Hooking up an external monitor

Hi all,
I have recently hooked up my 20" Dell 2001fp LCD monitor to my Macbook Pro via the DVI output. I like the extra working room, but was wondering how configurable the screens really are. Is there anyway that I could make my Dell display the dock and menu bar at it's full native resolution (1600*1200). Currently it will crop off the top and bottom to meet the widescreen resolution of my laptop screen. My Macbook Pro is running Leopard 10.5.1, and has a Radeon X1600. Any info on how to do this, or if it is even possible would be great.

Thanks,
Chris

Are you running the screens as extended desktop (two screens show different desktops) or mirroring (the 2 screens show the same thing including the dock)

Go in to System prefs > Displays

There should be an Arrangement button if not your mac only supports mirroring

If you have got an Arrangement button you can move the screens around and give each screen a different resolution, as well as move the dock to your external monitor.

^ it took me a while to figure this out back when I got my monitor, but when you're at the "Display" preferences screen, you simply "drag" where the menu bar is to the screen that you want it on. In the preferences page, it's simply shown as a small white bar, just drag it onto the screen you want it to be on.

External Monitor Questions

Hi all,

I recently got a new Apple keyboard, which enabled me to use my 20" external monitor at it's native res. I have a few questions pertaining to using my Macbook Pro this way.

1) Is there a way I can turn it on without having to open the lid every time? This may be a stupid question, but it really be nice to not have to open the MBP every time I want to boot it up.

2) I have the Macbook Pro sitting on a Rain Design mStand, so I'm not worried about over heating, but I was wondering how long it is safe to leave the MBP turned on. I normally shut it down when I'm not using it, but as this new setup enables me to use it as my primary computer, I would like to use it as such.

Thanks,
Chris

2) I think it'd be allright to just leave the mbp on all the time (send it to sleep when you don't use it)

1) not quite sure what you mean...how about just using the sleep mode (it's perfectly ok to use sleep instead of turning off your mbp all the time)
and I doubt that there is a way to turn your mbp on without using the power button...