MacBook M1 with Lenovo Touch Display

I am thinking in buying one as the second monitor for my Thinkpad while I am travelling:

Anyone has experience in using one as a second monitor?

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Quite a big difference in price, but an iPad Pro gives you sidecar which works very well - all wirelessly and almost no lag :023:

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In the case of the video author he wanted the pen functionality, thus I guess that’s why we went with this screen. He even paid for a better driver that is only required to replace the buggy one in the Mac.

Maybe he also wanted a bigger screen then the iPad Pro?

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I know that this solution doesn’t really suit your needs but for others who might be seriously considering an iPad with this as part of their use case, the iPad does support the pen functionality in sidecar. It also works for any of the iPads that support both pencil and sidecar not just the pro model. I know a few designers for whom the iPad has been good enough at this that they ditched their graphics tablets.

If you are not using it with a Mac then there are apps that give you sidecar like functionality including pen support with other devices. I’ve never tried them but I’d expect it would be more something to try if you already have an iPad or are mainly getting one for other reasons and would see it more as a bonus rather than a must have primary use case.

To return to your original question, I have never used this device but I have seen people at work recommend them when this question has been asked on slack channels so from what I have heard it is quite good if you are looking for a portable extra display. The conversations didn’t really touch on experiences using it in more specialised uses (colour accuracy or things like that) so that might still be something to consider, but in general it seems to work well and be well made etc.

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In my case is to use with a Thinkpad that is from the same brand as the Thinkvision monitor, therefore is plug and play provided that the laptop meets this requirements:

Be sure your laptop, tablet, or smartphone has a full-function USB-C connector that supports Display Port 1.2 Alt Mode and PD2.0.

Unfortunately my Thinkpad is the W541 and only supports mDP and Thunderbolt 2 :frowning:

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That is unfortunate. There does seem to be similar devices from other manufacturers, maybe one of them has better suited connectivity options? I’d imagine unless you were looking for touch or pen support then most of them should be fairly simple to plug and play.

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My laptop is from 2015. In new Thinkpad models will be easier to find compatible models with the Thinkvision monitor.

This monitor seems to match the quality of normal monitors while alternatives seem to fall very short on this regard. Regarding connectivity of alternatives is something I will need to do some research on, but the image quality being poor is something that puts me off of considering them.

No, not looking for touch or pen support. Just want a portable second monitor that offers the same image quality I have in the laptop monitor.

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The iPad Pro (12") I ordered ‘just to see’ what it was like arrived yesterday… and I really didn’t want to like it, but I do :see_no_evil:

After @mindriot (and several others) recommend the Apple Pencil so much in this thread: iPad for reading programming books? I ordered one of those as well (with the 11" that arrive a couple of weeks ago) and I have to say it is brilliant - especially - on a 120hz screen which the iPad Pros have. I used it to create a portrait of my niece and I really enjoyed working with it. If you’re curious why the pencil is so expensive and why it’s worth it, check out this video.

Going back to your particular use case tho:

If it costs just £170 and you are happy with a non-HiDPI monitor, it sounds like pretty good value :023:

However if you have a Mac, and want/need an iPad, the convenience of an iPad and things like sidecar is just so appealing. No need to connect any wires it does it instantly and wirelessly, and you can sync things like Notes, browser tabs, contacts, messages, books, etc, again, instantly.

For me the 12" iPad is definitely better than the 11" too - you get much more of a desktop like experience in terms of web pages and books, and when taking notes in bed I rest it on my belly but with the 11" I had to lift it because it was just too low in the same position (so not as comfortable when taking writing notes). However the main disadvantage for me is that it doesn’t let you mimic the screen width resolution of smaller iPads - which would have been super convenient for testing apps.

Every time I have reached for an iPad I have always picked up the 12" too - which definitely tells me something. It’s also brighter but the display of the 11" is pretty amazing too. It does have some issues with ghosting (mini-led is definitely not as good as OLED on that front) and it does have a darker area around the edges, but these are just niggles and both screens are excellent - but the size of the 12" is definitely nicer and I’ve hear a lot of people say that it makes them want to use it to ‘work’ much more than the 11" which they generally prefer more to consume content. I would be happy with both and I am still not sure whether I want to spend this much on ‘just’ an iPad! Especially since Apple could have made it run macOS now it has Apple silicon!!!

Sorry I seem to have gone off-topic a bit :see_no_evil:

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Seems that you missed that unfortunately I cannot use it with my laptop:

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Just get a new M1X MacBook and an iPad when they launch them later today? :081:

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I really doubt that Apple will ever get money from my pocket… I don’t pay for status, neither to be locked into a proprietary ecosystem.

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I don’t pay for status either :upside_down_face: I just like the quality, user experience and reliability (and convenience, I guess).

Maybe give it a try one day? You can always sell (or return within the return period) if you don’t like it - but it’s definitely worth giving a fair chance imo. Or not, s’up to you :lol:

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I have here a MAC mini from work and I have nightmares when I know i have to work with it. I really don’t get why people love MacOS… for me is really a terrible UX to work with such awkward thing, to not mention how slow it is.

As I always say, code in the platform where your code will run, that for me is Linux. When I need to code for Windows platform I will boot my laptop into Windows and when I need to do iOS stuff I switch to the MAC mini and its nightmare UX and DX.

I though that Android Studio was not that great when I started using it 3 years ago but xCode is far worse. xCode is really a very bad DX(developer experience). I really don’t get the Apple ecosystem UX excitement, because for me is all very detrimental.

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I’m basically with @Exadra37 here. I really really don’t like the Mac UI (but then again I use KDE, which is customizable to an insane degree compared to anything else, and I do indeed have it well customized), and the ecosystem is just so antithetical compared to everything I program for. I also notice how slow the Mac UI feels as well, at least compared to KDE (though windows feels crazy slow in comparison as well)…

However, the new M1 Pro and such chips, I wish those were actually released, I’d love to build an ARM’y system with one, but not by running a jailed ecosystem, lol.

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I think some people are running Linux on M1 Macs successfully …have you tried @Exadra37?

Might be a starting point: Ubuntu successfully virtualized on M1

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No. I don’t have an M1, neither I will pay the price tag to get locked in their ecosystem.

I would prefer to spend the M1 money in the latest AMD processors on a Linux machine.

Why would I spend a lot of money just to run Linux virtualised when I can do it natively for a lot less money?

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Ah sorry I thought you had an M1 Mini and was following on from what ODL said:

Thought you might have taken it for a ride :023:

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