External monitor and aspect ratio

[Mark.W]

I want to use an external monitor with my 2010 13" MBP. The MBP's screen resolution is 1280x800 (8:5 aspect ratio). Let's say I buy a monitor with a 1920X1080 resolution (16:9) aspect ratio. Does that mean that the image would be distorted on the extermnal display? Or can the graphics card simulataneously hadnle two different native resolutions?

 

[spinnerlys]

No distortion, as the GPU can handle different resolutions and aspect ratios (4:3, 16:10 and 16:9 being the common ones).

Graphics and video support

NVIDIA GeForce 320M graphics processor with 256MB of DDR3 SDRAM shared with main memory5
Dual display and video mirroring:
Simultaneously supports full native resolution on the built-in display and up to 2560 by 1600 pixels on an external display,
both at millions of colors
iSight camera
Mini DisplayPort

from http://www.apple.com/macbookpro/specs-13inch.html

 

[brucem91]

no stretching at all. If you decide to mirror the displays, the external monitor will have black all around the active screen area. If you do extended display, you can set a different resolution for each screen.

 

[Mark.W]

no stretching at all. If you decide to mirror the displays, the external monitor will have black all around the active screen area. If you do extended display, you can set a different resolution for each screen.

To be clear, I want to have a dual monitor setup. So you're saying that I can have both monitors running at their native resolutions sumultaneously?

 

[spinnerlys]

To be clear, I want to have a dual monitor setup. So you're saying that I can have both monitors running at their native resolutions sumultaneously?

Yes.

 

[Mark.W]

Thanks!