01-28-2012, 05:47 PM

Hi, I just bought a hdmi adapter for my macbook pro. the results are not what i expected..

1. HD looks horrid. text and graphics are really bad. when i select a sub-hd resolution, it looks ok, but its not HD

2. the image on the screen is just a 'stretched' version of whats on the macbook(so if the screen is twice as big, everything on it is twice as big as the laptop screen. i thought the bigger screen and resolution would mean more things fit on the screen, and would make the interface similar to an imac, for when I am editing videos or photos. same for games, on HD or other resolutions the game is just stretched and looks really bad with a lot of jaggies.


am i missing something, i followed all of the instructions i could find on the internet and tried it on 4 different tv's, both windows and mac, same thing, windows fares better. ]

sorry for such a long post

01-28-2012, 07:40 PM

If I am understanding your post correctly the Mac Book pro is mirroring its screen onto the external monitor. If so, this may fix most and perhaps all of your issues.

With the external monitor connected open System Preferences and go to the Displays pane. Look at the tabs and look for an "Arrangement" tab. Click on it. At the bottom of that tab uncheck the "Mirror Displays" option.

You might find these tips for using dual monitors helpful.

01-28-2012, 09:04 PM

thanks for your reply. can i have it in that setting while also having it as the main display(menubars and all)?

01-28-2012, 09:32 PM

If I understand the question correctly yes. Each monitor can have its own resolution setting. The external monitor will be sharpest at its native resolution (check the docs for that). If you rant to designate the external monitor as the main one go back to that Arrangement tab and drag the small white line from the smaller blue square to the larger one.