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iMac (2008) with 27 inch Samsung SyncMaster

A

Alan S

macrumors member
Original poster
Mar 21, 2009
81
0
California
I just bought a 27 inch Samsung SyncMaster 850 to be a very large second screen for my iMac bought in 2008. The monitor is suppose to have a resolution of 2,560 x 1,440 and can be rotated 90 degrees. The large resolution is the reason I bought it.

The problem I'm running into is the Display Preference will not give this monitor a resolution about 1600 x 1200. This is way less than I want. I would like to know how to get the full resolution out of this screen. The iMac detects the display as SMS27A850.

BTW. The connector is DisplayPort to DVI. And the resolution of my main screen is 1680 x 1050.

What can I do to get the full resolution from this screen?

Alan
 
Macman45 said:
I think you may be limited by the graphics card in your iMac. I'm not sure what cards Apple were using in those days but others here will know.
Click to expand...

I looked and found it is:

ATI Radeon HD 2400 with 128 MB VRAM.


--- looking up the specs for this card I see the following:




Two independent display controllers
Drive two displays simultaneously with independent resolutions, refresh rates, color controls and video overlays for each display
Full 30-bit display processing
Programmable piecewise linear gamma correction, color correction, and color space conversion
Spatial/temporal dithering provides 30-bit color quality on 24-bit and 18-bit displays
High quality pre- and post-scaling engines, with underscan support for all display outputs
Content-adaptive de-flicker filtering for interlaced displays
Fast, glitch-free mode switching
Hardware cursor
Two integrated DVI display outputs
Primary supports 18-, 24-, and 30-bit digital displays at all resolutions up to 1920x1200 (single-link DVI) or 2560x1600 (dual-link DVI)1
Secondary supports 18-, 24-, and 30-bit digital displays at all resolutions up to 1920x1200 (single-link DVI only)1
Each includes a dual-link HDCP encoder with on-chip key storage for high resolution playback of protected content2
Two integrated 400 MHz 30-bit RAMDACs
Each supports analog displays connected by VGA at all resolutions up to 2048x15361
HDMI output support
Supports all display resolutions up to 1920x10801
Integrated HD audio controller with multi-channel (5.1) AC3 support, enabling a plug-and-play cable-less audio solution


--- end ---



Could I get better resolution if I could find a mini-DVI to HDMI cable?

What are the options for using the full resolution of this screen?
 
MacBook Air (2012) with Samsung SyncMaster 850

I'm the original poster of this thread with an update and more questions about getting Apple to work with the Samsung SyncMaster SMS27A850.

I've just bought the latest MacBook Air 11 inch with 8 GB of RAM. I want the Samsung to be the 2nd monitor which I'll use for programming. This monitor should have a resolution of 2560 x 1440, and it can also rotate 90 degrees.

The issue that I'm running into is this modern MacBook Air seems to only support a max resolution of 1600 x 1200. (I'll post a picture if anyone needs to see it).

I'm very disappointed that the MacBook Air doesn't seem to support the full capabilities of this monitor. I'm I doing anything wrong? What is the best way to get this resolved? If I cannot support the full resolution of this monitor the MacBook Air it getting returned.
 
Can any Mac support 2560 x 1440 on a Samsung monitor?

I've hooked the monitor up to my MacBook Pro and see that is is the same. The max resolution is 1600x1200.

Although for this display resolution it is effectively stuck at 1600 x 900.


So, my questions are:

A) Can something be done to allow this MacBook Air to support the 2560 x 1440 resolution I want from the secondary monitor?

B) Can ANY Mac support 2560 x 1440 on this Samsung monitor?

Alan

----------
Stan Mikulenka said:
Hi Alan,

"2560x1600 (dual-link DVI)"
you need something like this cable to get higher rez:

http://store.apple.com/ca/product/MB571Z/A

You can get cheaper cables elsewhere.
Click to expand...


Hmm... I'm taking a second look at this post? Has anyone tried this cable?

----------
Stan Mikulenka said:
Hi Alan,

"2560x1600 (dual-link DVI)"
you need something like this cable to get higher rez:

http://store.apple.com/ca/product/MB571Z/A

You can get cheaper cables elsewhere.
Click to expand...


Hmm... I'm taking a second look at this post? Has anyone tried this cable?

I've also ready that a HDMI connector would work. I'm currently using a miniDisplay port to DVI adaptor.
 
The TV needs a dual link DVI connection to drive it at its native resolution. Yes, there are a few Macs that can support the full resolution with only a DVI cable. The PowerMac G5 (with proper video card), Mac Pro (with proper video card), some Macbook Pros equipped with a DVI port.

DisplayPort only has room for one DVI channel, not the needed two. Macs equipped with a mini-DisplayPort need the linked adapter. You 2008 iMac will not be able to drive the display at its full resolution, no matter what adapter you use.

An HDMI cable may work as well, but it would have to come from a mini-DisplayPort equipped Mac. For the best chance of it working, the linked adapter is what you should purchase.
 
Needed Mini Display Port to Dual Link DVI Adapter

Thanks everyone for the responses! This is now working at high resolution.



http://store.apple.com/us/product/MB571Z/A/mini-displayport-to-dual-link-dvi-adapter

I've been using this for both my MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro laptops.

It is working with the Samsung A850 at 1440x2560 resolution. I have the monitor tilted 90 degrees so it is taller than it is wide. This is very nice for programming.

In 6 months to a year I might want to add a Thunderbolt display for even more screen real estate.
 
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