An app which will allow you to use your iPad as a second display for your computer has rolled out support for Windows.
Adding a second display to a desktop computing set up is by no means a new concept, with gamers and coders working on multiple screens for decades past, but a clever iPad app now makes it possible to use your iOS device as a secondary screen for your Windows machine.
The app, Duet Display, has been around for some time, available only to users who wanted to link their iPad to a Mac, but now the developers have extended the functionality to Microsoft products, which means that your average Windows user can now benefit too.
Once you’ve bought and downloaded the app, you simply start it up and connect your iPad to your laptop or PC via the USB Lightning cable and, as if like magic, your iPad displays your desktop, even allowing you to drag icons between the two spaces.
As with all things technical, there have been a few teething troubles out of the gate, with certain set-ups not working as they should, but the development team, which includes ex-Apple software engineers, has moved to allay any reservations that users might have:
“It’s early days for Windows support, and as a result there’s a few setups that don’t work quite right. In our testing, SLI configurations aren’t fully supported yet. Installing Duet Display on these setups will cause immediate problems on reboot, but uninstalling the app will quickly eliminate those problems. In talking to the developer, these problems will likely be resolved quickly. Every other environment we have available handled the app just fine, with exception to an occasional stutter in the Windows 8 full screen start menu.”
The benefits of extra display real estate isn’t only an advantage to the gamers and tech-bods amongst us; using your iPad as a panel for research whilst completing essays could make the lives of students everywhere a whole load easier and could even allow you to play media on one screen whilst working on another – for some elite level procrastination.
Duet Display is currently priced at £7.99, but be quick if you want to buy it as it’s currently reduced by 40% for launch day and prices will go up at midnight.
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