What’s the Maximum Resolution a MacBook Supports for External Displays?
When shopping around for an external monitor, I was asked “What’s the maximum resolution I can get out of my MacBook with an external LCD display?” by a friend of mine. Well the answer depends on which MacBook you have, what video card it has, and what type of video interface you’re going to use (DVI, VGA, DVI-I, etc) to power the external display.
MacBook’s with shared GMA video cards can drive an external display with a resolution of up to 1920×1200 via DVI , or 1600×1200 via VGA
Newer MacBook’s (unibody included) with independent graphics cards can drive external displays with resolutions up to 2560×1600 via dual-link DVI
Both newer and older MacBook’s will support extended desktop as well as mirroring, but note the older MacBook’s with shared GMA video will have a slight performance hit when driving an external display, this is mostly noticeable when doing graphics intensive processing but rarely a significant issue. Either way be sure to get the proper mini-DVI to DVI adapter
[ picture via RegEx.info ]
The Nvidia 9400M, which is on anything current but the high-end MacBook Pros, high-end iMacs, and Mac Pros, is just as integrated into the motherboard as Intel’s GMA adapters. It’s much better, but it’s still integrated.
My (black) MacBook work with Samsung 2343BW 2040*1152 px res external display…
….2048*1152
[...] a beautiful 22″ LCD. I’d highly recommend getting an external screen that hits the maximum resolution a MacBook supports at 1080p via DVI (newer models and MacBook Pro’s go up to 2560×1600 via dual-link [...]
[...] MacBook or MacBook Pro owner. So what are you waiting for? Grab a good LCD monitor (be sure your MacBook supports the maximum resolution), the Mini DisplayPort to DVI Adapter, and enjoy the screen real [...]