11-03-2008, 08:56 AM

Hi.

I recently purchased a Dell S2209W Wide screen 1080p LCD from Dell. The display is beautiful and setting the display up has been a breeze albeit a couple hiccups. They are as follows:

(1) I would like to make the larger LCD my only monitor, but there doesn't seem to be an option to change that. I am able to choose either dual desktop, or mirrored desktop. At the moment, I am using the first option with my laptop's brightness turned off. Mirroring, so far, has not allowed the LCD to display at native resolution (1920x1080). Any ideas on how to get around this?

(2) Windows (on a boot camp partition) seems to be unable to figure out what to do with this monitor. I installed Dell's drivers, have tried rearranging the displays, and nothing is working. I would have thought this would be a fairly brainless process on Windows -- but nothing is working. Has anyone had similar problems with Dell displays on Boot Camp partitions?

Any help would be appreciated.

- C

11-03-2008, 01:05 PM

I have a similar setup. Here's what I do in order to only use my external display:

In the display preference panel, select arrangement and select mirror displays.
Now close the cover lid on your MacBook, that should put it to sleep. (For the next step to work, you need an external keyboard and mouse attached.)

With the external display turned on, tap a key on the external keyboard - do not open the cover lid on the MacBook - the machine should wake up with only the external display turned on and will automatically set itself to the native resolution. If not, open display preference and set the resolution.

You can leave the lid of the MacBook closed or open part way. The internal display will remain off. Note: When you start the machine, turn on the external display, open the lid of the MacBook, turn it on and immediately close the lid. Only the external display will come on.

Now for your Windows problem: You didn't mention which MacBook you have, however, loading the Dell drivers is not going to work. You need the latest drivers for your graphics chipset installed in the MacBook. The recent line of MacBook (the one I own) machines use the Intel GMA X3100, however, the new MacBook has a nVidia chipset. Whichever you have, go to the chipset maker's web site and download the latest drivers for Windows XP or Vista (you didn't say which). Install the drivers, reboot Windows and setup your external display.

Any other questions, post back.

Regards.

11-04-2008, 11:25 AM

That worked perfectly -- thanks.

05-02-2009, 03:31 PM

Hey macbook and dell s2209w owners: I have the same setup, but my issue is that whenever my macbook goes to sleep, the monitor goes into self test mode rather than sleep mode. Any way around this you guys are aware of?

EDIT: Solved this issue. I was using VGA and not DVI. Monitor sleeps just fine with DVI.