Macbook Problems with External Monitor. Other Problems. Please Help!!

Hi Guys,
I bought a new unibody Macbook around 4-5 months ago and I've generally been very impressed with it. It's my first Mac and considering all the problems I'd had before with Windows PC's, it's quite a relief. Anyway, here's the issue.

When hooked up to my 24 inch Dell monitor there are numerous problems. Originally it just started with the screen intermittently turning itself off and on, and there being a sleep/wake issue. I did some research then and discovered that this was by no means a problem confined to me. Knowing this I was prepared to wait until Apple fixed it with a firmware update or something, as the problem was annoying but not devastating.

However since then the problem has got significantly worse. Not only are the screen flickering, sleep wake/issues occuring much more frequently, but there are other problems. For instance, the menu bar and the dock sometimes fail to show, and I've been having a very weird problem with the Logitech mouse I use. Even though I can move the cursor generally I can't click, and when I can, only the right mouse button works. The same is true with the trackpad, so it's not a problem with the mouse.

When these problems occur the system generally seems to be very slow. I've checked the 'activity monitor' and the use of 'system memory' seems to be very high. For instance, at the moment (I'm using my Macbook by itself) I'm running a few applications (Mail, iCal etc.) and I've got 1.09 gb of free memory. Last night I was running exactly the same applications and I must have had less than 0.4 gb of free memory. The pageout numbers were fairly high as well.

It's strange because when disconnected from the external monitor the Macbook seems to work seamlessly. I just don't understand how some of the problems I've experienced (such as the mouse issue) can arise from problems relating to the external monitor setup. What do you think? Should I be worried that these issues are perhaps indicative of a greater problem? Either way, the problems are becoming hard to deal with. Very disappointing.

Ben.

 

Thanks for the feedback.

I have tried lowering the resolution and it seems to be a bit better. It's certainly more functional, but it's not still not satisfactory. I actually usually run the Macbook in clamshell mode, for the reason that the problem seems to be exentuated when I run it open.

Does anybody know whether it's an actual hardware problem, with the Nvidia chip presumably? If not I hope it can be rectified with a software update. It's a shame. This is my first Mac, and I've generally been very impressed with it. It runs like a dream on it's own.