tell you how to proceed and download the software to your computer first.
Tap Got it and you will see a screen asking you to connect your iPad to your computer. However, before we do that, we need to first install the software on a PC or Mac.
Go ahead and download the computer or Mac program to your computer and install it. On Mac, you get a sleek rectangular setup screen on startup.
Once the installation is complete, you will be prompted to restart your computer. Go ahead and do it. After you log in, you will see a final screen informing you that you will find the Duet icon in the menu bar in OS X or in the system tray in Windows.
If you click on the icon, it will ask you to connect your device to your computer.
At this point, open the Duet Display app on your iPad and then connect it to your computer. It should automatically detect your computer and display the screen. This is what my default setup looked like.
Here I am using an older MacBook Pro Mid-2009 with an iPad 2 and everything looked good. Things were a little small on the iPad, but that's because it's an older iPad 2, and because I had a setup to show the display. If you click on the icon in the menu bar, you can change the settings.
You will see Extend display upstairs and then Mirror display, Frame frequency and Pixel Qualit at. If you want to expand the display on iPad, rather than just mirror it, choose one of four options: Regular resolution, IPad Pro Resolution, Retinal resolution or A high resolution.
Please note that you will not be able to select anything other than Regular resolution if you are using an older iPad like iPad 2. You can use Retina or High if you have a retina iPad. IPad Pro option, obviously, only for iPad.
What I really liked about Duet Display is that the second screen actually acts as a separate second monitor. I mean, you can drag windows from the main screen to your iPad and have different apps open on each screen. Here is a screenshot of Chrome open on my MacBook Pro and Maps open on iPad.
You will notice that the iPad has a menu bar as well as a docking station. What's really cool is that you can have multiple desktops on both the iPad and the main Mac. As long as my mouse is on the iPad screen, I can also use all the normal trackpad gestures to scroll between desktops without changing anything on the host Mac.
Definitely, using a higher resolution iPad like the Air or Pro makes things a lot better.
On my Mac, I didn't run into any problems, but I did have problems with my Windows laptop. Luckily their customer support is excellent and I resolved the issue within a few hours. Apparently I needed a different video driver which they emailed me and that fixed the problem.
If you plan on using this with a desktop computer, you will probably have to buy yourself a thunderous 6-foot cable as well as some kind of stand so your iPad can be placed next to your monitor.
Overall, if you don't use your iPad a lot, converting it to a second monitor is a great option and costs less than the traditional dual-monitor method. If you have any questions, please post a comment. Enjoy!
IPads are used by their owners in different ways - some use the device solely for entertainment purposes, while others prefer to work directly from the iPad. Both categories of users will be able to find something useful for themselves in our today's guide, because we are going to connect the iPad to the Mac as a second monitor, and this can be used both for leisure activities and for optimizing the workspace.
Connecting the iPad to the Mac as a second display will be the responsibility of the Duet Display app, developed by former Apple employee Raoul Dewan. While working at Apple, Dewan began to notice that the iPad often remains outside his desktop, and all the necessary tasks are performed on the Mac. It was then that he came up with the idea to include a tablet in the workflow, in order to facilitate some routine operations.
Devan started to implement his idea after leaving Apple. The developer's Duet Display app was an instant hit, despite its hefty price tag. Why is it so remarkable?
The thing is that the iPad is connected to the Mac via a cable, due to which zero latency is achieved when working with the specified computer windows. Similar products use a Wi-Fi connection, in which small delays and slowdowns are inevitable. In addition, Duet Display features flexible settings available for experienced users and automatic settings that come to the aid of beginners.
On the second screen of your Mac, that is, iPad, you can display anything you want. It could be an email application, important work memos, a news feed, or your favorite TV show. The best part is that Duet Display will not only show the specified windows or the whole desktop, but will also allow you to fully work with their contents.
It is a pity to throw out a broken laptop or tablet, especially if its motherboard / video card / processor burned out, and the display is in perfect order. In this case, there is a way out: you can connect an LCD from a mobile device as a second / third screen to a personal computer. Best suited for this is the LCD display from the latest iPad models with a size of 9.7 "and a side resolution of 2048x1536. Andrzej Surowiec, a student at the University of Warsaw, managed to connect a retina display from an iPad to a PC via DisplayPort at maximum resolution.
A broken iPad with a working display can be bought for ridiculous money. Moreover, you can directly order this part from China, it will cost about $ 55. So this trick is even cost-effective: you can't buy a PC display with this resolution even cheaper.
A Polish student bought an LP097QX1-SPA1 panel from LG for his conceptual project. This is not an Apple exclusive. In addition to iPad tablets, it is installed in some other Chinese-made tablets.
The LCD panel is equipped with an eDisplayPort interface, which replaced LVDS, and the essence of this hack is to connect the eDisplayPort to a standard DisplayPort on a personal computer video card.
The cheapest iPad LCD panel adapter is the Molex 502250-5191, which costs about $ 7. Then the wires on each side are simply soldered to the corresponding pins on the homemade board. The schema can be taken on github.
The electronics of the LCD panel itself can be powered directly through the interface board, it only needs 3.3V at 500mA. But the screen backlight needs some kind of external power supply because the backlight draws up to 4.4W. Having rummaged through the iPad 3 circuits, the author was able to find information that the screen backlight consists of 12 rows of 6 white LEDs in each, and all together they need a 20 V power supply. In the experimental model, the author did not bother with a beautiful circuit, but simply set across a 68R resistor for each cathode, so that each row of LEDs pulled 17 mA. 20 V can be obtained from a 5-volt supply via a TPS61175 step-up converter.
Oddly enough, this whole design worked without glitches like a regular computer display.
If you have a MacBook and want more screen real estate, here's how you can use your iPad as a second monitor.
In the past, there were several solutions with which you could use your iPad as a monitor, such as over a Wi-Fi connection. This method was not the worst, but the inevitable delay prevented the full use of the Apple tablet. However, the situation has changed.
In addition to connectivity, you need software and the best you can use to do this is Air Display 3, which we have tested many times. The closest alternative is Duet Display.
Here's how to set up Air Display 3 and use iPad as a second monitor.
We use iPad as a monitor
Setting up your iPad as a second screen for your MacBook isn't the most difficult task, there are a few steps you'll have to go through before you can finally get it done.
First, you need to download the iPad app, Air Display 3, which costs about $ 14.99. An expensive proposition to be fair, but if you're going to be using your tablet as a second monitor all the time, it's well worth it.
Second, you must download Air Display to your computer. To do this, just go to the official website of the developer and download the free version of the Air Display host program. You will need to provide an email address and some other information, and then you will receive a download link.
After the installation is complete, a reboot is required, but once you download and install the host software on your computer, you just need to connect the Lightning cable to your MacBook from your iPad and that's it.
With Air Display 3, you can also use Wi-Fi wireless, which is easy to set up too. Just click on the Air Display 3 shortcut in your MacBook's menu bar and choose iPad from the list. To do this, you must first enable the Air Display 3 application on your iPad, the same must be done for a wired connection.
Remember that when you use Air Display 3 and connect iPad as a second monitor, the program can change the screen resolution of your MacBook, to return everything to its place, go to “System” - “Settings” - “Display” and set the previous resolution.
When you're done, you can use your iPad as a monitor in a matter of seconds. It's a very handy solution that requires little or no effort, but I've had trouble finding an iPad stand that doesn't look silly or weird. This is something you will run into too, although it can be a little more difficult if you combine your tablet and laptop on the go, or if there is not enough space on your desktop.
The iPad is quite functional, many people use it in combination with a keyboard as a netbook when traveling, as an e-reader, play station, etc. etc. In addition to all of the above, there is another opportunity to test the iPad and squeeze as much out of it as possible. It copes with the role of an additional monitor pretty well and connects not only to a Mac, but also to a PC.
Such a small monitor can be a good home for your messengers, color palette when working with Photoshop, interface for applications and other useful widgets.
In order to turn your iPad into a secondary monitor, you will need:
1. iPad.
2. Computer with MacOSX or Windows.
3. Wi-Fi network.
4. Air Display (costs $ 9.99 on the App Store).
5. Air Display application for computer (free).
If you are unable to connect to Wi-Fi, you can use the Ad-Hoc connection between iPad and computer.
Installing the Air Display server on the computer and the client program on the iPad
In this example, the server will be installed on a Windows 7 PC. The installation is straightforward - the only thing you need to do is approve the installation of display drivers as requested by Avatron Software and reboot after the drivers are installed.
While the computer is rebooting, install applications for yourself on the iPad. If you run it for the first time, it will offer you instructions on how to connect to your computer. If you are already familiar with the application, just leave it open and switch back to your computer in order to launch the Air Display application already on it.
In theory, everything should go smoothly. But if you still get an error message, you will need to switch the DNS server of your host from the default settings (your provider) to or Google DNS server. 
If there was no error message, it's time to start connecting iPad to your computer.
Right-click on the Air Display icon to access the context menu. In addition to the standard menu items, you should see your iPad's name.
If you do not see the tablet on the network, then you need to check all the connections again and whether you are connected to the correct network. If the device is shown on the network, then just click on it.
As soon as you clicked on it with the mouse on the computer, the connection icon should start blinking on the tablet itself. After that, your desktop should start flashing and switch from Aero Theme to Basic.
If you're working on a single monitor, the iPad's screen should be on the right side by default. If you are working with multiple monitors, the tablet screen will be on the right side of the first monitor. If you are working with two monitors and the one on the left is # 1 and the one on the right is # 2, then the new iPad screen will sit right in the middle between them. If you have three monitors on your machine, then the iPad monitor will be between the leftmost and the middle one.
But you can easily choose the location for the additional monitor yourself. To do this, right-click again on the Air Display icon, select Display Arrangemen in order to move the monitor to the location you specified.
Once you have configured the location of your secondary monitor, you can use it as intended.
Taking advantage of the additional benefits of Air Display
In addition to simply using the iPad as a second monitor, the app has a few extra really useful features.
In addition to simply extending your desktop, you can duplicate it. To switch to "mirror" mode, you need to right-click on the application icon, select Options, and then Mirror Mode.
Also, do not forget about the iPad touchscreen, which continues to function as usual. This means that any application that will be moved to the tablet like a second screen can be controlled by touch.
Finally, you can drag and drop various questionnaires and other forms onto it and fill them out using the on-screen keyboard. For example, you work on a computer and would like your client to fill out the required electronic form. To do this, you just need to drag and drop it onto the iPad and hand it to it. While he fills it out, you can finish your work.
