24" LCD display questions

Discussion in 'Mac Accessories' started by OneCosmicGuy, Nov 24, 2007.

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  1. OneCosmicGuy, Nov 24, 2007

    OneCosmicGuy macrumors newbie

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    Nov 24, 2007
    #1
    Hello all!

    I just bought a Samsung SyncMaster 245BW 24" Widescreen LCD. From all the reviews I've read, including some from Mac users, it should be a great display for everyone except photo editing/desktop publishing gurus.

    When I plug it in to my Dual 533 mhz G4 with OS 10.3.9, the fonts look like crap (blurry, distorted and hard to read) and I occasionally have staticy vertical lines, not on the whole screen, but on certain elements like the edge of a menu, a vertical scroll bar, or the vertical parts of letters such as the letter "h". The native resolution for this monitor is 1920x1200 @ 60hz. I have it running at 1920x1200 but at 76 hz as 60 is not listed as a choice on my computer. I have been all over the web looking for others that might be having the same issue and how to fix it but I'm coming up empty.

    So far:
    I did read one website that mentioned something about setting the refresh too high might be causing the staticy issues but how do I tell my mac to only use 60 hz?

    I have read many reviews from mac users running this same monitor at 1920x1200 and rave about the crisp clear clean their text looks. So why is mine distorted, fuzzy and hard to read? Sometimes it almost looks like the text is squished or scaled in some way.

    Additionally, I do have a PC that I hooked it up too. On that machine, I can't get the monitor to go into 1920x1200. I can get my graphics card to create a 1920x1200 desktop but then I have to pan left and right to see either side. It's almost like the monitor is on a different resolution then my graphic card. The graphics card is an ATI Radeon x700 with the latest drivers (as of yesterday - LOL)

    **UPDATE**
    Okay, so now when plugged into the Mac, I have lots and lots and lots of continuous HORIZONTAL static lines to go along with the occasional vertical ones. On the PC, the monitor works great under a 1440x900 resolution (same ratio as 1920x1200). No Static and text looks normal. However, 1440x900 is not a choice on my Mac. I have searched Apple's discussions as well as the web thinking surely I am not the first to need to do this but came up empty (or with results that didn't help). I'm frustrated enough to contemplate returning it. :-(
    **End Update**

    So, do I have a defective monitor or am I just a LCD idiot? LOL Generally speaking I'm pretty proficient on both systems although I'm not as proficient on OSX as I was on OS8.

    Thank you in advance for any ideas, tips, suggestions, hints, or sympathy - haha!

    Adam
     
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  2. think-geek, Mar 4, 2008

    think-geek macrumors newbie

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    Mar 4, 2008
    #2
    1920x1200 @ 60 Hz

    You are not the only to experience this issue as I have just upgraded my 19" standard ratio monitor to a 24" wide screen and I am coming up with the same problem. I purchased a Sceptre x24, which has a native resolution of 1920x1200 @ 60Hz. It will NOT work at any resolution with a refresh rate greater than 60Hz. I know the monitor is not the problem as I have it hooked up through a KVM switch with a multi-booting desktop and it is displaying at 1920x1200 @ 60Hz on every installed OS (Fedora 8, Fedora 7, and XP). So it appears that the problem lies with the mac.

    Sadly, I have not yet found a fix for this yet either. From some other posts that I've read it seems like it should work. Are there any ways to override the GUI?

    This is extremely perplexing... any ideas would be welcome. Thanks in advance.
     
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  3. think-geek, Mar 4, 2008

    think-geek macrumors newbie

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    Mar 4, 2008
    #3
    Solution to the missing 60Hz refresh rate for 1920x1200 resolution!!!

    After looking just a little bit longer I found a solution that looked promising. I tried it out and it worked like a charm. :D

    To override the system preferences menu all you have to do is install SwitchResX. It can be found here:
    http://www.madrau.com/

    After downloading the "Control Panel only" option I expanded the zip file and then went through the options. Since 1920x1200 @ 60Hz was not an option, I went over to the Custom tab and set up the proper resolution and refresh rate. I applied the new settings and then restarted my computer. When the display came up, it was still in the incredibly stretched 1600x1200 @ 60Hz. I then opened up the display menu in the system preferences panel and the correct resolution AND refresh rate setting was now there. So I selected it and now I'm using the correct resolution of 1920x1200 at the 60Hz refresh rate that my monitor requires.

    I hope this helps anyone else how has had this problem.
     
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  4. liquidous, May 10, 2008

    liquidous macrumors newbie

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    May 10, 2008
    #4
    I downloaded the program control panel only .
    did what you said, but i can not get the monitor to switch resolutions.

    something weird happened a day ago. i came home to watch a dvd on my computer i booted up and realized i didn't have the dvi monitor cable connected, so i did so during boot up, when it booted into osx, it was full 1920x1200 @60 . it was gorgeous. i didn't know my monitor could do that.
    i was becoming happy with the resolution the laptop was displaying on the monitor, but now after seeing that nice resolution at 1920x1200 i am determined to get it back. i was starting to run out of screen realestate, moving windows all over the place, etc. that was the first time that resolution showed its face, and now i can't get it back, even with the program you suggest. i will keep trying.

    thanks
     
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  5. think-geek, May 10, 2008

    think-geek macrumors newbie

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    Mar 4, 2008
    #5
    I would like to clarify that when I wrote that I was using VGA and not DVI. A few months ago I upgraded my KVM switch to one that supports DVI. My multi-boot desktop handled it just fine. My poor G4 mac mini on the other hand didn't have enough video power to run a nice looking (stable) display at 1900x1200 using DVI. While doing some searching, I found a post (that I can't find now) which said the G4 mac mini could not support a pixel clock of more than 135MHz. Anyway, I had to dial down the resolution a bit to 1680x1050 with a pixel clock of 135MHz. It gives me a reasonable stable display.
     
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  6. liquidous, May 11, 2008

    liquidous macrumors newbie

    Joined:
    May 10, 2008
    #6
    i should say that when i turn mirroring display OFF, i get the nice 1920x1200 resolution beautiful. but it only shows another desktop. id love to be able to show the primary desktop using this resolution.

    any one else have any recommendations.
    my MBP is from late 2007.

    which reminds me, the audio plug only plays sound from one side now, meaning the mbp is poopooed.
     
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