App Turns Your iPad Into a Wireless PC Monitor

Looking for some more screen real estate, but not looking to spend money on a graphics card and second monitor? Take that iPad off your desk and install Maxivista for a simple wireless solution that's fully compatible with your Windows PC. The software is free for your desktop computer, and the companion iPad app runs $9.99.

The app works over your local Wi-Fi network using efficient data compression, which makes for a display frame rate close to that of a normal monitor. You can drag windows from your notebook or desktop computer screen right over to the iPad seamlessly, and even maximize windows on the iPad to fill the 9.7 inch LED screen.

The app works best with applications such as Excel or with other less graphically oriented programs. Video will play using Maxivista but it looks somewhat choppy as the data compression takes its toll. The Windows software will run on 32 or 64 bit operating systems and is compatible with Windows Xp, Vista and Windows 7.

A similar app called Air Display performs the same function for Mac OS X computers and also costs $9.99 to install on the iPad. Another element users of Maxivista or Air Display will have to come up with is an iPad stand. Unless you can properly align the iPad screen with your computer screen it might be difficult to actually use the additional workspace.

What could be the most useful is to keep an application or web page that you use often on the smaller iPad screen, while doing most of your work on the larger computer screen. That is, unless you're linking up your wireless iPad monitor to a small netbook. Although this would increase the screen size, the iPad makes for quite an expensive external monitor.