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Blurry External Display with MacBook Pro

Philip Howard

Philip Howard

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 20, 2008
17
0
Hello, I'm using an external display with my MacBook Pro, using the DVI/VGA adapter.

My problem is that the display is a little bit blurry. It's not awful, but for example the display of the MBP itself is very crisp and clear so that's what I'm judging it against. Looking at text on the external monitor, some of the letters are reasonably clear, some are a little bit out of focus, and occasionally there is a fairly clear line like on the vertical of a t or an l. I'm sure there is a pattern to this but I couldn't tell you what exactly.

I'm using a Samsung Syncmaster 940NW widescreen display (the cheapest one I could find!) I have the MBP closed and I'm using Bluetooth kbd and mouse.

I've noticed that none of the resolutions available on the external display match the resolutions available on the MBP. The default res of the MBP is 1440 x 900 - I can get close (1344 x 1008, 60 Hz) to this but it seems none of the options on the display is the same as the ones available on the MBP's own display. Is this the reason for the blurriness?

I can still do work even with it looking this way, but I wondered if there's anything I can do to improve it.

Thanks for your help!
 
I think I know

Philip Howard said:
Hello, I'm using an external display with my MacBook Pro, using the DVI/VGA adapter.

My problem is that the display is a little bit blurry. It's not awful, but for example the display of the MBP itself is very crisp and clear so that's what I'm judging it against. Looking at text on the external monitor, some of the letters are reasonably clear, some are a little bit out of focus, and occasionally there is a fairly clear line like on the vertical of a t or an l. I'm sure there is a pattern to this but I couldn't tell you what exactly.

I'm using a Samsung Syncmaster 940NW widescreen display (the cheapest one I could find!) I have the MBP closed and I'm using Bluetooth kbd and mouse.

I've noticed that none of the resolutions available on the external display match the resolutions available on the MBP. The default res of the MBP is 1440 x 900 - I can get close (1344 x 1008, 60 Hz) to this but it seems none of the options on the display is the same as the ones available on the MBP's own display. Is this the reason for the blurriness?

I can still do work even with it looking this way, but I wondered if there's anything I can do to improve it.

Thanks for your help!
Click to expand...

Hello,

Make sure you set your external display to the highest it will go. Even if you have the resolution set, then switch to the external monitor I'm pretty sure it changes again so you'll need to change it once you actually start displaying on the external monitor. I looked up your monitor and it looks like it supports 1440x900, and if possible this is what it should be set at. Yeah, since it's set at a lower resolution that's why it's blurry also. Once you set it to 1440x900 it won't be blurry anymore.
 
eidorian - what do I need to use DVI? I used the VGA adapter because of the connector being the wrong shape for the hole in the MB:) Thanks for your help and sorry about my basic knowledge!

cg165 - I tried that but I get a flashing box telling me it's not a suitable resolution. I had a look through the list but there's no 1440 x 900, sorry!
 
It looks like you're stuck using VGA on the Samsung Syncmaster 940NW. It's a budget monitor that didn't come with DVI input.
 
Oh I see, that's because of Mr. Budget here. On my next upgrade I'll move on to a better one (or better ones).

Thanks for your help, it's very much appreciated.
 
Have you tried upping the refresh rate? 60hz is pitiful if its set to that.
Get it to 75hz minimum. See if that helps anything. Your not using the highest quality monitor, and when I plug my MBP into one of my monitors it does what your describing. Kicking the refresh rate up to 75hz makes it more readable. If I move to a much better CRT monitor, at 75hz, its really nice.
 
OP, did you try pressing the auto button on the monitor? This will make the monitor adjust the scaling and placement of the image on the screen. This way the pixels in the image will be lined up with the screen pixels. It can look quite blurry if they aren't lined up. In particular text will appear broken if not lined up.

You could also try a different VGA cable. The ones that come with Samsung monitors are OK, but there are better quality ones out there. Good ones will be much thicker (about 0.5") and have large ferrite beads at both ends.

Anyway, try the auto button first. It also goes without saying that you should always use the native resolution.
 
Well, you know, I've tried most of these but it only gets to a sort of optimum that's not so great...

I must have a look at my PC - I use another Samsung with that that's always looked fine. I'll have a check.

Anyway at least my work looks bigger, if not so sharp. It's something!

I tried 75 Hz but I don't think it likes it...
 
As the time goes, Mac OS blurry crap stays

I have the save problem with Mac OS (MB Pro 13" late 2009) and Samsung SyncMaster 971P.

When the display is working with Windows or Ubuntu Linux, the picture is crystal sharp although VGA cable is used (it actually does not matter if I use DVI or VGA).

Whenever I connect my MB Pro, the picture is blurred.

In technical terms the problem is in the way Mac OS defines subpixel smoothing color sequence. It seems to use RGB sequence only, although BGR and GBR are also very useful options available under other OS's.

In hopeless search of a solution I've browsed through a fair hundred of discussions similar to the one above. They date from 2004 to the present day. There is still no appropriate answer.

The only thing I wonder about is why on earth the operating system pretending to be the most advanced in terms of graphics still lacks a simple setting.
 
russmac said:
I have the save problem with Mac OS (MB Pro 13" late 2009) and Samsung SyncMaster 971P.

When the display is working with Windows or Ubuntu Linux, the picture is crystal sharp although VGA cable is used (it actually does not matter if I use DVI or VGA).

Whenever I connect my MB Pro, the picture is blurred.

In technical terms the problem is in the way Mac OS defines subpixel smoothing color sequence. It seems to use RGB sequence only, although BGR and GBR are also very useful options available under other OS's.

In hopeless search of a solution I've browsed through a fair hundred of discussions similar to the one above. They date from 2004 to the present day. There is still no appropriate answer.

The only thing I wonder about is why on earth the operating system pretending to be the most advanced in terms of graphics still lacks a simple setting.
Click to expand...

I see that this post is over a year old. Has anybody figured out the solution yet? I'm trying to connect my new 13" MBP to an external Acer AL2017. It looks horrible as an extended desktop (blurry text, lack of sharpness to images), yet when I connect my Windows 7 box it looks great.
 
djp2 said:
I see that this post is over a year old. Has anybody figured out the solution yet? I'm trying to connect my new 13" MBP to an external Acer AL2017. It looks horrible as an extended desktop (blurry text, lack of sharpness to images), yet when I connect my Windows 7 box it looks great.
Click to expand...

It has to do with OSX incorrectly detecting some (most?) non-Apple LCDs as CRTs and adjusting ClearType accordingly. Do a Google search for something like "OSX ClearType external monitor fix" and there's a command you input into terminal to fix it (basically forces ClearType on).
 
Blurry HP Monitor

Hello, I'm using a MacBook Pro running OS X 10.6.8 connected to an HP 2035 external monitor. I'm experiencing a similar blurry monitor problem, although I don't think this is a problem with font smoothing, because even the background image looks blurry. The screen is set at the native resolution, (1600 x 1200, with 60 Hz refresh rate). I tried the command line fix to set the font smoothing, but that didn't help. When I hit the auto adjust button on the monitor, it briefly comes into sharp focus, then goes back out of focus again. Any ideas on how to fix this?

Thanks!
 
I know this is an old thread but I have the same problem, and I can't find any solution.
I connected a LG 22m35-B LDC monitor with a VGA cable and a VGA to miniDisplayport to a macbook air, the image is blurry. The same monitor connected with via to a pc, the image is sharp.
Since 2011, nobody found any help with this issue ?

Thanks anyway !
 
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