Need Help; Running External Monitor at Native Res with m15x

I bought a 24 inch monitor to use as my primary display instead of the m15x's internal display, this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236048

The monitor is hooked up straight from the hdmi output on the laptop to the hdmi input in the monitor. The display is so nice and big, but i'm having trouble running the monitor at native res, and i think it might have to do with the fact that it is a 16:9 aspect ratio monitor as opposed to the internal monitor of the m15x with is 16:10.

When i try running the monitor at native res (1920*1080), i get these black bars around the screen area, about an inch thick all the way around (due to the 16:9 aspect ratio??): see attached image.

I can only get rid of these black bars by choosing a 16:10 res, for example 1680*1050, and i cant seem to get it to run at full hd, and that includes games; when i try to play CSS at 1980*1080, i get the same black bars. Is there some way to fix this? I thought that maybe completely disabling the internal laptop monitor could work but from what i've read so far, this isnt quite possible on a laptop.

Help would be much appreciated.

btw, sorry about the crap picture quality; iphone

 

are you running the 2 screens mirrored or extended desktop.....

 

It is possible to turn off the laptop monitor while running an external monitor. It's in the graphic control panel options (right click on desktop--chose "Nvidia Control Panel" and then you'll see the options for monitors). Chose single display--external monitor and you should get the proper resolutions for your display. Or chose extended desktop and you can run both at different resolutions.

It's easier to adjust from the Nvidia control panel than from the Windows desktop settings.

 

I am currently running on 'single display' in the nvidia control panel with the asus external monitor, but it still displays the black bars around the image as in the picture in my first post when i switch the res from 1680*1050 to native res; 1920*1080. In the 'set up multiple displays' menu, i have the laptop screen unchecked, and only the external monitor checked and marked with '1'.

 

EDIT:
I just tried hooking up the external monitor to my old crappy desktop and it ran native res perfectly on the desktop as well as in games, so im thinking it has somthing to do with the conflicting aspect ratios on the laptop (16:9 vs 16:10).. any ideas?

Also, could it be a driver issue?

 

The problem is not driver or aspect ratio, the problem is that your laptop and tv have different resolutions.....

Run it as dual display and set the tv to 1920x1080 and the laptop to 1920x1200 that is the only way that both screens will be filled. Note that the image of your desktop background will not fill/fit both screens the same, that is normal, it has to choose one of the 2 to conform too.

 

Are you running in powersaver mode?

 

I have the standard m15x display, so native(max) res is 1440*900.
Even so, when i run a dual display setup, and the external monitor is set to 1920*1080 and the laptop monitor is set to 1400*900, i still get the black bars around the edges of the screen on the external monitor..

EDIT:
I'm running in 'high performance' mode

 

the black bars are there because the desktop background size is determined by the primary screen, in this case, the 1440x900 laptop screen. The bars are there but you can use the full screen size if you have the resolution at 1920x1080. There is no way to make the bars go away, unless you set the TV as your primary screen (if the driver will let you)