Macbook Pro 13 inch & External Display - resolution problem

Hi
I'm trying to connect my macbook pro 13inch to an NEC 26' Multisync display - which has a native resolution of 1900 x 1200 - and when connected to a PC this is what I get. When I connect the mac though the top resolution is 1900 x 1080 - so the display is distorted.
I've tried finding diplay drivers for the monitor and graphics card without success. Apparently the GEForce 9400 graphics in the macbook can output up to 2500 x 1600.
I'm wondering if it's the connection method - I'm using the mini display to VGA adapter that I got with the macbook. Do I need to use the alternative adapter - the mini display port to DVI adapter? Seems this is needed for connection to 'advanced' displays. Will this make any difference or is it that the macbook 13 inch can't output to a 26in display?
Any advice or assistance will be greatly appreciated
Many Thanks
Tim Gundry

I would get the DVI regardless.
Your taking a digital signal from the macbook, converting to to anolage VGA, and the the monitor is converting it back to digital again to display on the screen.
DVI will make it direct digital to digital.
Plus, because DVI is digital, is passes resolution information. So you should get your native resolution no problem.

Similar Messages

Magic Mouse Disconnecting When Closing MacBook Pro Using External Display

I have a 2009 MacBook Pro. I am trying to use it in sleep mode with an Apple wireless keyboard and a Magic Mouse. Everything appears to be connected fine. When I close the lid on my MacBook, I click my mouse and the external display comes on for a few seconds, then it cuts out and doesn't come back. I have the Bluetooth device can wake the computer up from sleep checked. When I have the MacBook open, the external display works fine. I only lose the external display a few seconds after I close the lid on my MacBook Pro.
I have made the Magic Mouse and keyboard favorites and it didn't help.
Does anyone have any idea? I am running 10.6.8.
Thanks

GaryKing, can you review how you reset the .plist files for both the Bluetooth keyboard and mouse?
I had nothing but good things to say about the Bluetooth keyboard and mouse, until I hooked up my 22' Samsung display to my MBP. Power shouldn't be an issue because it's being plugged into the outlet and the external monitor isn't taking power from the MBP. However, my keyboard will keep popping up with the notice "Connection Lost" every 5 or so minutes. Even now, I'm already on the next paragraph but the letters are slowly coming up one by one - it's not registering as fast.
The mouse experienced the same issue if I'm downloading a lot of files, it will lag behind to the point where I'll drag the mouse to where I want it to be, then a few seconds later it'll pop up where it should, that's how bad the lag is. I thought perhaps restarting the computer will do, but no, and also everything is up-to-date so there are no updates to worry about.
GaryKing, if you can go over how you reset the .plist files, that would be much appreciated. By the way, it's past a week since your post, how have the Bluetooth devices been working? Did the reset solve the lag issue permanently, or was is just a temporary fix?

Macbook Pro inch 13 (2011) graphic problem

Please Help me I dont stand why if I buy a MacBook Pro inch 13 (2011) the game "The Sims 3 Pets" have graphics problems, the horses look black and without form. Whith de previous Macbook pro inch 13 with nvidia graphics the game is perfect and now with the most modern the game dont also work. I dont know the problem is Lion SO
Thanks
Alejandro

Apparantly there were some compatibility issues with the Sims3 and Lion. I believe there is a Sims3 update available if I'm not mistaken.

MacBook Pro and External Display on full resolution

I want to use only my external 20" cinema display, connected to my MBP. So what I do is connect the display via the DVI cable, close the lid of the notebook, wake it up from the keyboard/mouse (now I have the full resolution of the Cinema Display), open the lid so I can use the keyboard and the trackpad. This is all right with me, but when I restart or after sleep MacBook's display turns on and is set up as primary and the Cinema Display goes to Dual View mode. Is there a way the laptop to remember the external Display as primary, so I don't always have to close the lid, wake up the laptop and open the lid.
For instance, when I've done this for the first time in Windows, I didn't have to do it again. Now every time I log in in Windows, the macbook's display automatically turns off and the Cinema Display gets its full resolution. This is what i want to be done when I boot in Mac OS.

I know both scenarios (OS X/Windows), but I'm pretty sure that there's nothing you can do about it. As long as your internal display is open while waking from sleep or booting up, it will be always on in OS X. I'm only using my external Cinema Display and keep the MBP's lid closed all the time. Of course, I use an external keyboard and mouse as well. You can only choose which display has the menu bar on it, but you can't turn it off without sleeping the Mac. In Windows the ATi/Nvidia drivers take care of your settings, but it won't be applied until you get to the Desktop, so you'll still have the internal display on while booting Windows...
Björn

MacBook Pro not detecting display resolution properly on Leopard 10.5.2

I have a 15" 2.2ghz MacBook Pro that I recently upgraded to Leopard. When I am home, I connect the MBP to a USB keyboard and mouse, and a Samsung 226BW 22" display using a DVI cable. Prior to the Leopard upgrade, I could connect the components, close the MBP, hit the spacebar on the USB KB and the MBP would wake up using the Samsung in its native resolution of 1680x1050.
Since the upgrade there are two major problems. I can no longer wake the MBP up with the KB. It sounds like it is waking up, the Apple logo illuminates for a moment, then it immediately goes back to sleep. Secondly, the MBP is not detecting the correct resolution of the monitor. It shows both as being 1440x900 no matter what. Under the system profiler, it has exactly the same description for both the MBP display as well as the Samsung 22". I have already read other posts and performed the following:
Reset the SMC
Reset the VRAM
Trashed the windowserver.plist and rebooted
Any ideas on why this may be happening? Thanks in advance.

You are not alone. Spent over an hour with AppleCare support. The engineer was fantastic, but when he got out of his area of expertise and tried to take me to level 2 support, the level 2 folks said 'contact samsung' That's obviously a delay tatic. This is very clearly a 10.5.2 upgrade issue. My external 24 inch samsung display was working fine prior to the upgrade and now it's stuck on 1440X900. They took me through PRAM resets, cache clearing, plist removal etc.
Very disappointed to see Apple take a very microsoft like stance to a problem that is obviously a bug in the graphics drivers for 10.5.2. The engineer also indicated that this was a known issue, but the docs on it are 'eyes only'. I question that culture as well.

Macbook Pro Retina External Display Audio

I am looking to get a Macbook Pro Retina 13" and I want to connect an external monitor to use as my primary display when at my desk. How would I get audio to work when my Macbook is closed and I am just using the external display. (Using DVI-D cable)

I have a new rMBP 15 and I am having a major problem with hooking up to external projection systems. Otherwise, it's a fantastic computer for running Windows (required for work) and Mac, my preference.
I have to often hook up to an external projector at various companies for presentations and I never know which type of projector they will have. Most are VGA and and most do not work with the Apple TB-VGA because it sees them as 640x480. I finally found a solution with an "active" VGA adaptor from Cirago:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005AT2KTK/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&p sc=1
However, now that I have higher resolution the image is blurry much like the OP but even worse and not usable. I am going to experiment with various settings I have found on other posts and forums, but most are specific to a fixed setup, whereas I need plug&play and don't have the time to fiddle with settings before each presentation.
My fear is that I may have to abandon the rMBP and revert to my old clunker DELL, due only to this one major issue issue.

MacBook Pro sees external display but no output

13" MacBook Pro 2.3 Intel i5 8gb ram 500gb hybrid Hdd OS X 10.7.4 Thunderbolt port
mini display port to DVI and with HDMI adapter works fine
mini DP to VGA adapter will see VGA monitor (tested on 5 different monitors) but will not display anything on external display. Newer displays just go into power saving mode and older VGA displays just are blank. Even tried DVI to VGA adapter on mini DP to DVI adapter with same issue. I'm guessing I have no analog output from the DP port. tried the SMC and PRAM reset with no results.

problem solved - replced mini DP to VGA adapter - first one defective

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.

Macbook pro 17 external display.Amazing machine had it for 2 days n Love it

hay a quick question
ive got a new unibody macbook pro 17 (its amazing i love this beast) and a Samsung external display which is a 24inch and im having trouble sorting out the size and resolution with the computer and the display as the laptop thinks the external display is smaller than the laptops display and thus means that the resolution on the display is higher which is just annoying.
Any ideas on know how to change this so its either the same as the laptop or fits better and is the correct size?
if its any help im connected via the mini display port to dvi and the input to the tv is dvi-d and it also has HDMI input if it helps

Is the monitor a monitor, or an HDTV?
If it's an HDTV with a DVI input on it, them I'm willing to bet it's only a 720, since most HDTV's don't jump to 1080 until you get above 32".
I've got a 24" Optiquest monitor on my work PC and it runs at 1900x1200, but it's a true computer monitor.
I've hooked a laptop up to my 52" Samsung HDTV, and it would only do 1900x1200 (which could be a limitation of the video card).

Connecting MacBook Pro to external display

Hi,
I have an external display which has dvi & displayport outputs. I currently connect it to my desktop using the displayport however my MacBook Pro (late 13) only has the thunderbolt / mini displayport & HDMI. Bearing in mind that my monitor is 2560 x 1440, what would be the best way to connect my MacBook to it?
Thanks in advance,
-James

It sounds like you're already using the best way. The Thunderbolt port is also a Mini DisplayPort, so you're connecting it DisplayPort to DisplayPort. The reason that is the best way is most other cables, including HDMI in my experience, will not reach the 2560x1440 resolution. (HDMI will probably drive that monitor at 1080p, or only 1920x1080.)
If DVI were to be used, it would have to be the expensive Dual-Link DVI because regular old Single Link DVI isn't capable of 2560x1440. It's a good thing the MacBook has Mini DisplayPort on it instead of DVI (like the older Apple laptops did) because DisplayPort cables are far cheaper than Dual-Link DVI adapters.
You can't do better than the connection you're already using.

Macbook pro screen & external display not workin

Hey. Last night I accidently dropped my macbook pro, not from very high, and I didn't think it would of damaged the computer this bad. When you turn the computer on the screen is basically white, if you let it load for a while two vertical bars appear on the right of the display. When you plug the computer in to an external display it looks simmiler to noise on a television. It's just a lot of horizontal black and white lines. Is this a problem with the display? the video card or the hard drive? I'm pretty worried as I need to get this fixed before I go back to uni. Without a computer I can pretty much not do a thing.

You can test the hard drive by connecting your laptop to another computer and using it in target disk mode: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=58583
That way, if it's not the hard drive, you can at least salvage all your data.
I hope for your sake that it's the hard drive because that can be replaced fairly easily (assuming you backed up your most important data). If it's the video card, that means replacing the entire motherboard. Hopefully, you're still under warranty.

External Display resolution problem after resetting PRAM

Gello, I've got Fujitsu-Siemens P19-2 monitor hooked up to my MbookPro and after resetting PRAM the correct display resolution disappeared from the "Displays" menu in System PReferences.
So did the refresh rate option...
What do I do?
I really need to change the refresh rate and the resolution, but the refresh rate button is grey and unclickable, and the resolution simply isn't there (I need 1280x1024).
REsetting PRAM and SMC didn't help.

After a couple of resets everything went back to normal

New MacBook Pro and 30" display - resolution wrong

Just got new MBP with Snow Leopard. Had 30" Cinema Display connected to old mbp with dual DVI (at least, I think that's what it is - I'm not connector/adapter literate). Since there was no port for the multi-pin part of the adapter I called Apple support, who told me I needed "dual link DVI cable" - she told me it sells for about $10. The Apple store Genius told me I already had a dual link DVI cable, based on the fact that the display worked with my old mbp and that I needed a Mini DisplayPort to DVI Adapter, which cost $29. Hooked it up and 30" display came to life, but the maximum resolution available in system preferences is 1280 x 800. I really need the full resolution for work. Can anyone give me a solution or will I have to go back to the Apple store tomorrow?

Thanks. That was exactly what I needed. I'm a little disappointed with the initial tech support solution and the genius at the store. I've never been steered wrong by apple support before.

Any way to power on macbook pro with external wired keyboard without opening the lid?

i mainly use macbook pro with external display and i want to keep lid closed. is there any way i can power on/off the macbook without opening the lid, i know i can power off but powering on?
Thanks in advance

These Apple tech notes may help:
How to use your PowerBook G4, MacBook Pro or MacBook with the display closed
How to use your PowerBook G4, MacBook or MacBook Pro with the display closed and a Bluetooth keyboard or mouse
Just a final question about Sleep mode - does this have any negative effects on the life or performance of the laptop? I'm so used to Shutting down the laptop each day that I worry about Sleep mode having some sort of drain on the components or something.
There are only two practical differences between Sleep and Shut Down:
1. Sleep will wake instantly, so you don't have to wait for startup.
2. Sleep will drain a new, fully charged battery after several days without being woken or plugged in. If you shut down, the battery charge lasts much longer. Obviously, if you only sleep it overnight, you'll still have plenty of battery left in the morning.
Don't sleep it more frequently than necessary, though. Frequently turning the backlight and hard drive off and on can shorten their life. Just do what's reasonable. I usually leave mine awake until I have to transport it in a bag, along with sleeping it overnight. On battery, I'll sleep it more often to preserve battery.

Why 15' Macbook Pro with Retina Display Shows 4K Resolution?

I discover a very interesting problem when taking a screen capture in 15 inch Macbook Pro with Retina display under different screen resolution settings.
Please see the image below first.
Info on the Left : Screen captured in "Default" setting, which is the best retina setting, everything is huge and very Sharpe.
Info on the Right: Screen captured under the "More Space" setting, which everything looks small and give more space.
The problem is the screen captured file pixel resolution in each screen resolution settings:
The "Default" screen setting showing the correct pixels at 2880 by 1800 which is perfect.
The "More Space" setting is showing 3480 by 2400, at 4K resolution.
My question is:
Why is that when the display is under "More space" setting result with more pixels?
Can anyone help me to explain this with this please?

I'm not sure what is to explain. "More space" works by pretending that there are more pixels available on the screen than the physical screen has, so it's not too surprising that a screen shot should have more pixels.

Macbook Pro 13 inch & External Display - resolution problem

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for