External display with Macbook Pro

I have a Macbook Pro I purchased a few months ago. I've started playing WoW and want to run a larger monitor while I'm playing. I recently retired my lcd tv and tried hooking it up through a dvi-hdmi converter... but no matter what I do I get fuzzy resolution on the external monitor.

I'm debating going to pick up a new external monitor I know will do 1080p, but is this fuzziness issue going to persist? I'd like at least a 20" display. Or is there a way to fix the current lcd? The highest resolution I seem to be able to get the macbook to display on it is 1340 x 768 or something like that. I can't remember the exact.

I'm going shopping tonight, so HELP! I really want a Cinema Display but I can only swing about $200 or so, so that is out of the question.

I'm not 100% sure what the issue is (your post was a bit confusing)...but if what you saying is you're aren't getting the resolution you expected from the external LCD TV...that because it is probably 720p...which translates to a 1280 x 720 resolution.

Many LCD TV's although able to display computer output...are not true computer monitors, and therefore do not achieve the higher resolutions you might expect from a large LCD TV.

The "fuzziness" issue is one of "native resolution". All LCD displays have a "native" resolution...and when you deviate from it, things in the display will get fuzzy or less clear.

Hope this helps...if I answered the wrong question please clarify,

- Nick

And just so you know, the native resolution of almost all 720p LCD HDTV's is 1366x768 instead of the actual 1280x720 or 720p. Thus the max setting you were seeing from your computer.

I don't believe you will ever be totally happy viewing text from a Mac on a HDTV. HDTV's just do not have a high enough resolution vs size and the way fonts are treated in OS X so that you have wysiwyg when printing, it just is not as sharp as a Win box in this scenario. You would be much better served with a monitor rather than a TV, although a 1080p set would be better than a 720p.

For watching movies and playing games a HDTV should serve you just fine.

bobtomay said:

And just so you know, the native resolution of almost all 720p LCD HDTV's is 1366x768 instead of the actual 1280x720 or 720p.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the correction. I forgot what the exact resolution of 720p was, looked it up, and 1280 x 720 came up in the search. As soon as I saw the 1366 x 768 that you posted...that number looked much more familiar!

- Nick