Non apple external displays

i just got an external VGA monitor and I hooked it up to my Mac book pro using the DVI/VGA adapter. The desktop background shows up on the monitor, but I can't move my pointer over to the other monitor. Does anyone know how I can use both the external monitor and my MBPs monitor at the same time as one big desktop?

because my laptop screen is so much smaller then my 23" screen, to move accross to my laptop for example i have to move my mouse from the center left of the screen to get it to cross over, if i do it in the top left or top right corner it just stays on the screen.

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Is there a way to use a non-apple external display (monitor) without having my macbook air plugged in?

Just got a 27'' AOC monitor that I'm using with my Macbook Air (purchased in 2013). It's working great but as soon as I unplug the power adapter from my laptop the monitor goes black and says 'no signal'. I've been reading online that you need to have the power adapter plugged in to use an external monitor - my questions are: 1) does that harm the laptop's batter? if so, 2) is there a workaround? if there is no workaround, 3) does an Apple monitor also require that a laptop be plugged in for the external display to continue functioning while the laptop is in clamshell mode (closed lid)?
Thanks in advance for any advice

Thanks, Matt. In my case, the monitor definitely shuts off when I unplug the power from my laptop in clamshell mode. If the lid is open, however, the monitor continues to function even without the power adapter plugged into my laptop. Ideally, I'd like to have the lid closed on my laptop and be able to use the external monitor without having the power plugged into my laptop. That's what doesn't seem to work - if your does, please let me know if you have any pointers.
Thanks again!

Can airport extreme backup to non-Apple external hard drive?

Can airport extreme backup to non-Apple external hard drive?

Apple does not make external HDDs so you will most likely be using a non-Apple drive for backups.
However, I want to understand your question. Are you asking can you connect an external HDD to an AirPort Extreme for Time Machine backups? If so, Apple does NOT support this feature and I would recommend against it.

Font rendering issue / Mountain Lion / non Apple LCD display

Hello
This font rendering issue or problem is probably well know by Apple crew too but nobody has solved it yet. Only poor solution are available such as try to adjust manually font rendering by writin some scripts concerning anti alias levels...they really dont solve the problem.
Could Apple bring us solution to this by developing or updating Mountain Lion?
So what is the problem: font rendering is very poor in Mountain Lion when using non Apple LCD. For example Fujitsu SL27T-1 LED (LCD displa) shows fonts very nice way in Windows but in Mac OS ML does not. Somebody told me that its about software vs. hardware rendering. Dont know about that but could you bring me the solution which is not advising me to buy Apple display (which is five times more expensive than other manufactures displays).
Br
M. Leino

just want to add that overall fonts look blurry and they are not very sharp.

Scaling fonts on non-retina external display?

Hi,
I am using an external display Asus PB278Q on my MBP Retina 15" Late 2013, at resolution 2560x1440 on Yosemite. So far so good.
Unfortunately font and icon sizes are really small in this resolution, so I would like to scale them up to increase readability. However the resolution should stay as is. For retina displays, you can scale fonts nicely under system settings -> displays -> Scale (see here for screenshot: http://cdn-static.zdnet.com/i/story/70/00/007009/rmbp13-displays-system-preferen ce.png). For my non-retina display this option is not available it seems.
Is there any way to still scale fonts consistently on this external display to increase readability?
Thanks!

I've been having this same issue for a few months now, and even after the latest EFI update. BUT... This morning is the first time my Macbook Pro awaked from a long nap displaying the correct resolution and properties.
What did I do?
When waking from sleep yesterday, the macbook again was in the wrong resolution. I went to display properties and clicked the arrangement tab. I moved the menu bar to my Macbook display and turned off mirroring. (I do use an external display at times so my menu bar was moved to the alternate display when connected).
This morning after over 20 hours sleeping the macbook woke up fresh with all its beauty sleep in tact. This is only one long sleep so its no real fix just yet, but may be a clue where this bug lies.

Non-thunderbolt external displays on rMBP

If I buy a couple 27-inch displays elsewhere, instead of from Apple, could I use them on the rMBP? Or does it only work with the Apple Thunderbolt displays? Do external displays (of any brand) need to go through Thunderbolt or can they use USB 3.0?
Just curious, I only have background in using external displays with Windows. Not sure how the plug&play works on OSX.

You can use other external monitors with the MBPr but you will need an adapter for the thunderbolt port to say VGA or DVI. Or you can use the built-in HDMI port.

Can I connect two non-TB external displays to a new MBP?

Looking to pick up a new MBP and I would like to connect two non-Thunderbolt monitors, they are nice but WAY too expensive, and I'm wondering if this is possible. I know I can use Matrox Head2Go line of products, but I would like to avoid shelling out another 2-300 on other hardware if I can avoid it.
So any other ways to drive two monitors? I'm surprised there is no Thunderbolt -> DVI adapter or something. Heck maybe there is, but I haven't seen it yet.
Thanks

here is the adapter your were looking for http://store.apple.com/us/product/MB570Z/A
you'll also need to consider getting something that supports usb to dvi which will make your third monitor connnected via a usb port. This uses DisplayLink Drivers which let you connect a monitor via usb. Warning, it does not have full support for Lion yet.
I'm using the arkview usb display adapter. there are other on the market, they all use DisplayLink. And since I'm on Lion I'm waiting for DisplayLink to fix their drivers to work on it (it's been a struggle).
If you're on Snow Leopard it will do you well to stay on it. .
you could get on Thunderbolt display and then connect a monitor to that with the dongle I showed you. Then you will have no issues with Lion and your three displays.
Thunderbolt tech is new and new adapters will be coming out for it, especially something that handles mutliple screens. but you'll have to wait for this technology to be made.

I'm not able to save any files on an none apple external hard drive, what can i do to make it work?

I bought a omega 320GB external hard drive so a friend could save the files off an old windows laptop i had but now when i try and open the files on my mac, it doesn't let me. i'm also not able to save any file on to this hard drive either! can some one please help me?

The drive has the NTFS format, which the Mac OS can read but can't write to. Copy the files from the external drive onto your Mac, then reformat the external drive using Disk Utility, creating a Mac OS Extended volume and using the GUID partition scheme. Then you'll be able to write to the drive. Note that reformatting erases everything from the drive, so don't do it until after you've saved the drive's contents to other media.

Non Apple external DVD R/W drive (USB)

Is there any way I can get a Toshiba (TS-L632) DVD R/W external usb drive to work under OS 10.4? I've tried PatchBurn, but the drive isn't seen so that's no good. The drive does work (I've tested it on a PC).

Hi,
I think Patchburn was your best bet.
Depending what you want it for, VLC may work to Play Movies, Toast Titanium or Dragon Burn should work for Burning.

Airport Express and non-Apple external hard drive

Can i attach my external hard drive to my recently purchased airport express via usb

The AirPort Express will only support a compatible printer at the USB port. A hard drive connected to this port will not work.

Using an external non-Apple display on a MacBook Pro with Mountain Lion

On Friday I upgraded to Mountain Lion from Snow Leopard and now I am not able to use my 23" Samsung monitor exclusively as my display. I can mirror the MacBook Pro's display, but then my HD monitor's resolution is downgraded.
I used to start-up my MacBook Pro pushing the "On" button and then quickly closing the notebook. When it has started and the display was shown on my Samsung monitor, I opened the MacBook and all would be well. I had the benefit of the full HD resolution of my Samsung monitor, with all the menus and the MacBook's screen would be blank. If I follow the same steps now, the moment I open my MacBook, everything shifts back to the MacBook and the external screen only shows the background picture, with no menus.
I am a photographer and use the large HD-quality screen to see fine detail when I am doing editing. I do not like to work on two screens at the same time, and would prefer it to just keep on working in the same way as previuosly.
Can someone please give me advice on my problem?

This may help but then it may not. I tested it with my iMac and non-Apple second display so results may vary.
With both the MacBook and the second display powered on go to the Apple Menu > System Preferences > Displays > Arrangement
Drag the Menu Bar to the second display and then drag the display itself to the other side of the second display. This should allow acces to the dock and Menubar on the non-Apple display and achive your desired results.
Note: If I sleep my iMac the second display stops so you may need to keep your MacBook open to use these settings
Hope that helps

Apple Mini Display Port NOT working at resolutions over 1600X1200!

Problem:
Apple Mini Display Port does NOT work at resolutions over 1600X1200 on NON Apple Cinema Displays.
That means if you own any other brand of monitor such as NEC, Lacie, etc. you will NOT get native resolution on your 24 inch monitor as it is stuck at a maximum resolution of 1600X1200.
This story was mentioned on "Macbreak Weekly" show 4-14-2009. I have since checked with a few people and it would indeed seem to be true at this point.
I REALLY hope a solution from Apple comes soon and this is not some new policy of theirs. If so, it may be the last Mac Pro I will or can ever own. The reason is I do a lot of 3D work with C4D, Vue, Modo and Photoshop CS4 so I MUST have a monitor like the high-end ones from Lacie that have 100% color gamut and Adobe RGB. I can NOT be tied down to an Apple Cinema display due to that work. At this time, it seems this means I would only get 1600X1200 resolution on that 24 inch monitor.
Has anyone else confirmed this too and if so what the heck is Apple thinking or better still going to do about it? I LOVE my Mac Pro but if they start forcing displays on us then I won't be buying another Mac, it's just that simple.

Thanks, but I think two things may be different in that setup.
1. If I understood correctly, it's a first gen without a "Mini Display Port" and
2. It was a laptop not a Mac Pro with a video card.
I think it has specifically to do with either one or both of the above combos. In particular I think it's the video card they are putting in them.
I am not sure if a new 2009 Apple laptop with a Mini Display Port connected to a NON Apple display would have an issue or work like yours does now. It would be interesting to get to the bottom of this for sure because it REALLY hurts people like myself that are into 3D design.
I will try to get back on this once I continue to find out more details.

External Displays & Kernal Panics

Last year I twice had to get my logic board replaced after two slightly different "events."
The first panic started with the green and purple pixeled screen and then suddenly was caught in a "panic loop."
The second happened suddenly. The screen simply would start up, though the computer seemed to be running.
I often use a 20" Apple Cinema Screen as an additional monitor and now I'm paranoid about connecting it up again, fearing that this may be my cause of kernel panics. This is not good though, cause I need that screen to be productive.
Am I just paranoid or could this be causing problems?

As the display acts as a hub, its USB or Firewire ports may be damaged and thus causing a kernel panic, or one of the peripherals you have attached through it doesn't have the appropriate drivers. If you used the Migration Assistant to migrate from a PowerPC Mac, some of the PowerPC drivers could have migrated over, and thus causing a kernel panic, as many drivers have to be rewritten for Intel compatibility. If not, try to isolate the problem down to the hardware test that came with the computer, possibly swapping RAM for higher quality RAM as my FAQ* explains:
http://www.macmaps.com/badram.html
And if neither of those fixes it, backup your data*:
http://www.macmaps.com/backup.html
And check to make sure the directory is OK*:
http://www.macmaps.com/directoryfaq.html
And if that doesn't help, then erase and install the operating system.
If nothing but an Apple external display is hooked up, to the computer, and an erase and installed operating system is there, you can expect the display itself to be in need of repair, if that's the only thing that causes a kernel panic.
- * Links to my pages may give me compensation.
Message was edited by: a brody

How disable external display

How can i disable my external display on my Imac? I use the second output for my ntsc TV, but sometimes i dont use it. If its connected, sometime apps put windows on the second display and its annoying. How can I s/w disable the external display?

Joe,
The Mac "remembers" where windows are, and usually will not move them back if you disconnect your external display.
Generally what I do if I launch and app and can't see its window (because its on the non-existent external display) is click the "Window" menu, then click "Zoom". This usually brings it back to the main display.

Plugging Macbook Pro i7 into external displays looks like crap.

I have a rather confusing problem with my Macbook Pro. I went out and bought a Samsung 27" display. I am running a generic no-name adapter from the mini port to a HDMI plug into the display. The quality was AWFUL- as in basically unusable. I returned the monitor and came back a few weeks later with the laptop to the store. I spent about an hour plugging the laptop into various monitors throughout the store. Almost all of the monitors- including smaller 24" monitors- looked like crud also except for the upper end models from HP and of course- the $1,000 model from Apple. I wound up buying a 27" HP 2710m monitor. It looked "ok" in the store. I work as a graphic designer so I'm very picky about details. Upon opening a Photoshop doc I could see that things like gradients, shadows, and text all looked funky and wrong. Thus again- the monitor I bought looks like #$@!.
What's weird is that if I take a look at the display settings when its not plugged into a monitor there is a huge amount to choose from. When its plugged into any monitor I've tried- except of course the super expensive Apple display- about half of those setting become unavailble and I'm basically stuck with using what appears to be TV settings ( 1080P) and so on.
I tested the new monitor on a Mac Tower and it seems to do fine. But then again- it looks like crud with the Laptop. The Mac tower uses non-apple 24" displays and they look great. I even plugged the laptop into one of these 24" displays currently used for the tower and again- SAME thing!
So basically I've got a $2,000 laptop that appears to ONLY work with an Apple monitor. Is there something stupid I'm simply not getting here or what? I realize those apple displays are a much higher pixel density, but still- the generic 24" displays work with the Mac tower but NOT with the laptop.

Welcome to Apple Discussions!
If you have an i7, it can't be running 10.5.4 reliably. At minimum it can run 10.6.3. So that might be part of the problem if you managed to to load an older operating system on the Mac than the Mac itself can handle. Your My Settings or posted OS link has 10.5.4, even though you are using an i7. If you meant to select 10.6.4, pardon me.
Generic adapters are usually not as reliable as quality adapters, but also if you have 1080p display, I recommend checking your progressive setting under Apple menu -> System Preferences -> Displays Options.
I'm assuming you tried the same cables on the desktop as the notebook. If you don't have a mini-Displayport connection on the desktop to test with, you can't rule out the cables.
http://www.macsales.com/ offers several adapters you can use with your notebook for HDMI. You might want to check with them, or find a non-generic adapter.

Non apple external displays

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