Connecting Macbook Pro 15" to Dell 2407FPW 24"

Hi,

I'm going to order my 15" 2.4 MBP tomorrow. I'd like to be able to occasionally use it with my Dell 2407FPW 24" (TCO99) Ultrasharp (DVI-D) monitor.

Can anyone recommend which adaptor I need - is the DVI the best option, or the VGA?

My Dell monitor runs at 1920 x 1200 pixels - would I be able to get the same resolution via the MBP, and is the quality good?

Thanks

 

DVI is better than VGA by far. Although you might also want to consider HDMI, but there have been reported issues with the mini Displayport to HDMI adaptor.

You will be able to get 1920x1200, unless you set the display mode of your Dell to clone that of your MBP (in which case it'll display 1440x900). The quality should be very good, after calibration.

 

Hi,

Thanks for the quick reply

Would you recommend setting the monitor to the MBP display mode? Would it improve the quality?

 

DVI would be better. for that resolution you only need the standard DVI adapter, not the dual link $100 one...

 

Unless you want everything to look blurry on your 24" Dell, no. Just use the Dell as your main display and close the lid of your MBP.

 

Thanks for the replies. Now for the scary bit...getting out my credit card!

 

Sorry if I'm asking a really silly question, but just to check - would closing the lid then switch off the Mac display? Just checking as I read a thread on another forum where someone was having problems doing this, and the Macs screen was still on after closing the lid.

 

If you want to use an extrnal screen as the main and only display, you will have to close the lid of the macbook and use a USB device to wake it from sleep. If the display is still on after closing the lid, then chances are you're running InsomniaX or some other application that's disabling the hardware switch in the macbook that will put it to sleep whenever the lid is closed.

You could of course set the display mode to extended, but a 15" MBP display will look very tiny and pointless when put besides a 24" monitor.

 

That sounds great - thanks for the info.

 

Where did you hear about problems with the miniDP to HDMI adapter? AFAIK it's not even out yet. Last I heard, monoprice was going to start selling them on march 15.

 

I've just found this, which is a bit worrying:

Apple Mini DisplayPort adapter FAIL

According to this info, the Apple Mini DisplayPort to DVI Adapter isn't going to be compatible with the lead I'll need to use to connect the adapter to the monitor.

This is confusing.

 

The adaptor is going to be DVI-D, so just make sure you get a DVI-D cable with your Dell.

 

you dont really want to close the lid of your Macbook Pro just to use an external monitor... mainly it cools much easier if the screen is still up, plus then you can use dual screens. If you really want to just not use the other screen, i just turn the backlight off on it, but leave it up just for the cooling reasons. You can still make the external monitor your primary monitor in Display preferences just like you can switch any monitor to be main (drag the white top bar on the screen picture in display preferences)

 

Just checked the back of the monitor and it's DVI-D as well, so I'll just need a cable from the adaptor to the monitor. Hopefully that should give me with decent quality. The cable Dell provided was the same as the one in the photo on the page I linked to, which is what threw me a bit!

Now I've sorted that out I'll be ordering the MBP first thing in the morning.

Thanks for your help again.

 

I'll give that a try when I get it

 

Do you have a link where I can buy one - or could you recommend a cable for this?

I'm searching around Amazon but the DVI-D cable options seem to be mixed up with all sorts of different versions and I don't want to buy the wrong one.

Thanks

[edit] - just found this cable - would this work with the Apple adapter and Dell screen?

 

Chances are the screen will come supplied with the cable. And yeah, that cable on amazon should work.

 

Thanks for the reply, I'll get one of those.

The monitor came with an older style cable, as pictured in the site I linked to above. That's why I was panicking about compatibility. Looks like Dell supplied me with the wrong cable.

Are people still having issues with connecting to external monitors? I've read quite a bit on the Apple forum about 'snow' and flickering screens. Do you think my proposed set up would suffer from this?

Just phoned Apple and it's going to take ten days for delivery.

 

I've had no problems connecting my Mac to both my 20" LG and 24" Benq.

 

Are you using the new 15" MBP unibody?

It's just something I read on the Apple forums. I guess I'll soon find out anyway as I'm just waiting for the sales guy to call me back and take my order

 

hmmm my Dell LCD monitor is a few years old... but the cable it came with hooks up and works fine with my mini-DP to DVI adapter...

 

Maybe they supplied me with the wrong one. No worries, I'll buy a new DVI-D one.

Ordered my Macbook Pro today - I thought for one moment they were refreshing the specs as the UK store was down, but looks like it was for the iPod Shuffle.

I'm really looking forward to using a Mac again, after ten years of PC's.

The reasons I've gone back to Apple are the quality of the MBP and the fact that Leopard is better (in my opinion) than Vista.