Question about external displays.

Just curious about external display use with the macbook.
I want to link up using DVI to DVI but I recently read that my external display will only show the same as the macbook display, and that i cant use the macbook display, and the external display as two seperate screens? but i read its possible to do on the macbook pro. Is this correct?

I don't normally use my macbook with my primary display, but I have tried it out.
I hooked it up via vga, rather than dvi though.
It worked fine, but defaulted to mirrored. There is an option in the settings to disable mirroring, and use the macbook as the primary and the external as the secondary.
I haven't found any way to swap them, and have the macbook as the secondary display.
The management of the screens was pretty cool though. You can drag and drop the screens so their relative position is set up how you want it (over/under, left/right, etc).
hope that this helps...
-jamie
MacBook 2.0GHz (white) Mac OS X (10.4.7)

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R200 - Question about external display resolution 1920*1200

My boss has bought this screen and is a little bit disappointed because he can't reach the maximum resolution of the 23" tft screen 1920*1200. The R200 proposes only resolution that have an aspect ratio of 4:3 so the maximum for the screen is 1600*1200. Is there a "special" driver for the graphic chip that allow non 4:3 resolution ?
Thanks

Hello
As far as I know on external display the maximum resolution is restriction of the graphic card and unfortunately there is nothing to do. The only thing that you can do is to check all settings in TFT menu. I am pretty sure that there you will find an option for picture format switching.
Bye

In need of a mac wiz-who knows something about external displays

Hello...
I posted yesterday about my LG 19” Flatron LCD Monitor. I see that people have read the post, but no one seems to have an answer. Therefore, I thought I would ask again. I called apple support twice, but since my apple care expired a while back, they could only send me to articles in the support section. However, none were able to resolve the issue. There are 3 problems:
1. When the powerbook is turned off, lid closed, etc., if I plug my VGA adaptor into the powerbook, the computer immediately turns on. Please note- I did not hit the power button and the LG monitor is turned off- only plugged into the outlet.
2. Once the computer is on and the monitor is up and running, I cannot put the computer to sleep. The display will go to sleep for a second and then the computer will kick back on. Please note- I use my laptop at home like a desktop- the lid is closed and the computer is operating with the external display.
3. I cannot shut down the computer when the VGA adaptor is connected to my computer.
Concluding remarks- for some odd reason, the LG monitor is controlling the sleep and power functions of the powerbook. How can this be? Even the apple support person had no idea why the computer would turn on automatically once the VGA adaptor is connected.
Well, thank you for your time, and I hope there is someone out there who has some advice- even software that I can download which may allow me to control the power settings to put the computer to sleep.
Best,
Adam

Hi, composeras. I don't think I can shed any real light on your odd problem, but I have a couple of questions about it.
1. When the powerbook is turned off, lid closed, etc., if I plug my VGA adaptor into the powerbook, the computer immediately turns on...
Are you sure the computer is actually shut down when this occurs, and not just sleeping? Plugging almost anything into the PB when it's asleep will normally wake it. Plugging things in when it's really turned off certainly shouldn't, and normally doesn't.
2. Once the computer is on and the monitor is up and running, I cannot put the computer to sleep...
Are any USB devices connected to the computer when this happens? Nothing fouls up system sleep like some USB devices do. Disconnect all USB devices except keyboard and mouse (are those Apple-branded, by the way?) before putting the machine to sleep, and see whether that makes any difference. If a USB hub is in use, that in itself could be the culprit. Some USB devices prevent sleep completely by communicating with the OS every few seconds or minutes. If your LG monitor itself contains a USB hub, disconnect it from your PB's USB port and see whether matters improve.

Questions about Thunderbolt Display

Hi there,
I'm thinking about buying a 27" Thunderbolt Display to accompany my 15" Macbook Pro. Basically, the current MBP screen is a little small for some of the tasks I'm currently undertaking. The specs of my Macbook Pro are:
- 2.3GHz i7 Quad Core
- 8GB RAM
- AMD Radeon HD 6750M with 1GB VRAM
- Running the latest version of Lion.
I was wondering if anyone can advise of the kind of performance I can expect from the 27" Thunderbolt display if it is hooked up for the following tasks that I use my computer for:
- General day to day internet use and Microsoft Office For Mac use.
- Editing HD movies in iMovie (and potentially at a later date, Final Cut X).
- Recording music in Logic Studio 9.
- Web coding in Dreamweaver CS5.
- Photo Editing in Photoshop CS5.
- Graphics creation in Fireworks and InDesign CS5.
- Running a game like X Plane 10.
- Running Bootcamp with Windows 7 and games like Flight Simulator X.
- Running a game like Football Manager 2012.
- Watching movies.
Ideally I'd want to be running the above tasks in full screen mode.
How would the MBP cope with upscaling the above tasks to the full resolution of the Thunderbolt screen, with good graphical performance on the video editing and games specifically? Ideally I'm hoping for literally no loss in quality.
Any help with this would be greatly appreciated.
T

I've looked into it more and according to this (http://www.apple.com/macbookpro/specs.html) my graphics card supports an external display to the maximum of 2560 by 1600 pixels which should be enough for the Thunderbolt Display considering it's native resolution is 2560 by 1440 pixels.
My question now is though, will the performance of things like video editing of moderate gaming be good on the TBD at full resolution?

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Here's some information about my laptop - http://i.imgur.com/yHlcLsO.png
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The Ideapad U530 has an HDMI connector. What you were using before was old school vga which uses a D-sub connector or DVI. Using HDMI should give you much better clarity and response.
d-sub/vga = http://www.mouser.com/images/switchcraft/images/ehhd15ffb.jpg
HDMI connector = http://www.mouser.com/images/molex/images/highprofile_SMT_iso.jpg
DVI connector = http://www.mouser.com/images/omron/images/xm4m_t.jpg
HDMI cable = http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/NTAwWDUwMA==/z/FA0AAOSwg3FUhO1~/$_12.JPG
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I have a couple of questions about using an external hard drive that I can't seem to get answered by surfing around. They'll probably seem stupid and basic, but ... Here they are:
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Conflicting information about external display resolution - please help!

I have a MacBook Pro (15-inch, Mid 2009) with the non-reflective screen, Mini Display Port and NVIDIA GeForce 9400M Graphics processor.
According to these technical specifications (http://support.apple.com/kb/SP544), the built-in NVIDIA GeForce 9400M Graphics processor supports full native resolution on the built-in display and up to 2560 by 1600 pixels on an external display.
Armed with this information, I just purchased a shiny, new DELL U2711 (http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?c=us&cs=04&l=en&s=bsd&sku= 224-8284&redirect=1) external display which has a resolution of 2560 x 1440. Unfortunately, all I can get out of it is 1920 x 1080 (This is the maximum resolution I can select in the monitors system preferences panel.)
So Apple tells me this graphics card supports 2560 x 1600, but I also contacted NVIDIA directly who told me that this particular card's maximum resolution is 1920 x 1080.
Somebody has to be wrong. Is this monitor supported? Am I doing something wrong? Do I need to send this monitor back and buy a smaller display?
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O

Well - seeing as nobody could provide any help on this, I'll post the answer in case anybody else has the same problem.
It turns out that the monitor's resolution IS supported by the NVIDIA GeForce 9400M, so the information NVIDIA gave me was wrong.
The issue was the adaptor.
A regular Mini Display > DVI adaptor can only handle a resolution of 1920 x 1080. Turns out I needed a Mini Display > DUAL LINK DVI Adapter, which is a combination of USB and DVI which provides the required resolution of 2560 x 1600.
http://store.apple.com/us/product/MB571Z/A
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Can my external monitor's resolution (such as 1920/1200) connected to my macbook be higher then the 1280/800 my computer has?

The problem with running in mirrored mode is that the external display will be limited to a set of resolutions that match the aspect ratios that are supported by the MacBook's internal LCD. This means that you will end up with a limited set of resolutions on your external display and it may even be impossible to select the optimum or native resolution for your external display (when running in the mirrored mode). However, when you disable mirrored mode you should be able to select any resolution that is supported by the external display itself (as reported by the display hardware). However, there have been reports of users having problems with resolution settings when they connect a display using HDMI, since in some cases that appears to default to a maximum resolution of 1920x1080, which is the standard 1080P for HDTV.

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Oh man,
I will show you why you _shouldnt_ think about buying an external drive for your machine.
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YoJoLo wrote:
Are all my photos on iPhoto, and my Word for Mac documents backed up so that when I reinstall Yosemite, everything is going to be right where I left it?
If you have taken the backup using the Time machine then there is nothing to worry as all your photos from iPhotos and Word for mac documents are backup safely by your time machine.
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YoJoLo wrote:
Will I lose Word for Mac and have to reinstall it? Isn't Word for Mac a one time use/install and will I have trouble and have to call Microsoft to input my authentication key in again and will they let me?
You absolutely don’t have to reinstall the Word for mac if its install in the first place because Time machine will backup the system installed files of your MS Word which you had installed.
Word for mac is a one time install and you don’t have to call Microsoft for any authentication key after you have restored your Word backup files from the time machine drive. As I said before the time machine will backup your Word system installed files leaving you no chance to reinstall it again.
YoJoLo wrote:
Also step-by-step detailed instruction on how to reinstall Yosemite would really be appreciated. Thank you!
Here, Yosemite reinstall procedure......
Important: To reinstall OS X, you must be connected to the Internet. Make sure your power adapter is plugged in. Reinstall OS X using the built-in recovery disk.
In the menu bar, choose Apple menu > Restart. Once your Mac restarts (and the gray screen appears), hold down the Command and R keys.
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Choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled) from the Format menu, enter a name, then click Erase.
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After the disk is erased, choose Disk Utility > Quit Disk Utility.
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Hi Doug,
Lets see if we can address some of these:
If I get a USB3 drive and need to use it to restore things on my older iMac, which just has USB2, will it generally connect and run with USB2 at a slower speed? Or would I have to get a drive with both USB2 and USB3 ports?
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Is it common for drives to have both Thunderbolt and USB2 connections?
Drives sold as Thunderbolt often (not always) have USB as well, drives sold as USB never (in my experience) have Thunderbolt connections.
Are there "hubs" for Thunderbolt like there are for USB? Considering the limited number of ports, I'm wondering the best way to connect 2 external drives. My iMac has 4 USB2 ports on the back, and I connect one drive separate to each of those ports, rather than going through a hub.
Yes there are (but don't expect them to be comparable in price to a USB hub) e.g. see here: http://www.belkin.com/uk/p/P-F4U055/
Is Thunderbolt just an Apple thing? Or is it a new standard widely used by peripherals now? I just never heard of it before. Is it faster than USB3?
I'ts an Apple technology (like firewire) and is far from widely used on peripherals. There ARE Thunderbolt drives etc by companies such as LaCie, WD etc but they are still very expensive (3 or 4x the price of an equivalent sized USB drive). For some this was a worthwhile expense since Thunderbolt is many times faster than USB2. But the arrival of USB3 has, in my opinion, changed the landscape. Yes, Thunderbolt is theoretically faster than USB3 (up to twice as fast) but benchmark tests have shown that in real world situations, the speed difference varies from no difference to Thunderbolt being 25 or 30% faster. When you take into account that USB3 drives are more common than Thunderbolt and are only a little more expensive than USB2 drives at present, then it's a "no brainer" as far as I am concerned.
Hope this helps.
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A simple question about external hard drives.

hi. this may be a stupid question but i kinda need to know the answer.
can you use any external hard drive on a mac mini?
also does the mac mini come with a wireless card?

Welcome to Apple Discussions!
can you use any external hard drive on a mac mini?
Nearly any, but not necessarily all. Some bus-powered hard drives will not function at all, or may function inconsistently, and not all external drives will satisfactorily daisy chain, but by and large any mains-powered USB or Firewire drive will work. If intended for use to boot an Intel-based Mac (or to be bootable for such a system in case of problems with the internal), it will need to be partitioned in the GUID scheme (achieved easily via Disk Utility).
Firewire is better than USB if you have the option, simply because FW is more consistent in data transfer performance. USB drives are typically cheaper if cost is a significant factor.
In some ways, choice of drive may be affected by intended use. For example, if you intend to boot the system with it, a fast (meaning 7200rpm) drive with Firewire interface would be a good choice, while if being used for storing an iTunes library, a slower 5400 rpm drive with USB2.0 interface would be perfectly adequate.
also does the mac mini come with a wireless card?
All current Mac minis come with 'Airport' wifi already installed, though the original entry-level mini did not have wifi as standard. If your mini is one of these earlier ones, wifi can be added in a number of ways. If it's a later model, an Airport icon is normally set to show on the menu bar. It looks like a fan and if switched off, the fan will be blank, in on but not connected to a network, it'll show 4 grey arcs, and if on and connected, the arcs will be black.

Question about external displays.

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