Questions on Powerpoint

[PineRidge]

Don't know if it's practical or not but I would like to set up a laptop computer to run a Power-point slide show in the background. The presentation would actually be displayed on a remote, wall mounted 26" flat screen monitor that will be around 37' from the laptop itself. While the presentation is running I would also like to be able to use the laptop for other applications ie. email or web site surfing. Is this possible, and would I need any special hardware or software? Will the laptop itself require any special configurations or memory requirements to work without being to slow?

Keep in mind that I have yet to purchase the laptop, monitor, or connecting cables so I would appreciate any input so that the correct equipment can be purchased the 1st time around.......

THANKS in advance!

 

[jwstewar]

First thought is, if you have room, It would probably just as cheap to forgo the multi-use laptop and just buy a dedicated low-end desktop. You can find those from Dell (and other places) for $199 - $299. The farthest I've ever extended a monitor from the computer has been a 10' extension for a total of 15'. Not saying it won't work, but you might have to look into a repeater of some type to get to almost 40'.

Now having said that, depending on the laptop you might be able to run "virtual" desktops and designate each monitor (built in LCD and the 26" one) to a desktop. I know the video cards I have in my desktop computers at work can do that, I just use them though to "extend" my desktop.

 

[heehaw]

couldn't you just make the presentation, record it on a cd and play it on a large tv with a dvd player? recordable cd's or dvd's are cheap.
heehaw

 

[Henry]

In order to extend the video to the remote display, you need a device called a KVM. The KVM allows you to run either the Keyboard, the Video, or the Mouse (thus KVM) at extended distances. Look on sites like Newegg.com - Buy Computer Parts, PC Components, Laptop Computers, Digital Cameras and more!.

As far as running the powerpoint on the monitor and also using the PC for other tasks, you will need to buy a Video card that supports multiple displays. Windows XP can support multiple displays with no problems. The two displays act like one big display, so you can run the Powerpoint on the left and do your web surfing on the right.....

Good luck

 

[RonR]

It might be an issue also of how large the ppt file is if it will allow you to run other stuff. I've put shows together that had 200 photos, and it was HUGE. It took almost all my laptop's UMPH to run it. Didn't try to do anything else.

For the cost of the parts you'll need, it's probably easier to set a desk PC next to the monitor and use you laptop for what you want to do.

Ron

 

[RobS]

couldn't you just make the presentation, record it on a cd and play it on a large tv with a dvd player? recordable cd's or dvd's are cheap.
heehaw

Yeah, what heehaw said. I did a DVD slideshow for our cub scouts. Picture files were huge but the whole thing was managed down to a single DVD which runs in any DVD player onto any TV you want. I used ProShow Gold to put it all together. It was a breeze. I've also run conventional PC based slideshows but never tried to do other apps at the same time.

Any more detail on why you want to run PowerPoint and other apps simultaneously?

 

[RFB]

Get a Macbook Pro. (I am writing this on one)It has a dual core Intel processor.

Then, in addition to the Mac OS get "Parallels".

Parallels Desktop is retail software(about $80) from Nova Development Corporation that allows one to install the Windows OS onto an Intel-CPU-based Macintosh laptop or desktop computer. (They provide regular updates of the software via free downloads, plus technical support via e-mail.)

In operation, the user may switch between any of their installed operating systems without shutting any of them down or rebooting. All systems may remain running and available at any time.

You can easily be running MS apps on the Windows side, and surfing on the Mac side all at once.

And, you wind up with 2 computers in one. (just don't surf from the Windows side and you won't catch the bugs written for PC's)

 

[CurlyDave]

couldn't you just make the presentation, record it on a cd and play it on a large tv with a dvd player? recordable cd's or dvd's are cheap.
heehaw

I really like this idea.

A major problem with running the PowerPoint show on a computer is that every time you do anything else on the computer, you run the risk of crashing it, which is going to be much more frequent than you might think, with two things going on at once in the computer.

Rebooting and getting the PowerPoint show up & running again is going to be a powerful distraction both for you and for whoever is watching the show.

A TV and DVD player is about as bulletproof as you can get in the world of electronics.

The other issue is that unless I had the large screen where I could watch it like a hawk when I used the computer, I would be very wary of some screwup displaying my private information on the large screen, for the general public to watch.

I don't know about you, but no matter how much I try to filter spam I get a lot of emails advertising (about in equal proportion ) either Viagra or bosom enhancers.

 

[Dusty]

I really like this idea.

A major problem with running the PowerPoint show on a computer is that every time you do anything else on the computer, you run the risk of crashing it, which is going to be much more frequent than you might think, with two things going on at once in the computer.

Rebooting and getting the PowerPoint show up & running again is going to be a powerful distraction both for you and for whoever is watching the show.

A TV and DVD player is about as bulletproof as you can get in the world of electronics.

The other issue is that unless I had the large screen where I could watch it like a hawk when I used the computer, I would be very wary of some screwup displaying my private information on the large screen, for the general public to watch.

I don't know about you, but no matter how much I try to filter spam I get a lot of emails advertising (about in equal proportion ) either Viagra or bosom enhancers.

I hope that you need neither.

 

[HGM]

I use Windows XP Pro and run a PowerPoint presentation through a 50' cable to a projector. No amplifiers, no trouble... I extend the PowerPoint to my projector alowing me to veiw the note screen of the presentation, e-mail, surf the net, dig up files on my hard drive, etc. on my laptop at the same time... I'm running 7**MB RAM(cant remember the exact #) on a Dell Lattitude 600.. Other than the ocasional, minor hickup it runs reliably on a daily basis... Unless I misunderstood what you are trying to do, this shouldnt be a problem at all...