External display recommendations?

I have a black MacBook (2.0ghz, 2 gigs of ram, etc.) and am in the market for a new external display. I'm currently running a 19" LCD (VGA) as an extended display, but the color is rather miserable and the image quality is awful. I've been leaning toward getting an Apple 23" Cinema display, but before I purchased that I thought it would be a good idea to get some feedback from people who might have had better experience with other displays. I want as much screen real estate as I can power with the MacBook and am desirous of beautiful color. I would also love to be able to plug my xBox into it for the times when the TV is in use, but that's definitely not a deal breaker. I probably need to learn some patience or something.
Awesome. Thanks.

hey there MadHatter,
the MacBook specs page allows for support up to a 23" display, but i've connected to a 42" Sony LCD projection HDTV over DVI>HDMI. get one w/ the new ATSC tuner as most of these will have an HDMI input or 2/3. higher contrast ratios(1200:1-i wouldn't get less, & above) will likely cost more as does a larger size(above 26") & will generally have the higher contrast ratios, some up to 15,000:1. 26" and above i feel deliver better "television" picture. get what fits your budget that has the best specs & features. i've got the 42" Sony/HDMI, a 26" Olevia LCD HDTV monitor/DVI(won't go to 1920 x 1080) & a 23" Philips LCD HDTV monitor/DVI. all bought for various reasons @ different times, a couple on sale/cleareance. i also use an optical audio cable w/ the Sony into my Sony AVR.
good luck, hope this helps.

Similar Messages

Recommended external display for MacBook Pro

Hi
Searching for any recommendations for an external display for my Macbook Pro late 2011?
Looking for something fast enough for games, decent size ie 27" or more for no more than £400.
If I had more I would want a Thunderbolt display so looking for closet things to a Thunderbolt but for half the price? Anyone got any recommendations?
Si

Any display will work. Go to the store and look at them.

External Display not working (descriptive details in post)

Hello
Background:
I have been using a black Macbook (last year's model - before the aluminum ones came out) and connecting it to a VIZIO VW22L HDTV10T (television/monitor) via a mini-DVI to VGA adapter.
This setup always worked, although it was a bit finicky (I'd have to plug it in before closing the display to get in to work in clamshell mode, for example). I get the feeling from reading other forum posts that this is the normal case, though (which so far has been my only real gripe with OS X).
Anyway, back a couple months ago I wondered if this finicky-ness was partially caused by a messed-up preference file, so I decided to try and fix this. In the ensuing tweaking, I somehow caused my Display preferences to disappear.
After much effort trying to fix the problem, I eventually called Apple support, which ultimately recommended that I reinstall OS X. I didn't do that, and continued to work at the problem. I eventually was able to bring it back by going into my Time Machine backups and restoring all the Display preference files (I used old preferences from back when I got the external HD, so I knew they'd be "uncorrupted). However, now I'm having problems with my external display, namely that it is not working.
This problem started early this year, so it might have been caused by the 10.5.5 update, but since I had all these other problems going on, I'm not sure if that was the case.
Problem:
The Macbook doesn't seem to recognize the display, or is having problems routing video to the display, or something.
If I plug the display into the Macbook while it is running normally, the Macbook LCD will flash blue (like it picked up a new display), but them come back to normal. The monitor will go out of sleep mode for a second, but then display a "No signal" message. If I attempt to "Detect Displays" the Macbook screen will either flash blue (as before) or just do nothing.
If I have the display plugged in when I start up the Macbook, everything will proceed as normal until the time the desktop would be displayed. Instead of this, I just see a blue screen (like some generic desktop before any background is applied). The menu bar, the dock, and icons do not show up. However, I can hear various audio cues telling me the computer is running fine except for htis problem (email notifier going off, etc.).
I know the problem is not faulty hardware, because when I boot my Macbook into Windows, everything works perfectly. It therefore follows that it is an OS X problem. I downloaded both Cocktail and Applejack and run various repairs on them (most notable repairing preferences), but nothing has changed.
Any suggestions about how to try fixing this? If there's any technical detail I've missed, let me know.
Thank you in advance to everyone who tries to help.
-Richard

I have same problem. MacBook Pro (new, 2014) upgraded to Yosemite. Had been running with ViewPoint high-resolution, 27" monitor, HDMI. I tried Thunderbolt connection -- it connected, but it would not allow the external monitor to run at its native resolution (2560x1440). It would only display properly using HDMI. Just 3 days ago after I installed the latest OSx software update, and my external monitor problems started. On startup, my MacBook screen flickers non-stop. I can fix problem eventually (after several tries) by disconnecting the HDMI cable, turning OFF the external monitor power, turning external monitor back ON and then plugging in the HDMI to my MacBook Pro. This is very inconvenient.
I will try using the Thunderbolt cable. When I tried it in the past, it connected, but it wouldn't display the native resolution of my external monitor (which is 2560x1440). Can only get this resolution now with HDMI.

MacBook Pro with external display sometimes

I want to use my MacBook Pro with my external display (Apple 23 inch Cinema) when I'm at my office, and to have Spaces set up and optimized for that. When I'm at home or on the road, I want Spaces set up differently, optimized for the MacBook Pro display only (no external display). Can I do this? Do I need to set up separate accounts on the MBP to do this, or can I do it some other way? Can you have sets, or multiple instances of Spaces? Otherwise, I want both options -- at work with MBP display plus Apple 23 inch Cinema or MBP display only -- to be able to access all of my files and software. The only real difference in the two setups would be the amount of screen real estate and where/how Spaces works within these different screen "landscapes."

You will always have to use the power button to turn it on, and you'll have to open the display for that.
Apple supports using the machine with its display closed, provided you follow the instructions in this article. As long as you do that, it shouldn't cause any harm. But I wouldn't recommend seeing how hot you can get the MBP with the display closed.

Need advice for external display for my retina Macbook Pro.

I got my 15-inch retina Macbook Pro (Mid 2014) two months ago. It’s a fantastic machine but I am having some regrets concerning screen size. I want to be able to enjoy movies on my computer but 15-inch is just too small. So I am considering purchasing an external display for my Macbook Pro. I am thinking about a 25’’+ monitor (or TV) which can offer me closest experience to the retina one on my Macbook. I don’t want 4K monitors though, as most of the contents I consume are full HD 1080P. But I do care about PPI a lot (for browsing).
What kind of display can help me obtain this similar experience I get on my Mac? Any recommendations? Thanks.

I have the 15" MacBook Pro, Retina, Mid 2012 also, same exact model. Kind of the same thing is happening with me. I will intermitentyl get a flickering on the bottom 1/3 of the screen, all the way across. It flickers/flashes on and off on the bottom half or third of the screen, when I am typing or when I am perfectly stil, doen't really matterl. Only happens for a split second, but can do it multiple times, or sometimes not at all. I can go tens of minutes without i hapenning, but I can also go tens of seconds with it happening multiple times.
It never goes black or grey or "out" at all, just randomly flickers throughout the day.
I do get burned-in images all the time, but they disappear within seconds. But this flickering is definitely worrysome. I did get the the Apple Care, so I am not too worried as Apple is usually good about this kind of thing, but I do have a similar problem to you and wanted to document this. I didnt find many other people oiut there with this problem, so let me know what has gone on since your post on the New Year. Any solution? Did you call Apple?
Thanks webrian.
2012 Retina MacBook Pro
15"
500GB Flash Drive, 16GB memory
2.6 Ghz Intel Core i7

How do I use my 2011 27" iMac as an external display for a pc?

I just bought a 27" imac for my home, and was also planning on using it as an external display for my work Dell Laptop running Windows 7.
The Dell laptop has a displayport output, so I was planning on getting a displayport <-> minidisplayport cable, and using the iMac in target display mode.
I would simply plug the minidisplay end of the cable into one of the iMac's 2 Thunderbolt ports. Seemed fairly simple.
Except now it seems from what I have been reading that 2011 iMacs DO NOT WORK in target display mode unless they are connected to another Thunderbolt source. This leads to me two questions.
1. Can anyone confirm or deny this? If this is true, does that mean I cannot plug my Dell's displayport into the iMac's Thunderbolt port as I described above?
2. If #1 is true, is there any other option? Are there any adapters that I can use to turn my Dell into a Thunderbolt source for display purposes?
If I can't resolve this I will have to return the iMac
Thanks very much.
David

David,
Sorry you can't use the 2011 iMac as an external display to your PC. The feature you are referring to is called Target Display Mode and works on 2009 & 2010 27" iMacs. The 2011 machines use Thunderbolt as you know however they do support external displays that are not Thunderbolt displays. So for example if you wanted 2 displays on the iMac you can easily do that with either Mini Display port to DVI or MDP to VGA or even HDMI. MDP is the same size as Thunderbolt and this will work fine to drive a display, TV or even a projector.
I'd recommend reading Apple's explanations at Target Display Mode 2009 & 2010 iMacs & Target Display Mode Mid 2011 iMacs.
Using a Mac as an external display for a Windows machine to me seems like a horrible waste of a Mac. Why not enjoy the iMac and if anything run Windows on it and get rid of the PC?

Satellite L50-B-1P1 - external display is not working

I have just bought a satellite L50-B-1P1. When I tried to connect the RGB (VGA) port to a TV ( as a external monitor), the display screen of the laptop became smaller and the right part of the whole picture was missing, even when the external monitor was not switched on.
The laptop screen has left and right display a black background. The picture is located in the middle. Is this supposed to be normal or something is wrong with this laptop?
All answers are welcomed

As I understood the message, you have enabled the external display output and could see the picture on the TV.
The question is; what resolution the TV supported and what external output option did you choose?
The point is that you can switch to the external display choosing the option; extended desktop, clone display or you can switch off the internal display and show the picture only on external monitor TV.
In case you have cloned the display, both displays (internal + external) has to use the same resolution! In case the TV would support lower resolution, the internal notebook screen would lower the resolution too!
I would recommend you to read the user manual it provides some basic notebook knowledge

I have a 17" Macbook pro with flickering red and cyan(blue) lines across the screen. The issue disappears temporarily when I tap on the computer, and the problem does not occur when I use external display or try to screen capture the problem.

I purchased my Macbook (17") through a certified apple tecnition in August 2012, it was refurbished and the motherboard was completely replaced. I do a lot of photo editing, but I have been unable to do so because of the red vibrating lines that interrupt my screen. The issue disappears temporarily when I tap on the computer, and the problem does not occur when I use external display or try to screen capture the problem. I brought the computer back to the technition I purchased it from and he said that it was a problem with my fan, so I have two new fans but the issue is still occuring. He says he doesnt know whats wrong. Does anyone have any information on this issue?
Here is an image of the issue
http://www.flickr.com/photos/67839707@N08/8884847081/

I recommend having your Mac serviced by someone competent. A force sufficient to "blow apart" the fans was clearly excessive and may have damaged the display cable, as well as any number of other problems.
Dust is properly cleaned with a vacuum, preferably one designed for computer service, and they are not cheap.
Compressed air should never be used. It just blows dust everywhere, often into places where it can no longer be removed.

Helix - Two external displays + laptop display

I would like to extend my desktop to two external displays (1080p) in addition to the Helix screen. Of course, we only have one mini-displayport on the Helix. I don't have displayport-enabled monitors which can daisy-chain. Which of these options would you guys recommend?
1. Using the Lenovo or Startech Displayport Splitter, which will make the two external displays look like one giant display to the computer.
2. Using wi-di for one monitor while using the physical mini-displayport for the other. Will this work? If so, any recommendations for a a wi-di adapter for a monitor?
I don't want to use a USB dock / monitor extension, since I don't want to be using CPU power to drive the displays. Are there any other options I am missing? If it matters, the internal display of the Helix uses a displayport-type adapter.
Thanks!

Trying to figure out how many displays that the Thinkpad Helix can drive via the GPU (independent extended mode, meaning each display is NOT a mirror/clone of another)
Tried to look at the manual/search, can't find it.
I'm sure you can do at least 2 connected displays, like any laptop sold within the past 10 years
1) internal display (1080p)
2) via Minidisplayport (1440p-1660p?)
How about 3 displays
3) via WiDi?
4) via Displayport chaining?
How about max resolutions? (all my displays are below 1080/1200p for now, but for future reference)
(not looking for the USB driven monitors, because
1) a lot of them tend to be cpu-intensive instead of being driven by the GPU
2) I want to be able to "dock" the helix with my existing large displays
Moderator Note; subject edited; post merged in.

No WIFI when connected to External Display

When I connect MBA to a Dell 2405FPW monitor, wifi gets a "connection timeout".
When I disconnect external display, wifi works - all this with the same wifi point.
I took MBA to the apple store, they connected the MBA to their displays and it works. This is very stressful since I cannot take the dell monitor to the apple store - Its where I work.
I also tested the MBA on a newer 24" dell monitor(At work) with same output. My only result was turninng to a less dimension monitor - works fine(again, all with the same wifi point). Is there a limitation when connecting MBA to external monitors - MBA? Again, very frustrating dealing with this issue. My previous MBP had no issues with this dell monitor. Any recommendations will be appreciated.

Alexander - I have a MBA 1.6 HDD and have been experiencing the same problem as you have. I connect via micro DVI to a 23" Apple Cinema Display and have been losing transmission speed or connection altogether with my Airport Extreme.
I have been reading the posts regarding this issue and found a link to this article on maximizing wireless connectivity with an external display and MBA: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=307295.
After reading the article and trying different settings, I found that my Airport was set to channel 11 and if I set it to 6 I stopped having connectivity issues and was able to work without incident. Give it a try - I hope it works for you.

Urgent help with external displays

I really need help please... I'm using two DisplayLink USB adapters to connect to external desktop on my imac6,1. The problem is that every so often it seems like the display adapters disconnect and reconnect and it ends up messing things up. This imac is at our church and each display adapter displays something different (one for the band leader and one for the congregation). When the displays do the reconnecting thing, the screens go blank for a second and my external displays get swapped (the congregation see what the band leader should see and the band leader sees what the congregation should see). I would really appreciate any feedback because I've spent hours researching this subject without success. I'm running Snow Leopard 10.6.8 and have the latest drivers for the DisplayLink adapters. the iMac is a 2006 model and does not have a automatic graphics switching option in the power saver menu. Thank you so much!

Sorry I don't know a thing about DisplayLink USB adapters however I'd recommend contacting the developer's support, my thoughts would be they would know what the issue is. However before doing so so a iMac SMC and PRAM reset first and then retest.

Driving external display

I've been using my Macbook Pro with the external display (apple 23' cinema display). As recommended, I'd start the macbook pro, then close the cover, connect the display and press a button on an external keyboard. This will wake the computer up, and the display will start working.
However, as soon as I installed 10.5.2 (or possibly Leopard Graphics Update), this stopped working. The display lights up for a second and then goes dark and the computer goes back to sleep. The only way to use it is by keeping the laptop lid open and then connecting the external display. Then the external monitor works just fine, but the computer's lid is open and its display is also on.
Does anyone experience anything similar?

There seem to be a lot of problems with using an external display with an MBP. I'm a recent switcher, and have been delighted with the system and OSX, but this seems to be a weak point.
My system came with 10.4, and it had similar problems. I wanted to use the external display with the lid closed, and eventually found a KB article which describes the specific sequence needed to enable that to work:
1. Boot system with display disconnected.
2. Connect external display, external keyboard & mouse, etc. Let them enumerate.
3. Close the lid. The system will go to sleep at this point.
4. After the system is sleeping, wake it up using the external keyboard or mouse.
At this point, the external display should become active.
Then I upgraded to 10.5. Now I have several problems.
1. Sometimes after using the external display, when the system wakes up without the external display connected, the laptop display is blank. It appears that the system thinks the external display is still connected, and isn't enabling the laptop display, even though the lid is open. I'm guessing that selecting 'detect displays' would work, but since the display isn't active, I don't know how I would select that Force reboot using the power button is the only recourse I can think of, but I really hate doing that. Any other ideas?
2. This one happens more often, and is quite annoying. If I have the external display connected when I boot up or wake up the system, about half the time the external display takes on the same lower resolution as the laptop display. The higher resolution mode isn't even listed in the display properties menu, nor does selecting "Detect displays" have any effect. My only recourse is to disconnect the display, then reboot, and reconnect the display after rebooting. This always fixes the problem, but of course is a big inconvenience. Any ideas?

Connect 2 external Displays with a iMac 27''

Hi,
is there a way to connect two external Displays with a iMac 27inch. Eyefinity? Its a Radeon 5750 inside the iMac isnt it?

Hi,
For the first screen is no brainer you use the Apple adapter to have video out to HDMI or DVI, but the second screen is where it gets tricky...
There are USB to DVI out external video cards that should work with the iMac and OS X 10.6 but I have changed. Honestly I have tested 6 so far and none of them works as advertised, you can not even set minimal resolution on there and some wont even work ( all of them come with OS X 10.6 drivers )
So I will recommend to stay away from the small $70 or $90 external USB to VGA/DVI cards...
(maybe someone has luck with them but i have tried like I said 6 so far different brand and no luck..)
Now recently online I tripped over a nice external video card that takes the MiniVideo Port out from the Mac and then takes it to another 2 monitors price was $249 i think, and you could hook up 2x30" monitors with hight res... I will try to find this link and post here later on.
Regards,
Goran

Using an external display

Whats the highest resolution external display that the eMac can support? Because I wanted to use the external display as a main screen and set the eMac in the floor.
Also, does anyone recommend a widescreen external diplay?

Hi cosmic,
when I was still using my eMac I had it hooked-up to 23" monitor & the rez. on that one was 1440 x ? (don't remember the height). I was surprised that it could do it (that's why I can remember the width).

Qosmio F755-3d150 - Win 7 - no High definition on external display

hello
after instaling windows 7 and the nvidia driver, the external screen dosent display in HD like before,
I tried to configer setting but no resolt,
What driver do i need to install?

In your other thread I read that you have problems installing some drivers.
I guess the issue is related to missing graphic card driver and therefore you are not able to choose higher display resolution for the external display.
But if you have already installed the right graphic card driver, then I would recommend you to check the external display resolution settings.

External display recommendations?

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