You can however use both the screens simultaneously (a feature called “mirror” in Display settings). The problem with this display is the cinema display’s resolution is limited by the MBP’s screen resolution (1440 pixels. OR, you could use a dual display with real estate spanning both screens. The problem with this is, the menu/tool bar and start menu always lies in MBP’s screen, making it cumbersome to manipulate the toolbar functions of an app. (and the apps always pop up in MBP screen by default, you have drag it to cinema display).

So, how do you disable your macbook pro with lid closed or open and make your cinema display a main monitor, and continue to use your MBP as keyboard only device?

I don’t know how I got this but it was by trial and error. Here are the steps, you need to follow: -

1) While in dual display mode, in MBP, choose Sleep mode manually. Wait for both the screen to turn black. (or you could just close the lid)
2) Do NOT open lid but press the button (that opens the lid) for a few seconds until you hear a boot sound.

After a few seconds, you will see that your main display is turned on as main monitor. Now, even after opening the lid, it does NOT turn the MBP screen on, and the best part — you can continue to use it as a keyboard!

The only downside to this is that, if you need to see the MBP display again, you need to restart (or remove the DVI plug), I think it’s still better than not being able to use cinema display as main monitor at all.

[03 Jul evening] Well, the honeymoon is over and it’s time to get into reality. After getting pampered so much, both in public space and blogs, there are certainly some problems that have sneaked in. Battery life, better signal strength, minor bugs, some WantedLists, quite a few things now seem to be missing in IPhone. Nevertheless it races much above it’s competition and sets a new standard for mobile computing.

A thorough review in a separate blog after a week of use

[30 Jun 1 am] Still can’t get enough. My Sony Ericcson W810 looks like a Toy and I don’t want to use it anymore (I got it for free though). Haven’t seen major problems so far except for getting used to the virtual keyboard. I don’t have small fingers and guys with ‘bigger’ fingers will face difficulties in being precise with the touch screen. This could potentially be the biggest drawback. (Petite women should get away as always). There is a weather widget, stock widget (just like mac widgets) and inbuilt Youtube app, everything work seamlessly.

I’m off for a road trip tomorrow, Would like to see how it goes for the next 20 hrs!

[29 Jun 11:30 pm] It’s absolutely beautiful! It detected my home wifi, I start browsing on reverttoconsole thru Safari and it is quite comfortable, same as using a miniature laptop. Setup my gmail account as POP and mail reading and writing is a breeze. Syncing with Photos, Music or Movies is as easy as it can get with it’s already familiar ITunes interface. One click and your entire mac/pc and IPhone is insync. You can even take a picture, send it via Gmail as an attachment with a click of a button. Google Maps? It’s a GPS minus the Voice. Incredibly useful if someone is navigating beside you. (It could be extremely diff with the driver trying to read the small font of step-by-step directions)

A note on how to export Contacts if you have an existing Sony Cell phone -
Most Sony cell phones have the feature ‘send all contacts’ in the advanced options. If you have bluetooth, transfer all your contacts into one single file (.vcf file) onto your mac. Once copied, open the file and Address book automatically adds them into it’s library. Now simply connect IPhone and sync address book with ITunes, Boom!

[29 Jun 10 pm] Reached home. Opened the beautiful box, connected to my macbook and boom! Without opening a single manual page, it stepped me through an intuitive wizard in ITunes (which btw automatically detected my IPhone). Being an existing Cingular customer, this was easy. All I had to give was my existing phone num, last 4 digits SSN and zip. In exactly 2 minutes, my phone was activated and I made the first call from IPhone. My existing phone’s sim was automatically deactivated.

Btw did you know that there is no SIM needed for IPhone and AT&T is not CDMA based either. How do they do this? I have no clue but sitting at home clicking a few buttons, if a layman could activate his new phone on www – This my friends, is a leap ahead in Technology. Way, ahead.

Remember, I did not see any online tutorials, no manuals. Plug n play and activated!

[29 Jun 9 pm] I just bought the IPhone from Apple Store and is it beautiful? I walked to the store and young attractive woman walked to me and said -

“IPhone?”
“Yeah”

“8 or 4?”
“8 gig”

I walked out in exactly 3 mins with a beautiful box and no further questions. Am I impressed or what?

Note – This is a sticky post! Watch out for more updates