One issue that is often run into with Tablet PCs is the issue of screen real estate. This especially becomes an issue if you are using your Tablet PC as your main computer. Obviously you can hook up an external monitor, but this can sometimes be limiting. MaxiVista seeks to solve this problem by allowing you to setup a second tablet/laptop/computer as an external monitor. It works over the existing network, so it doesn't require any additional hardware setup.

When I first tried this out I was a bit skeptical. I didn't see a whole lot here that I couldn't already do with my dual tablet setup and ShareKMC. With ShareKMC I can use the same keyboard/mouse/clipboard (KMC) and switch back and forth to control both my computers. For the most part I see this setup as using the processing power of both units, while MaxiVista just uses one. However, I made an effort to try MaxiVista out and see what I thought after using it for a while.

Setup of MaxiVista is pretty simple, starting with installing the "server" software on your primary PC. The install process is pretty normal for a windows application, and the application is designed to work basically without any configuration. Once you install the server you run that on your primary PC, it will put an icon in the notification area of the taskbar. To actually make use of it though, you first need to install the viewer software on the secondary PC.

It appears that each copy of MaxiVista generates its own viewer, so that only viewers created on your primary PC will be able to connect to it. If this is true, I think this is an excellent design, and a well thought out one by the MaxiVista team. Anyway, to generate the viewer, you simply right click on the notification icon and click "Create MaxiVista Viewer". This will bring up an explorer box to allow you to save the viewer wherever you like. Both my computers share folders over the network, so I was able to save it directly to my secondary PC.


Figure 1 - Create MaxiVista Viewer
As soon as I had copied the viewer to my secondary PC and started it up, the automatic detection features kicked in and I had a secondary display setup just like that. I expect this might require a little more configuration if you are on a corporate network with firewalls and such, but on my small home network it worked like a charm. Take a look at figure 2 below and you can see MaxiVista in action.


Figure 2 - Dual display, both units in landscape mode

The first time I ran this I started it up with both units on an 802.11b wireless connection. The resulting refresh speed of the secondary monitor wasn't too terrible when typing or using just the mouse, although it left alot to be desired when dragging windows or watching videos. After this I did some testing of other connection configurations, and this is what I found -

  • Primary PC on 802.11b, Secondary PC on 10/100 wired
    • This setup was quite a bit better than both units being on 802.11b, but still wasn't great.
  • Primary PC on 802.11g (54Mbps), Secondary PC on 10/100 wired
    • Once again this one showed improvement over 802.11b, but still was not fast enough to watch videos or do any intensive animation on the secondary PC. I have to wonder just how much bandwidth this eats up, since 802.11g is almost 5 times faster than 802.11b.
  • Primary PC on 10/100 wired, Secondary PC on 10/100 wired
    • As expected this setup showed the best results, and I was actually quite impressed. The refresh was almost instant, and I could hardly tell any difference when dragging windows across the two screens.

By the results of my testing I would have to say that it MaxiVista is not going to work very well on wireless, even under the best conditions. It might be different if I was running an ad-hoc network instead of using an access point, but I doubt it. Still, since I run both my tablets on wireless most of the time, I was able to live with it. Animation didn't really work, but for typing or just viewing documents, running the secondary PC on wireless worked fine.

One thing that really impressed me about MaxiVista was its support for various color depths and resolutions. It even supports the odd Tablet PC portrait resolution of 768x1024. And by providing an option to rotate the screen 180 degrees, you can have your secondary PC running at primary or secondary landscape as well as primary and secondary portrait. To switch resolutions all you have to do is right click on the MaxiVista icon on the primary PC, and navigate to the configuration menu (see figure 4 below)

Figure 3 - Dual display, one unit in landscape (primary PC) and one in portrait (secondary PC)


Figure 4- Configuration of MaxiVista

As you can see in the previous picture, MaxiVista supports 8 different resolution/color depth combinations, as well as those 8 rotated 180 degrees. This means it supports a total of 16 different layout combinations. Also, by turning off "Use Secondary Display in full-screen" you can run MaxiVista in "window mode" on the secondary PC. Basically this lets you view the secondary display content as simple another application window on the secondary PC.

You might have also noticed the "Network Options" menu item in the configuration menu. MaxiVista doesn't really let you control many network options, so all this really does is allow you to specify a specific IP address to connect to. I tried this and it worked fine, but on my network I didn't really have a need for it. (Figure 5, below)

Figure 5 - IP Address setup

Before long I had explored all the options MaxiVista gives me in the program. So, being the geek that I am, I went on into Windows device manager to see how the background of this thing worked and if anything additional could be configured there. Basically I found out that MaxiVista installs a driver that the computer sees as a display adapter, and it reacts accordingly. One thing I found out though, you can't do a whole lot of messing with the display settings for the monitor/adapter. I went in to play around and see if I could get the secondary monitor to be a clone instead of an extended desktop, and I really messed up the entire system. I had to reboot both computers, and even ended up reinstalling the server. I don't blame any of this on MaxiVista though, it was entirely my fault for being too nosy. :-)

Overall I think this is actually a very cool concept, and can give a new use to those of you who have multiple laptops or computers sitting around on your desk. The concept is also extremely well implemented, despite my problems with wireless. Really this application is not designed to be used over wireless, transmitting thousands of pixels like that is just going to take up alot of bandwith.

If my situation were different, I could easily see using this to take advantage of my various computers that are just sitting there most of the time. With my workflow though, and the way I switch back and forth between Tablet PCs, I went back to ShareKMC after using MaxiVista for a couple weeks. MaxiVista does exactly what it is designed to do, and it does it well, but I personally just don't have a need for it.

In conclusion this is a very nice concept that came out as a well implemented and well designed application. It works great for what it is advertised to do, and if it fits your needs is worth checking out. Nice job by the MaxiVista team!

Pros:
Cool and useful concept
Easy to use and setup
Great support for Tablet PC resolutions

Cons:
Poor performance if only available connection is wireless
Limited in configurability


Buzz Meter: 3.5 out of 5

MaxiVista costs $49.95 with discounts for large purchases of over 5 licenses
It is available for purchase from the official MaxiVista website -
http://www.maxivista.com