08-16-2011, 04:53 AM

Hi
Apologies is this is answered somewhere else, I just found it difficult to find anything...

My hardware
MBPro 2008 model (not unibody), 2.4GHz, Intel Core 2 Duo, 4GB RAM, running OSX 10.6.8
External monitor - Samsung Syncmaster B2430 capable of full HD (connected with MBPro via DVI to DVI)

Problem
Resolution does not look optimal on external monitor - text is pixelated, images/pictures look fine
Monitor resolution set to 1920x1080
MBPro resolution set to 1440x900, I cannot set it any higher
Currently working with MBPro lid closed and external mouse and keyboard

The monitor is definitely full HD as I tried a windows PC with it and picture is crisp, a great deal better than with the mac.

What am I doing wrong?

Thanks in advance

08-16-2011, 07:48 AM

check the pins on your DVI connector. how many pins do you see? You need a dual link connector:

08-18-2011, 05:26 PM

Thanks, I bought a dual link cable and I can't see any difference from my previous single link cable!! I actually got a dual link digital only as that's the only one the monitor will accept. MBPro will accept dual link (digital + analogue) but using dual link digital only too.

08-18-2011, 06:31 PM

Show us a screen shot of what you're talking about when you say pixelated.

I'm not sure you're talking about pixelation or the difference in how fonts are rendered between a Mac and Windows - see here.

08-19-2011, 06:11 AM

I'll get back to you with a screenshot bobtomay! Maybe you are right. What I mean is that it doesn't look as sharp as it does on the MacBook Pro LCD screen. It looks jagged
The closer I zoom into the text on the external monitor, the better it looks! But when the zoom level is at, say, 100% then it looks a bit jagged. I am just not sure that this is what I should expect from a full HD monitor which is why I am asking around...

I had a look at the link on rendering of text/fonts, but that example with the apple vs windows is not what I have on mine. My text is not fuzzy or hazy or blurry. It's just jagged (only word I can use to describe it ... sorry)

08-19-2011, 06:28 AM

My guess is what you're seeing is related to the way OS X renders fonts. Especially, if you have no issue with video and only text. I personally really can't stand it on my HDTVs and switched back to using Windows for that purpose.

You are right in that it looks different on your Mac and has everything to do with resolution and the font rendering technologies being used.

If what you're seeing is similar to taking a 100 pixel image and blowing it up to 300 -500 pixels or larger - the same thing is happening taking what is on your Mac screen and blowing it up to a larger screen but at basically the same resolution as your 15" screen. How bad it gets depends on the size screen you're viewing it on. It's not nearly so bad on the 37-42" screens, but move to a 55-70" screen and text from a Mac gives me a headache.

Windows font rendering technology is far superior for viewing text on a large screen - in what can only be described as a low resolution for a computer monitor.

(It took me about a year to get to the point of not being bothered by it even on my Mac screen.)

You can play around in System Preferences - General - with turning on and off the LCD font smoothing and adjusting the size of fonts that are smoothed. Think I had mine set to about 16 for a long time.