Widescreen Display through VGA

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VGA generally is not widescreen. Your DVI input can be connected to any Mac. Late 2009 iMacs have mini-Displayport, which can be connected to DVI with this adapter:
http://store.apple.com/us/product/MB570Z/A

That does support widescreen.

I Googled the monitor spec, it has a DVI port. If you can't find it look for your monitor manual online. As for why, VGA at one point I know never had widescreen resolutions, and maybe still does for certain graphics cards. DVI has always supported widescreen.

If widescreen is a must, get an HDMI supporting 1080p monitor. Those are the best.

It nice to read that you'v got the solution. I have the same issue with macPro and LG monitors (two of them with only VGA input) but internet-sales company denies any responsibility and do not want to take them back or replace. How did you get your replacement? Which magical words did you use?

I have used VGA monitors at their native wide-screen resolution with a Mac Mini. The trick may be to use the Apple DVI to VGA adapter and be sure that the monitor is powered up prior to booting the Mac.

bd

Your monitor supports HDMI. Get a DisplayPort HDMI cable.

Some general background info that may help reduce the confusion (or at least help explain why it exists):

• As explained in this Wikipedia article,"VGA" specifically refers to an analog video computer display standard introduced by IBM in the 1990's with a resolution no greater than 640 X 480 pixels, but in common use "VGA" has become a generic term for any of the modern analog video computer display resolution standards that use the analog VGA connector, or for the connector itself.

• Several of these modern analog computer display standards define 16:10 widescreen formats (see for example this Wikipedia list), such as the "WUXGA" (1920×1200) format.

• However, there is no common analog computer display standard that defines a "native" 16:9 widescreen format. The 1920x1080 widescreen format is the native one for HDTV's 1080p & 1080i signals, but they are digital formats with no direct analog counterpart.

• To make things that much more complicated, analog video signals of the same resolution may use slightly different parameters for such arcane things as horizontal & vertical timing & sync, & different monitors or graphics cards may & generally do accept or supply only a subset of all the possible ones.

• Because there are so many different variations in the analog standards, "plug & play" methods (in both Mac & Windows implementations) may not offer all the possible ones, especially those that involve non-native pixel mapping. For Macs, SwitchResX or a similar utility allows users to experiment with all the possible graphics card values it supports; however, there is no guarantee that the monitor will support the desired ones.

• The manuals for most monitors & HDTV's include a chart of the parameters for each display mode their VGA ports support, although many are incomplete. It can be very challenging to find any set of values that work other than the "plug & play" ones, but the chart values at least will give you a clue about what may work -- only values on the chart will work so entering them in the utility & making guesses about any that are missing is the best you can do.

• Because there are far fewer digital video display standard variations, using a monitor's or HDTV's digital connection(s) such as DVI or HDMI usually is much easier, as well as often producing a sharper image. Since all contemporary Macs support digital video out (with the appropriate adaptor), that should be your first choice whenever possible.