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MBP vs. external monitor

skinnylegs

skinnylegs

macrumors 65816
Original poster
May 8, 2006
1,427
55
San Diego
I have a 6 month old MBP hooked up to a 22" Samsung SyncMaster monitor. I *love* the larger monitor but now it lacks the "crispness" of the MBP display. Everything seems 'kinda "soft" or "fuzzy" if you will.

Is this an inherent problem when porting out video to an external monitor or is it specific to this monitor? I'd like to buy a new Apple Cinema display. Will I still have this problem with the Cinema Display?

Thanks!
 
I have the exact same problem with my 19" SyncMaster and MBP Classic! Anyone know what's going on? These monitors work superb when used with a PC....
 
Exactly....mine works great with my PC as well. It *must* have something to do with the available display resolutions?

BTW....something that helps somewhat, go to System Preferences > Appearance and at the bottom you will see "Font smoothing style." Choose medium or strong. This helps a bit with the fonts.
 
"fuzziness" is usually because you are running an LCD at a non-native resolution.

a 22" resolution is usually set to 1680x1050, so make sure you set that setting in the display properties.

fuzziness isn't normal, but I do dislike the Mac OS X's insistence on using font smoothing.......
 
I'd choose my 19" Westinghouse monitor that has a 1650x1050 native resolution and It's more crisp than my classic MBP, also brighter. But it appears I'm the minority - I just don't notice any fuzziness.

My MBP has been run around the block though, and the middle 1/3 of the screen is relatively dim compared to the outsides. Kind of a bummer for color critical work.
 
well.. if you're certain you're running your screen res @ 1680x1050 and you're using DVI... there's not much else (if anything) that can cause the fuzziness. Is it fuzzy in everything or just certain programs etc.

Maybe you have a low res background that's stretched that's making you think everything looks unclear? Or perhaps you're just now noticing an amplified effect of the font smoothing with a larger monitor?
 
I'm not sure if this will illustrate my problem but here's a screenshot....
 

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from a quick inspection, both screens look exactly the same to me. Both are 1440x900 resolution.

The fuzzy text is definitely due to cleartype/font smoothing.
 
Actually, the fonts aren't as bad as other areas such as the Menu Bar, Dock and window edges for instance.
 
If you are running both display at the same time, the ext. monitor will run at 1440x900 even though it say 1650x1050. Run it in clamshell mode to see if it changes.
 
skinnylegs said:
Actually, the fonts aren't as bad as other areas such as the Menu Bar, Dock and window edges for instance.
Click to expand...

perhaps the font smoothing is automatically adjusting for your other LCD. Try just setting it globally in appearances as Medium.

the screenshots you provided were the same in terms of clarity on my screen here (1920 x 1200) - the only difference may be the font smoothing style that makes the text look "thicker".
 
Hydroxs said:
If you are running both display at the same time, the ext. monitor will run at 1440x900 even though it say 1650x1050. Run it in clamshell mode to see if it changes.
Click to expand...
How do I run it in "clamshell mode." When I close the MBP completely, my external monitor goes black?
 
Hydroxs said:
If you are running both display at the same time, the ext. monitor will run at 1440x900 even though it say 1650x1050. Run it in clamshell mode to see if it changes.
Click to expand...

that's definitely not true. I run both displays at the same time and I can check the status on my monitor and it runs natively at 1680x1050
 
six.four said:
that's definitely not true. I run both displays at the same time and I can check the status on my monitor and it runs natively at 1680x1050
Click to expand...

You can't run different resolution. 1680x1050 has more space then 1440x900 so when you move your mouse, you will reach the edge of the screen quicker with the 1440x900 res then the 1680x1050.
 
six.four said:
that's definitely not true. I run both displays at the same time and I can check the status on my monitor and it runs natively at 1680x1050
Click to expand...

... Additionally, an easy way to tell if you have the resolutions near correct is if you go to the arrangement tab in "display" of the general settings, one box should obviously be larger than the other, signifying that one is running at a higher resolution.
 
Hydroxs said:
You can't run different resolution. 1680x1050 has more space then 1440x900 so when you move your mouse, you will reach the edge of the screen quicker with the 1440x900 res then the 1680x1050.
Click to expand...

uhh. that's only if you're mirroring your displays.
 
Hydroxs said:
If you have a external mouse or keyboard, just click it and will wake up. After that check the display menu again to see the resolution.
Click to expand...
Dude....you are a prophet! Thank you soooooo much. I put my MBP in "clamshell mode" and now everything on my external monitor looks just as crisp as my MBP.

Thanks again to everybody! Once again, MacRumors comes through!
 
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