Setting up 2 External Displays

Hello.
I have 2 24 inch external displays both with DVi connections. I have an early MacBook Pro from August 2007. There's only one DVi output on the MacBook.
What do I need to allow me to use these external displays with the MacBook Pro. I would like the setup to be the MacBook Pro in the middle of the 2 monitors.
Is there a tutorial? What extra hardware will I need to buy?
Is it even possible?

In order to add a 2nd ext. display you'll need something like this: http://nexus404.com/Blog/2008/06/04/kensington-usb-dual-monitor-adapter-dvi-usb- monitor-adapter-up-to-six-screens-on-offer-via-usb-connections/
I'm using that mentioned Kensington adapter myself - works just fine.

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Using my Macbook with an external display

I would like to buy this 23" LED display:
http://www.overstock.com/Electronics/LG-E2360V-PN-23-inch-1080p-LED-Monitor-Refu rbished/5610316/product.html?TID=CartLayer
I currently have a Macbook 13" aluminum unibody with the Mini Display Port. I'm not sure what cable connector and adaptor I would need to use this monitor to its best potential. HDMI? DVI? DVI-D? VGA?? I have never set up an external display before.
I would also like to be able to use the wireless keyboard and magic mouse. I would like my Macbook to act as the brains and have it closed sitting under my desk connected to my display and wirelessly use my keyboard and mouse over bluetooth. Is this type of set up possible?

HDMI and DVI will give you the best picture. Here's the various types of Mini DisplayPort adapters on Amazon.com http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=min i-dvi&x=9&y=13#/ref=nb_sb_ss_sc_2_16?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=mini+ displayport&sprefix=mini+displayport&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Amini+displayport
Yes you can use it in clamshell mode http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3131
After you get your MacBook connected to the monitor and both screens working in System Preferences>Display there should be an Arrangement tab on the MacBook screen. Do you see two monitors side by side? One of them will have a Menu Bar at the top. Just click on the Menu Bar and drag it to the second monitor. That will make the second monitor your main screen. When you disconnect from the monitor your Menu Bar and Dock will automatically change back to the MacBook.

Screen flickers while using external display

while using my macbook pro with an external display (my sony LCD TV). the external screen (TV) flickers. it goes black for about a second then comes on. it will happen about 20 minutes into watching TV and happens more often the longer i watch. for example i just finished watching a 40 minute video podcast it happened at the halfway point then more often - about 10 minutes later then 5 minutes later - then 2 minutes... the final minutes of the show it happened about 3 times before the end.
any help? any ideas? i suspect (though i can't prove) it has to do with the setting for the external display.
thanks

Can you run memory diagnostics ? Download a pre-compiled bootable iso from http://www.memtest.org/ down the page and make a bootable CD. Boot to this CD and run RAM diagnostic for a couple of hours, maybe overnight, and see if your laptop has RAM errors.
If you have no RAM defect after the long test above, then uninstall all ATI/AMD gfx card drivers in Programs and Feature in Control Panel. Now go to Device Manager and disable your gfx card, putting a checkmark in the box Uninstall drivers for this hardware. ( Please note this operation will not harm your computer. Windows will redetect your gfx card after restart. )
Restart as required by Windows 7.
You may have to disable and then enable the gfx card in Device Manager several times until you are left with VGA drivers only. ( Computer gurus suggest using a Driver Sweeper/Driver Cleaner program. But I do the driver cleaning chore myself. You may go to C:\Windows\System32\DRIVERS folder and manually delete Atikmpag.sys, Atikmdag.sys drivers. )
Now you can re-install the ATI/AMD drivers that you have downloaded from hp suppport.
Hope this helps.

Best way to set up two thunderbolt displays and thunderbolt ethernet on a Late 2013 MBP with only 2 thunderbolt ports?

I have a late 2013 MBP with only 2 thunderbolt ports. I want to set up two external displays (both have usb ports on the back but not thunderbolt so I can't daisy-chain) but one of my thunderbolt ports is being taken up by the ethernet adapter. Is it possible to convert one of my displays to plug into my open HDMI slot? Or is it better to use the two thunderbolt ports for the two displays and switch the ethernet to the slower usb adapter?

You can use a HDMI to DVI adapter if the display resolution is not greater than 1920 x 1200.
<http://startech.com/Cables/Audio-Video/HDMI/>
or you could use wireless for your network connection.
<http://www.apple.com/airport-express/>
If you use 5GHz, it should be nearly as fast as Ethernet.

External display with MAcbook closed?

Trying to set up an external display with my macbook. Is there some way to use the Macbook closed? I want to be able to use the external monitor as my main display and don't need the built in screen. Thought this was possible. Thanks for any insights.

Yes, it is. Connect an external USB keyboard and external monitor. If you don't have the keyboard then you can use third-party software that will allow the lid to be closed without putting the computer to sleep. Try InsomniaX, for example - VersionTracker or MacUpdate.

Connecting to an external display using the setting optimised for built in screen?

i am having trouble connecting to an external display with the lid closed and the settings is optimised for built in display.
it was working nicely until yesterday when i changed the resolution.
and now i cant take it to optimised for built in display, only if the lid is opened and i want it closed.
can i know how to return it to the setting (optimised for built in display) with the lid closed?

Hello there, hasan.
The following Knowledge Base article offers some great information for troubleshooting usig and external display with your Mac:
Apple computers: Troubleshooting issues with video on internal or external displays
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1573
Thanks for reaching out to Apple Support Communities.
Cheers,
Pedro.

How do I set MacBook to an external display when the plug and play doesn't recognize it? I am trying to set my Samsung 530 LCD as a monitor but HDMI and VGA cords (and the adaptor for them) doesn't seem to work.

I have tried everything I can find on line but they all claim that the plug and play works, and they don't for me. I tried the mini dvi to HDMI and a HDMI cord and that was not recognized no matter which unit I rebooted first. I found someone who said that my Macbook might be too old for the HDMI technology so I returned the cords and went to the VGA cord and adaptor.
I tried this first with the HDMI setup:
http://support-us.samsung.com/cyber/popup/iframe/pop_troubleshooting_fr.jsp?idx= 167919&modelname=LN40C650L1F&modelcode=&session_id=NDhJrD0DQT0Z8KRsm62yhxJxqnyPy SKhlhpB8vQ6h9Q7R2BZJGzj!-1089109758!1761676444!7501!-1!434477884!1761676348!7501 !-1!1292098185857
Then I tried this with the VGA setup:
http://support-us.samsung.com/cyber/popup/iframe/pop_troubleshooting_fr.jsp?idx= 167901&modelname=LN40C650L1F&modelcode=&session_id=NDhJrD0DQT0Z8KRsm62yhxJxqnyPy SKhlhpB8vQ6h9Q7R2BZJGzj!-1089109758!1761676444!7501!-1!434477884!1761676348!7501 !-1!1292098185857
I contacted Samsung support and they said I needed to set the display settings to external display on the mac. I went to the display settings and moved the icon to my status bar. When I click on search for displays or whatever it says (I'm not at my Mac right now) it does nothing.
What am I missing?

I am using MAC OSx 10.5.8 (9L31a) as my operation system. The TV says "No signal. Check connected device's power, cable connection and source selection." Seems to me that that goes in hand with what the Samsung tech said about the Mac needing to be forces to use the external display. But how do I do that?

External display physical arrangement setting reset each time?

Hi,
When I connect my Dell 2407WFPb 24" LCD display to my 15" MacBook Pro running Vista Business SP2 under Bootcamp using the DVI adapter and I set the physical arrangement of the display using the Windows Display Setting control panel, when I disconnect and reconnect the display, the arrangement setting is reset and I have to go through the process again.
When I'm booted into Mac OS X and I unplug/plug the external display, it remembers the physical arrangement just fine.
Has anyone else had this issue, and have come across a way to resolve it?
Thank you.

Eremancer,
If it happens again, you can start System Preferences > displays > arraignment tab.
There you will see the two screens. One will have a little white bar at the top. You can drag that bar to either screen and it will become the display that has the menu and doc icons.
Cheers

Display broken - set external display as default

my powerbook g4 screen is kaput. the computer is working fine otherwise and detects the external display i plugged in, but i'm not sure how to set the external display to be the primary display without being able to see the 'system preferences' menu on the powerbook display. any ideas? thanks

Hi, woody02, and welcome to Apple Discussions. Try pressing the F7 key on your keyboard to toggle between extended-desktop mode, which I presume your Powerbook is in now, and display-mirroring mode. In mirror mode, you'll have the menu bar and desktop items on your external display, and you'll be able to set your monitor preferences from there. If this doesn't work, post back for other ideas.

Set External Display as Default?

I have a 15" Powerbook with OS X 10.4 installed. I have hooked up an external monitor to the Powerbook's external DVI output.
Is there any way I can set the external monitor to be the default (ie primary) one? I'd like to have the main menu bar, the dock, and all the desktop icons display on it, and have new applications open on that display.
Thanks,
Doug.

In the "Arrangements" pane of "Displays" System Preferences, drag the menu bar from the picture of the laptop display to the picture of the external display.

Unable to set external display as primary/main monitor on Macbook Boot Camp

I have an LG Flatron W1942TQ monitor hooked up to my Macbook right now. I am able to extend the desktop to this monitor and use it dual display style, but the Start menu remains on the Macbook display.
I want the monitor to be the primary monitor. So I go to check off "Set as Primary Monitor" in the control panel, but when I do that it suddenly reverts back to having the Macbook monitor as the only display, shutting off the LG Flatron.
Just wondering if there is a driver issue or something I am overlooking as to how to have my external display as the main monitor.

I think that works for Mac OS but in Boot Camp Windows XP OS does not have that option. I did try to drag the XP system bar at the bottom onto my external display but no luck. I am having the same issue as Jack Ryan and Philtones. I am a mild timpered guy and love my MBP but this agrivation just about has me ready to throw it.
I hooked it up at a LAN party & the display wouldn't come on at first. It finally just started working & I played several games in mirror mode. Then, I decided to correct the resolution and couldn't get mirroring back on no matter what I tryed. I also can't switch primary monitor.
Please, someone, has anyone found the solution?
Windows is a very bad 7-letter word.

Broken iMac display - nothing visible - How to set up external display?

I have a 17" Core Duo 1.83 with a cracked screen. It boots but I can't see anything thru the cracks. I can access the system in Firewire Target Disk mode, which I used to wipe the HD and reinstall Leopard.
Is there any way to boot the iMac in Display Mirroring mode, so that I can set it up to use an external display? I have a 22" Dell connected via DVI and would like to use that.
I guess the ideal would be a keyboard shortcut to use at startup. I've seen on other boards that there is such a shortcut for the Macbook: Command + F4. But it doesn't work with the iMac.
I also have the Remote Control if that could be any help.
Would voice commands be an option? If so, how would I activate and use them, given that I can't see anything on the screen? I don't remember ever activating them, so I don't know if they'd be on at the moment.
My idea is to turn the iMac around with the broken screen facing the wall, then use it with the Dell monitor. Still lots of life left in the iMac with 2GB RAM, works very well with Leopard, still quite fast.
Any help would be GREATLY appreciated. Thanks.

Okay, looking good for now!
I found a thread on Mac Forums. Link: http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/apple-desktops/184101-help-broken-imac-external -screen.html
Guy explains how he solved problem of iMac with broken screen, connected to external monitor; you need a second Mac to do this.
I quote:
-- What u need to do is drag the menu bar from the iMac with broken screen in Sys Prefs/Displays to the Ext Display - which of course is not possible. So if you were to connect the damaged iMac by firewire to another Mac with an External display - start the damaged iMac in Target mode by holding T key after powering on. Then start the Mac with Ext Display and hold Option Key and select the damaged Mac to boot off - once that is going go into Sys Prefs/Displays and drag the menu Bar onto the External Display to make it the Primary one. Then shut it all down and connect the Ext Display to the damaged iMac and with luck you will be GO. --
I cloned my Macbook 10.5.8 system to the iMac HD and made it bootable. Seemed to be working fine. I then shut down both Macs. I connected an external display to Macbook. The Macbook and iMac were still connected via Firewire. I booted the iMac and pressed T, so it booted in TDM. After about 30 seconds I booted the Macbook and pressed Alt: the Macbook's and iMac's disks were available as boot disks. I chose the iMac's disk and waited.... Seemed a long time. But finally the external monitor came to life and I had the whole thing working, more or less.
The setup was in Extended Desktop mode, with the extended desktop on my external monitor. Luckily, a bit of the top of the iMac's screen was semi-visible, and I was able to open Display Prefs. I selected Mirrored Displays at first and then was able to work on the external display (and not thru the cracks). From here, I unchecked Mirroring and selected the external display as the main one. This worked just fine. I have a 23" full HD monitor and it looked great.
I then shut down both computers, disconnected Firewire, disconnected the monitor from the Macbook and connected it to the iMac. Then I rebooted the iMac. It booted up a lot quicker, but on startup it went back to Extended Desktop, with the iMac's display as the Main one. Again, I was able to open Monitor prefs, then clicked on Gather Windows, which put the pref window on the external monitor desktop too. Again, from there, I could make the external monitor the Main one.
Question: is there any way to make the iMac boot to where the external monitor is the Main desktop all the time and by default?
If not, maybe the worst case scenario is that I have to set display prefs to Mirrored before shutting down. Then after startup I could just make the external one the main display again.
Many thanks David.
P.S. forgot to say that when I set the external monitor as the Main one in display prefs, it all worked okay, except that when I opened System Preferences, the window opened on the iMac's screen, not the external one.
Is there a setting to make all windows, in all apps, open on the Main display?
Message was edited by: moonshot61

PBG4 12" - Setting external display to something other than 4:3?

Hello,
I've been using a 12" PBG4 as a basic media center for watching movies via mini-DVI to composite out, hooked up to an old 4:3 TV. Recently I've purchased an HDTV and am still using the 12" PBG4 as a media center. Obviously, the quality of the video isn't HD (as I'm going out via composite), but honestly, it's good enough (for me anyway).
But, my one problem is, the 12" PBG4 doesn't allow me to output the video (either when mirroring the displays or when mirroring is off) at an aspect ratio other than 4:3. Thus, on the HDTV, everything is stretched. To compensate, I have manually distort the aspect ratio of the video I'm watching (through the video software) to make it look the way it's supposed to. This works great for video, but when I do anything else on the HDTV, it's stretched.
So, I'm wondering if anyone knows how I'd go about setting an external display to an aspect ration other than 4:3? In the display preferences, all available options are 4:3?
Any advice would be appreciated!
Thank

If it is stretched on the HD-TV set the HD-TV to have a 4:3 resolution. Remember widescreen aspect ratios aren't always 16:9. If you read DVD specs on their back they have varied possibilities:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Widescreen
You can always reduce the video window to fit the onscreen resolution.

How do i use an external display with my macbook pro?

How do I use an external display with a macbook pro?

Just buy the proper adapter cord, such as MiniDisplay port to HDMI for example. Plug it in and it will be automatically recognized. Use System Preferences > Displays to set options.
The display can Mirror your primary desktop or Extend the Desktop.
Regards,
Captfred

How can i drive 2 external displays with my macbook pro?

I just purchased an Macbook Pro and wanted to know if there is a solution to drive 2 external Apple
Cinema Displays simultaeously. (Set up so displays operate as 1)?

I believe the TripleHead2GO requires all three external displays to be identical. Verify this with a call to Matrox. There is also a maximum resolution limit for the three displays together, which you'll want to be sure is acceptable to you and will look OK on your monitors. Ideally, the maximum resolution the TH2Go supports for each display will be the maximum resolution each display is capable of when used alone, because the displays will be sharpest at their maximum resolutions. If used at any lower resolution setting, they will be noticeably blurry.
I'm not aware of any other three-display options for the Mac that enable the monitors to operate with normal responsiveness (USB video adapters are slow). Yes, the TH2Go is expensive, and that's probably because it's the only game in town.

Setting up 2 External Displays

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