Can I use my MacBook Pro as the screen for a mac mini

Question

I want to buy another Apple machine and instead of buying a whole new laptop, I am thinking of buying just a Mac mini and use my MacBook Pro screen as the screen for it. Is that possible ? What kind of connector would I need ? Would a simple USB cable do ? I am ready to buy a video connector for 30/40 bucks if that will do the job.

Answer 1

Depending on what you are trying to accomplish, if you're using simple apps like mail and browsing, VNC (Virtual Network Sharing) might do the trick without any hardware connections. It uses a network connection to stream your screen to a client.

For setting up your Mini as a server and your Macbook as a client, I recommend using this tutorial:

http://www.wikihow.com/Setup-VNC-on-Mac-OS-X

Mac OS X 10.4 or 10.5 - Setup as Server

Mac OS X 10.4 and 10.5 include the server component out of the box so all we need to do is turn it on.

1. Open your System Preferences from your blue apple menu.
2. Click the Sharing icon under the 'Internet and Network' category.
3. Highlight the Apple Remote Desktop component in the list of items.
4. Click Start to fire up Apple Remote Desktop service.
5. If you are NOT connecting with JollysFastVNC or ScreenSharing you need the following steps:
   
   • Click Access Privileges to open the more advanced options.
   • Check on VNC viewers may control screen with password and define a password.
6. You can close the System Preferences. You're done!

Mac OS X 10.4 - Setup as Client

To connect to your new VNC server from a remote machine you will need a VNC Viewer but luckily there are a number of free options out there.

• The steps for setup will depend on the viewer you choose follow the documentation closely and you will have no problems creating a connection.

• JollysFastVNC is currently the fastest and actively developed VNC client including many features not available in any other client.

• Chicken of the VNC is an older client that is confirmed to work with this method simply connect using the IP address of the Server computer. (On the server use Safari or Firefox and goto www.whatismyip.com)