MacBook :: Just Want To Use External Monitor As Main Screen
Jul 20, 2009
I have a white MB (early 2008). I'm going to be getting an external monitor soon with a native resolution of 1920x1200 - the highest that the MB's Intel GMA X3100 will support. I know that I can open System Preferences > Display and then click the little menubar and drag it to the other monitor to make it the primary. Here is the thing: I want to just use my 24" monitor and not use the MB's screen with it (I have an external keyboard and mouse).
Should I...
1. Use the two displays as an extended desktop and then (leave the MacBook lid open) just turn the brightness on the MB all the way off so the screen is black (no back light)?
or...
2. Just close the MacBook and use it in clam shell mode? I watch Hulu and YouTube a lot which causes the CPU load to increase and fans to spin up.... do I have to worry about over heating? I would be using the 24" monitor exclusively all the time and then take the MB when I go to class. Will this just ruin my MB pre-maturely?
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Sep 15, 2007
I have a 14'' iBook and recently bought an LG 19'' Widescreen monitor. I am testing a Dell 17'' on it right now before I open the LG one, but my problem is that the same screen shows on my ibook and the external. This isn't what I want. I have read you are supposed to be able to close the laptop and then it shifts to the external display but this is not working for me.
This is my goal:
Use my bluetooth keyboard full time
Have my ibook closed at all times
Have my external as my main display
How do I make this work?
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Oct 2, 2008
We have an iMac G5 running 10.4.11 which developed some nasty colour banding down the screen and have now plugged in an external display. How can you turn off the iMac display so it only outputs through the external monitor?
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May 21, 2008
i don't know what I did, but for some reason, new windows on firefox opens on my laptop monitor (instead of my 20 inch LCD, I am running dual screens).
1. I am running dual screens, but my EXTERNAL monitor is the primary one (top menu bar is on the external monitor)
2. All applications open by default on my main monitor, except for FIREFOX.
3. I have tried dragging the firefox window back to main monitor, both in spaces view as well as normal view, to no avail.
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Sep 1, 2009
I connected a external monitor onto my macbook pro and I want to know how do I make that monitor my main one? like move everything (dock, folders, and bar on top) to my external monitor?
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Apr 23, 2009
I work on the macbook between 90min-2 hours throughout the day. At home, I hook up to a twenty-four inch monitor that I had calibrated through a Windows based system and complete my work. Now the files that I am working on are being processed through the macbook but viewed on the external monitor. I don't really care about the calibration of the macbook because the work that I am doing on it without the external monitor is really not color related i.e. removing scabs off of children, removing hair off of the face ect, but I need the final image to be accurate before it is sent off to the lab.
So, what do I need to do? Calibrate the macbook and the monitor or just the monitor and if just the monitor can anyone walk me through this? I know I could "search" but switching over from windows has been an experience and honestly, I am tired of "searching". Speaking of searching, I am still trying to figure out a way to sync my Dell x50v to the macbook, anyone? I know the x50v is old but it is the most solid piece of windows hardware I have ever owned and it still "just works".
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Dec 19, 2009
My 2006 mMcBook is dead and parted out. I still have the case and screen, but no HD, RAM, battery, or working logic board. How can I take the screen and make myself an external monitor out of it? I am presuming it's possible. I can solder a little and I love messing with parts from radio shack. So, has anyone heard of this? I tried googling it but couldn't find any search terms that brought me what I wanted.
Basically, I want to convert the video cable to DVI or even better, Display Port, and then figure out how to solder in a power source to just plug into a wall (since I'm assuming it'd be too big of a job to have it powered off of the FW800 or USB from the macbook pro). Is this possible? Since the computer is dead and gone, it won't hurt to experiment. Anyone have any links or guides to this?
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Jul 15, 2010
I am attempting to use an external DVI monitor using the mini port port and the mini port DVI adapter sold by apple. However the screen display on the external monitor does not match the Mac book display. All I get is a color Mac opening screen with no icons.apparently there is more to getting an external monitor going then just plugging it in.
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Oct 1, 2010
I just hooked up my macbook pro to an external monitor. Now, when I watch videos and what not, they will ONLY work in full screen. If I want to watch the video in a window, the sound will play but video does not. It may have something to do with Flash?
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Mar 25, 2012
I have been having some problems with my Macbook Pro. I have a new BenQ screen connected to it via the Mini Display Port to VGA adapter from Apple. No matter what I do, I cant seem to be able to change the resolution to anything higher than 1280x1024, which is a pretty stupid resolution to have on a 27'' monitor. Sometimes when I plug it in, it gives me the option to change the resolution to 1920x1080.
But when I select it, the screen goes black and displays the message "No signal detected". Now, as it happens, I have a copy of windows installed on a partition of my hdd, and the screen works flawlessly on it. full HD with 75 Hertz. So that shows that it is not a hardware problem, it has to be a software problem. I tried everything, including reinstalling OS X, and deleting the "windowserver" files. no success.
Info:
MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.8)
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May 11, 2012
I have a early 2011 MacBook Pro 13" running the latest version of Lion. I have been using my MacBook with an external monitor since I brought it in 2011 and have had no problems with connecting it to my external monitor. Connected via mini display port DVI adapter and a DVI cable to a Philips monitor.
Two days ago when I plugged the MacBook back in to the monitor I connected and but now only displays a black screen, I can move the mouse off the MacBook screen and over to the external monitor and back but it is not displayed on the monitor. I have tried connecting other devices to the monitor and they work fine.
Info:
MacBook Pro (13-inch Early 2011), Mac OS X (10.7.4)
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Jun 2, 2014
Recently I connected my macbook air (bought it in 2011, now on Version 10.9.3) with a Panasonic TV (TX-32LM70F) via Thunderbolt to HDMI adapter. After I disconnected the external device, the macbook air's screen still worked normal, but when i restarted it, it was only flickering grey. Â
I found out that it actually boots normally and i can use it with an external monitor (in fact I am using it right now), but that the built-in macbook screen simply doesn't work anymore. Â
I tried to restart while connected and while disconnected to an external screen, I have reset the SMC Controller, I have reset the PRAM Controller, but it hasn't changed. Â
This is actually the second time something like this happenend (it was another external device i connected it to), and last time, about a few weeks ago, it just worked again after a few days for no reason, all i did was wait until all energy was gone from the battery and the reload it. So might it be a battery problem? Or is it some controller i don't know? It was the same phenomenon two times: connect to external monitor - disconnect - built-in screen still works - restart - built in screen only flickers grey - macbook still boots and works fine with the very external monitor that might have caused the problem. Â
Info:
MacBook Air, OS X Mavericks (10.9.3)
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Oct 28, 2009
I have a MacBook Pro 13 for portability to my classes at the university and a Dell 2209WA as an external monitor. One of the few good IPS monitors I could find around for cheap.
The monitor works fine in mirror mode with the MacBook Pro, but as an external display only it does not work. It attempts to wake up and then you see power savings mode again and the screen goes black as if there was no connection. Not sure what exactly the problem here is. Drivers?
The monitor works great with a Mac Mini I have and it works great in mirror but not in external display mode(the lid of the MacBook Pro closed). Anybody know of this issue? The cable is good and the MacBook Pro is not that old(a few weeks).
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May 7, 2010
Well my unibody macbook display decided to screw up last night, it was working fine last night no problem. Connected to a external monitor. I fell asleep last night with front row left on, obviously it went to sleep and then I woke up and the screen was black. Now the LED lights are working, my external display is also working. The display settings recognize a screen being present (when I click detect displays and gather windows - 2 windows appear). Ive reset PRAM, SMC, reseated the RAM, control+shift+eject (which just made the screen flicker a little after turning it back on) and Im out of ideas. Its out of warranty and about about 18months old.
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May 29, 2012
my screen cracked on my MacBook and I'm unable to see anything (it's just fuzzy white) so I purchased the VGA adaptor so I can connect to an external monitor. When I plug in the screen is zoomed to close and I can not view the entire screen. I can see one application that I have open, which is iMovie but can not see the top menu or my icons at the bottom. How can I adjust the settings seeing how I can not access the menu bar or anything else for that matter. It also appears to be showing a second screen, maybe not my desktop because the background is different. I'm running on OS X Lion. Â
I'm trying to finish an end of the year slide show for my kindergartner that I need completed today, I was five minutes away from finalizing then my two year old threw his monster truck at my screen!
Info:
MacBook, Mac OS X (10.7.4)
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Nov 15, 2009
Thinking about using a 1920x1080 LCD TV as my main monitor for my MBP via a cheap HDMI adaptor. Who here has tried this? Success? Sharp image? Blurry image? Problems?
Would like to use a TV rather than computer monitor because the larger pixels when compared to a 32" computer monitor (would make text and icons about 30% larger compared to a computer monitor). Also, the TV would double as an "external monitor" via an Matrox MXO 2 Mini for use when color grading video.
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Apr 17, 2012
I am wondering if there is a way to make an external display automatically work as the main display when plugged into my MacBook Pro. I just picked up the stuff needed to be able to connect to an external display and it has a resolution of 1920 x 1080 which has a higher resolution than my MacBook Pro built in display does and I'm wondering if there is a way to just basically have the external display work as the main display when connected to the MacBook. I know you can mirror which is what I'm doing now, but the problem with this is like I said it won't let me use it at its max resolution as it is different than the MBP's resolution and doesn't look as good because of it. I am wanting to basically set it up where it will be a desktop type when I'm at home and when I'm out, it will be a portable. I don't need a dual screen setup but would love to have it work that way if possible. So far the only way I can get it to work at the max resolution of the external screen is to have a dual monitor setup where the MBP is the main and the external screen is the 2nd screen and I really don't like that setup because of the way that the screen and the MBP sit by each other.Â
Info:
MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.3)
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Jul 8, 2009
i have 2 LCD's hooked to the new Mini as such:
1 going mini display port to DVI adapter to DVI on 19" Monitor (standard monitor)
1 going mini DVI to DVI adapter to a DVI to HDMI on 52" LCD (Samsung TV)
i just sold me iMac and switched to the Mini not only to be able to hide the Mini which i couldn't do with the iMac but also when i watch a movie full screen on the 52 i was never able to turn off the iMac monitor and would have to cover it with a towel so that it was dark in the room except for the 52 showing the movie.
my thought was that with 2 monitors separately hooked up to the Mini that i could solve the turning off the second monitor problem as they would now both have power buttons. besides making it dark in the room i also like to have the monitor off and so that i can have Plex on the 52 always in full screen mode so my wife can just hit "Watch Plex" on the logitech remote and the TV and Stereo switch to the proper inputs and away she goes to watch whatever without having to touch the computer which when both monitors are on works perfectly.
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Dec 13, 2010
alright so i bought a 2TB External Hard Drive and i was wondering if we could you the hard drive as your main hard drive like the Mac system files ect...? because my current one (250GB is kind of small) compared to the 2TB
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Mar 8, 2008
I have my MBP hooked up to my TV. I was trying to get Front Row to run on my external monitor without having to move the Menu Bar over, but I quickly realized that was not going to be possible. My next idea was to play the videos straight from iTunes and just make them Full Screen. Having the videos playing over there works okay (my MBP screen is still normal), but as soon as I press Full Screen my MBP goes black. Is there any way to run full screen iTunes on my TV without losing functionality from my MBP?
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Dec 15, 2008
I'm thinking of buying a 15" NEC AccuSync Touchscreen LCD Monitor from [URL]
Who was a touch screen monitor?
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Sep 17, 2010
On my 2008 24inch iMac the screen has a problem ( dead pixels ) and I will get it replaced in the future , in the mean time I have a very nice large external monitor connected to the iMac which I use ok, what I am looking for is a way at first when booting up , to be able to see both the iMac's screen and the external monitors screen , then some how shut off / make blank the iMacs screen only leaving the external monitor on ?
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Aug 26, 2008
I have screens from 2 dead ibooks is it possible to turn then into external monitors?
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Oct 28, 2009
I have the new macbook unibody, and use it from time to time to dsiplay things to an external montior, plasma, projector, etc. Using a mini-display adapter to a converter to get s-video was a challenge, but I figured it out. I have used this many times, as I am a DJ and need s-video out to connect to most devices.I was at an event saturday night, and the display on the external device (projector) kept displaying my desktop, NOT the external feed.
It was NOT set up for mirroring, as it seems like the displays were 'switched'. I had my desktop on the projector, and my external on my macbook pro monitor. I tried to fool around with arrangement and resolution, but to no avail. I understand that sometimes you have to drag your source to the right (of left) to get it to display on the external, and this was done, but it was still reversed.I know it was something simple to get the 2 switched back to the way it should be, but I could not figure it out. Any advice? None of my apple buds can figure this out.
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Dec 4, 2009
How can I watch a movie on my external monitor in full screen and still work on my Macbook Pro? Every time I go back to work on my Macbook I lose the full screen viewing on my external monitor.
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Dec 27, 2009
I just recently (a month ago) bought my first MBP 13" unibody. When I connect it to my TV (Panasonic VIERA G10 Series TC-P46G10 46-Inch 1080p Plasma HDTV), the image is bigger than the screen, tried to switch resolutions with no success. The connection is minidisplay port to HDMI.
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Apr 8, 2010
got a real basic question to ask and you're gonna think im an idiot for asking...I just bought a 320gb western digital elements hard drive and want to reformat it so that its compatible for both mac and pc's. i intend to format it as NTFS-3G as it would allow me to use it on the 2 platforms without having the 4GB file size restriction that fat32 has, anyway.....
when I go to reformat my external hard drive in disk utility, I see my external hard drive to the left, and there's a "sub" hard drive as a child of the external hd listed uppermost. just wandering which one of the two do i select before going to Erase>Windows NT filesystem (NTFS-3G)>erase? Do I select the uppermost drive and erase that or the lower one? or both
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Jul 10, 2009
I'm looking for a external monitor that is compairable in brightness as my iMac's screen. The brand needs to be Samsung, and the look of the Samsung moniter I would prefer to look like the examples below. Why? Because I want it to match my TV. I'm also looking for a small monitor because the space I have is pretty small and I dont want to have to move my iMac and look at it at a angle. I currently have a Samsung SyncMaster 906BW with a 1440 x 900 60hz resolution and its VERY dull compared to my iMac and its at 100% brightness and 85% contrast. Here are some of the screens I'm looking at so far, would they be close to as bright as my iMac's screen?
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Apr 13, 2010
here we are with SnowLeopard 10.6.x and it still has no automatic shutting off laptop screen (Macbook Pro) when hooking up external monitor????Why do i have to close the lid, let my laptop go to sleep, wake it up, re-enter password, have my internet shut down and re-activate and all other processes just to shut down my MBP screen when hooked up to my cinema display???Hell even Windows Vista/ 7 does it automatically when i tested it via Bootcamp, requiring no closing of the lid or halting any processes or the internet.
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Aug 15, 2008
On my 2008 24inch iMac the screen has a problem ( dead pixels ) and I will get it replaced in the future , in the mean time I have a very nice large external monitor connected to the iMac which I use ok, what I am looking for is a way at first when booting up , to be able to see both the iMac's screen and the external monitors screen, then some how shut off / make blank the iMacs screen only leaving the external monitor on ?
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