Setting default "Optimize for" display option

[esaba]

I have an iMac running at 1920x1080 resolution with a second monitor connected that is running 1920x1200 resolution.

For reasons I won't get into, I occasionally need to enable "Mirror Displays" to show a single mirrored desktop on both monitors. I do this with the keyboard shortcut [Command–Brightness Down]. When I do so, OS X Yosemite 10.10.4 (14E46) will always set the resolution of both the second monitor and iMac screen to 1920x1200 because the "Optimize for" drop down menu under display preferences always defaults to the second monitor.

Is it possible to default both the iMac and the second monitor to 1920x1080 when I enable display mirroring? Essentially, I want the "Optimize for" option to default to the iMac screen.

 

[campyguy]

A display's characteristics are embedded in it's EPROM's EDID (Extended Display Identification Data), which can only be modified with special hardware/software - it's not worth the time.

I get around the paltry options in the Displays Preference Pane with a third-party application - SwitchResX - which offers both additional resolutions and - maybe more importantly to you - the ability to set and tweak "application sets", which are customized configurations of one or multiple displays that can be saved and "written" to your Library so they'll be usable in different User Accounts and/or backed up. I have two Dell displays on arms attached to my rMBP - with a couple of clicks I can go from a setup optimized for Office to AutoCAD to Photoshop and all I have to do is rotate my displays on their arms (they don't have an auto switch, like some displays do).

SwitchResX generates an override for each display you set it up with, and that override "tells" your Mac what it's capable of, and also offers far more settings options than Apple's built-in Preference Pane.

$14 for SwitchResX is a lot cheaper than therapy IMO...