Blurry external monitor, not at native resolution?

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I just bought an HP 2335 as an external monitor for my 13" UMBP. It's native resolution is 1920 x 1200 but as you can see from the picture below, it won't go up past 1920x1080, which is stretched and ugly. Also, you can see some pretty major streaks going on and it's not very sharp.

I have it connected through a Mini DisplayPort to VGA adaptor.

mg5980.jpg


A screenshot displays it perfectly so I had to take a photo.

Does anyone have any ideas about what to do? It's really frustrating...
 

bobtomay

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Not any good ones.

1) Resolution
I have read at least a couple of times where the mini-display port to dual-link DVI adapter fixed this issue of not being able to recognize the availability of the higher resolutions of 16:10 (1920x1200 and above) instead of only the 16:9 (1920x1080 max) aspect.

The second option would be to grab SwitchResX and see if it allows you to set a 1920x1200 resolution or not.

2) Distortion
Since you're using analog, the monitor is having to do digital conversion. You could try adjusting the clock and clock phase on the monitor to help with the distortion issues. I have never had to play with these myself. Don't think I've used a VGA cable in 6 years or so. But check the manual on page 4-9. I would do as recommended and not adjust these until the after the monitor has been on for the full 20 minutes advised. And try the auto adjustment after that 20 minutes first, see if it will correct it.
 
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Leukeh
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Thanks for your help. After much frustration, I ended up buying a DVI cable and swapping the Mini DipsplayPort to VGA adapter for a Mini DipsplayPort to DVI adapter and everything works perfectly.
Still not really sure why it wouldn't work through the VGA, but not complaining now that it's working.
 

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