I have already read the Monitors FAQ and also browsed the Maxivista site but can't find out if and how can I use my laptop as a third screen.

I have already 2 monitors plugged to my desktop and now would like to use laptop as a third screen. If this is possible, how has to be the connection between desktop and laptop ?

Thanks

I believe MaxiVista works with your internet connection. So as long as your desktop and laptop are on the same network, MaxiVista should do exactly what you want.

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/48...-review-63754/

Above is a brief review I did over this software a few years back. Realize that the plug you use is the bottleneck and NONE of the plugs work fast enough, no matter if Firewire or USB, to give seamless performance on par with discrete graphics and another monitor. It might be okay for some poker, or better some background tasks running, like web browsing or your tracker window, but I felt is lagged too much for my play even (To be fair, I multi-table up to around 15-18 tables).

Very nice review Nsight !

The idea is to go on multitabling in the monitors plugged to the desktop and only use the laptop for HM display (table scanner) and Stars lobby. Do you think the lag is acceptable for these ?

Regarding connections, I have the desktop plugged to my router wireless.

If I plug the laptop to the same router will this be enough, together with MaxiVista ? I was a bit unsure reading the site if anything else was needed.

I don't recall exactly how this works (and haven't stopped by the official site to tear through any documentation), but the idea is basically to connect the two computers (primary computer and the laptop you want to use as an additional monitor) themselves together via USB or Firewire or Ethernet. A virtual video driver is installed on the primary computer and it communicates with the laptop as if it were a monitor. However, you are bandwidth limited by the network connection (i.e. the USB/Firewire/Ethernet connection between the computers). So yeah, you wouldn't be plugging in the laptop into the router, you would be connecting it to the primary computer.

Lag would probably be acceptable for your intended uses, though I am certain that that a variety of unknown issues could affect this. At any rate, it was good on my old Pentium M laptop with Windows XP, so if you have anything relatively modern (say dual-core or later), I can't imagine it would be at all bad for keeping static information on the screen such as your tracker and perhaps the lobby.

Thanks again Nsight, I have a latitude D630 which has all these 3 options available.

I'm excluding Ethernet option because in the desktop the Ethernet port is already taken to connect to the router.

Therefore I can use either USB and Firewire. Do you know which one is the faster ?

BTW USB connection I guess is a cable with USB in both extremities, right ?

For the Firewire which option is better in terms of speed, firewire in one extremity (laptop) and what in the other extremity ? (my desktop can receive all)

In general, Firewire is going to be faster than USB (as of 2.0, which is what your Dell has, though by 3.0 USB will have gotten MUCH faster), so if you can connect via Firewire, I would recommend doing so.