MBP does not allow extended desktop?

[jeff allan]

Macbook Pro 15" non retina (last version) does not have option for extending desktop. But the techs at Apple say it should. I bought an Apple TV and can't get this going right.If I go to system pref/displays there should be an "arrangement" tab but there is none. They escalated this to next level and did a screen share, and still can't figure it out. Anyone have any ideas?

 

[Raz0rEdge]

Follow this: Extend Your Desktop With The Apple TV | Mac-Fusion

 

[jeff allan]

Thanks, we've done all that. Only thing is my MBP is not using OS X Mavericks, but Lion and they say that won't matter and it works with that. On mine, this option below is what's missing. Very strange.

 

[jeff allan]

Hmm found another thread where someone says OSX Moutain Lion doesn't allow for extended desktop and there screen shot looks same as mine. It's missing.

But then this info counters that. OS X Mountain Lion: Connect multiple displays to your Mac

This is from the above "If you don’t see an Arrangement button, your computer is only capable of mirroring (showing the same image on all screens".

So a top end MBP can't extend desktop? That sucks.

 

[Raz0rEdge]

Top end MBP running older OS might not be able to. But if you run Mavericks or Yosemite, you'll be able to do more..

This indicates the functionality is limited by what was built into each version of the OS as opposed to what the hardware is capable of doing..

Your MBP should be able to run Mavericks/Yosemite without any issue and should actually get some benefits over Lion/Mountain Lion and you will get the desktop extension you are looking for with the Apple TV..

But choose not to upgrade and you will be limited to what is available in your version of the OS..

 

[jeff allan]

Top end MBP running older OS might not be able to. But if you run Mavericks or Yosemite, you'll be able to do more..

This indicates the functionality is limited by what was built into each version of the OS as opposed to what the hardware is capable of doing..

Your MBP should be able to run Mavericks/Yosemite without any issue and should actually get some benefits over Lion/Mountain Lion and you will get the desktop extension you are looking for with the Apple TV..

But choose not to upgrade and you will be limited to what is available in your version of the OS..

Thank you for response. What I don't get, is when they made this machine, I would think the latest OS would've included a simple feature like this on a MBP. The reasons I haven't upgraded is I use some software which is already glitchy with this MBP, and afraid that it totally won't work with Maverick. Also I have a baaaad taste in my mouth from when I upgraded my iphone to 7 and it really stunk, and I hear 8 is so bad, freezes up two of my buddies phones. So I really don't like upgrading, but I may have to reconsider.

Does anyone know if I hook up a monitor with a cable and bypass apple TV, it will detect the monitor and then I will get that ability? I can't try it because I need a thunderbolt adapter.

 

[Raz0rEdge]

I've upgraded all of my machines to Yosemite and every other previous OS that was released without any issues. Yes Yosemite has a different UI and its amazing how people get stuck on such trivial things..

Features wise, Yosemite has more than what Mavericks did which had more than what Mountain Lion did and so on..

Anyway, upgrading or not upgrading is your choice. And when your MBP was built, it had the latest version of the OS that was available at that time..

Of course you can use an external monitor to achieve the same thing. You'll be removing AirPlay from the equation and going to a hardwired monitor where you can do mirroring and extension without any problems.

Depending on your MBP age, you should have an HDMI connector as well? If not, you can grab TB->DVI/HDMI cable and use any monitor..

I have the latest generation rMBP and use an external monitor through the HDMI connection..

 

[jeff allan]

And when your MBP was built, it had the latest version of the OS that was available at that time..

Of course you can use an external monitor to achieve the same thing. You'll be removing AirPlay from the equation and going to a hardwired monitor where you can do mirroring and extension without any problems.

Depending on your MBP age, you should have an HDMI connector as well? .

I understand and this machine with it's current OS should be able to do this, it's only two years old. Heck, I think even my '06 Macbook which is a dinosaur, can do this!
No HDMI, has a thunderbolt. So I need an adapter to HDMI. But I'm thinking even with using a cable to an external monitor, I still won't get this to work.

I don't know if it's a hardware thing or if it's OS, I don't want to upgrade if I don't have to. Like I said, the 2nd level apple techs were stumped too. They told me I shouldn't need to upgrade OS to have this feature as it was available then and way prior to that.

 

[Raz0rEdge]

Lets not confuse multiple things that are in play here. The ability to Mirror or extend your desktop from the primary screen to an additional monitor (or more depending on the machine) that is plugged directly into a TB/HDMI/DisplayPort connector is something that HAS been around for a long time.

Doing the EXACT same thing over an AirPlay connection to an AppleTV is an entirely different thing and depends on when the specific features within AirPlay were added. Looks like with previous versions of OS X (prior to Mavericks), AirPlay supported display mirroring. With Mavericks they added mirroring support and so on..

If Apple was so inclined they could have added just that specific feature within an update to, say, Mountain Lion so that people would get that feature without having to upgrade the entire OS. But that doesn't seem to have happened, so your path is laid out for you..

A physical monitor connection will do everything you need to do with your current version of OS X.

 

[Exodist]

Lets not confuse multiple things .........

A physical monitor connection will do everything you need to do with your current version of OS X.

Exactly... I fully concur.

Mirror is if you want to show what you are doing to another display or more importantly a projector for a presentation. This is also the option you want for docking your Mac to a larger display. Many use this at home with a bluetooth keyboard and mouse to turn their Mac Book into a makeshift desktop.

Extend is for expanding your working space so you can an additional display for more desktop space. This is the option I and others like myself use to have multiple monitors to work with. Very handy for graphics and video production.

 

[jeff allan]

Lets not confuse multiple things that are in play here. The ability to Mirror or extend your desktop from the primary screen to an additional monitor (or more depending on the machine) that is plugged directly into a TB/HDMI/DisplayPort connector is something that HAS been around for a long time.

Doing the EXACT same thing over an AirPlay connection to an AppleTV is an entirely different thing and depends on when the specific features within AirPlay were added. Looks like with previous versions of OS X (prior to Mavericks), AirPlay supported display mirroring. With Mavericks they added mirroring support and so on..

If Apple was so inclined they could have added just that specific feature within an update to, say, Mountain Lion so that people would get that feature without having to upgrade the entire OS. But that doesn't seem to have happened, so your path is laid out for you..

A physical monitor connection will do everything you need to do with your current version of OS X.

There is what I'm wondering. Originally, all I wanted was to use a cable to extend my desktop and not use Apple TV. But the Apple support people said I would still have a problem extending desktop because that "arrangement" tab under displays should show up regardless if an additional monitor is plugged in or not. On my other Macs there is a "detect displays" button. On my newer MBP there is nothing, and that's what the Apple people couldn't figure out. They said it doesn't matter if it's Apple TV or a hardwired monitor, that my machine is having trouble extending the desktop.

I would simply try it, but I need to order an adapter and want to find out before I do.

I did find a similar thing where someone said Apple was able to help them get the "arrangement" tab to show by putting in some command but they did not remember what it was.

 

[jeff allan]

I hope I didn't confuse you more. This is what Apple says I should see on my machine with it's current OS, regardless if using an additional monitor or Apple TV, or just the laptop, it's supposed to be on the main display. Mine does not have the middle tab. If I wire to a monitor, will it suddenly show up?

 

[Raz0rEdge]

Yes, without an additional monitor the arrangement tab is missing and will show up when an external monitor is detected..

I just tried this on my rMBP and this is what happened..it's silly to have an arrangement tab when you only have a single display..

Now, you WILL get the same arrangement time with AirPlay and the AppleTV, but you will be limited to just mirror your display due to the OS you are running, upgrading the OS/AirPlay will get you Extension support as well..

 

[jeff allan]

Yes, without an additional monitor the arrangement tab is missing and will show up when an external monitor is detected..

I just tried this on my rMBP and this is what happened..it's silly to have an arrangement tab when you only have a single display..

Now, you WILL get the same arrangement time with AirPlay and the AppleTV, but you will be limited to just mirror your display due to the OS you are running, upgrading the OS/AirPlay will get you Extension support as well..

THANK YOU! Apple could not tell me this. I asked and they did a screen shot, and sent logged files to upper level engineering…ughh. It took 1.5 hours with them. They said the arrangement tab should be there all the time!!!

All I wanted to do is run an LCD and extend monitor. I don't need Apple TV for that. I thought I did since the arrangement tab wasn't there.

THANKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Raz0rEdge]

Frankly, I'm a little disappointed in the answer Apple support gave you. You're like the third person in the past couple of weeks to have posted here about a question that should have been easily answered by the support personal and not done so..

 

[bobtomay]

Ashwin is quite correct, The Arrangement tab will only show up when you have an external monitor connected.

And I do remember a couple years ago on my '11 MBA, it would only provide mirrored mode with an Apple TV - am thinking that was the case with both 10.7 & 10.8. At some point between upgrading to 10.9 and one of the AppleTV updates extended mode was added - not exactly sure when it happened.

 

[jeff allan]

Frankly, I'm a little disappointed in the answer Apple support gave you. You're like the third person in the past couple of weeks to have posted here about a question that should have been easily answered by the support personal and not done so..

Yikes, that's not good about Apple's support. If I do upgrade the my OS,can I still get Maverick? I'm leary of new OS with bugs and what not. Also read about hacker/security trouble with Yosemite.

What I'm worried about is compatibility. I have an old Flip video phone I use all the time, it works great on my mac with OSX 10.6, but barely works on 10.8 won't open program normally, and can only view videos from folder. Also I have wireless printer, and Iphone 4S. I'm worried things won't work as they do now.

 

[Raz0rEdge]

If you didn't already purchase Mavericks, then it isn't available to you. Only Yosemite is available to you..

If the software to connect to the Flip video phone was PowerPC based or just better suited to 10.6, then you'll have issues with it on 10.10..

One thing to always remember is that as you upgrade OS', you have to upgrade all software that you have installed to make the transition smooth. Trying to get software that was meant to work on 10.6 (for example, which is an OS that was released in 2009) is just not going to be happy with something that is released 5 years later..

The wireless printer should be fine if its recent enough or has updated drivers (most reputable brands do a good job keeping up to date with new versions of OS X).

The iPhone 4S also matters what version of iOS its running. Be careful with that since iOS versions are happy with particular versions of iTunes. This is usually a problem if you can't upgrade your computer to a newer version of iTunes, but that doesn't seem to be a case for you here..

So to give you an idea of my environment. I have a late 2009 27" iMac that's running Yosemite, all the software on there that I use frequently has been upgraded to the newest version. I also have an iPhone 5S running iOS 8, an iPad 2 running iOS 8. I have a Canon wireless printer running the newest version of the drivers..

With all of these changes, everything is fine..

Now as far as hacker/security trouble..Yosemite is no more vulnerable than Mavericks, or Mountain Lion, or Lion, or Snow Leopard was. So, I don't push much stock in those bogus claims..

 

[jeff allan]

If you didn't already purchase Mavericks, then it isn't available to you. Only Yosemite is available to you..

If the software to connect to the Flip video phone was PowerPC based or just better suited to 10.6, then you'll have issues with it on 10.10..

One thing to always remember is that as you upgrade OS', you have to upgrade all software that you have installed to make the transition smooth. Trying to get software that was meant to work on 10.6 (for example, which is an OS that was released in 2009) is just not going to be happy with something that is released 5 years later..

The wireless printer should be fine if its recent enough or has updated drivers (most reputable brands do a good job keeping up to date with new versions of OS X).

The iPhone 4S also matters what version of iOS its running. Be careful with that since iOS versions are happy with particular versions of iTunes. This is usually a problem if you can't upgrade your computer to a newer version of iTunes, but that doesn't seem to be a case for you here..

So to give you an idea of my environment. I have a late 2009 27" iMac that's running Yosemite, all the software on there that I use frequently has been upgraded to the newest version. I also have an iPhone 5S running iOS 8, an iPad 2 running iOS 8. I have a Canon wireless printer running the newest version of the drivers..

With all of these changes, everything is fine..

Now as far as hacker/security trouble..Yosemite is no more vulnerable than Mavericks, or Mountain Lion, or Lion, or Snow Leopard was. So, I don't push much stock in those bogus claims..

Thanks. Anymore, I'm just anti update unless it's absolutely necessary. just updated itunes and hate it, the layout and all these extra features I can do without. But that's technology. When I "upgraded" my iphone from ios6 to 7 it was horrible. and found out I couldn't go back I really wish I kept ios6 as it was much bettter function and look. A buddy of mine just did his iphone 4s to ios8 and he says everything freezes up and is slow. He wishes he didn't do it. Apples way of getting you to buy a new phone I guess. So that's what I'm worried about, the new software advances, sometimes the older hardware can't keep up as well.

I just got done reading a 4 page thread on Yosemite and some like it but some say it slowed down Safari or their wifi reception or other things, like you said you need to update all the other stuff., and had to look up how to remedy that stuff. I don't want that headache. If nothing's broke I don't wanna fix it. lol.

Maybe I'll just dump the Apple TV and run a cable to have extended desktop. Thank you very much for all this help!!

 

[Raz0rEdge]

I know people who have computers from the early 2000 or older running some archaic version of Windows that just works for them. They'll never upgrade these machines because of their use..

While the if it ain't broke, don't fix it methodology works, it only works with technology if you stick to it at a particular point. When the iPhone 4S was released, for example, it had the newest/best version of iOS that it could run.

Never upgrade iOS on that iPhone 4S and it will perform completely fine for as long you need it to. As newer versions are created, while an attempt is made to be backward compatible with older hardware, it gets harder and harder with the latest ideas..

If you take a look at the hardware that powers the iPhone 4S and compare it to the iPhone 6, for example, its really night and day difference. The hardware in the iPhone 6 is just SO much faster than the iPhone 4S that while concessions are made within iOS to do the best with what the iPhone 4S can, it will just not compare and shouldn't..

The option to upgrade is given to you, but that doesn't mean that you should take it based on your current needs/use..