New 2012 13" MacBook Pro cannot display 1600x1200 resolution

Question

New 2012 13" MacBook Pro cannot display 1600x1200 resolution

Hi,

I just bought a 2.9 Ghz 13" MacBook Pro last night. Everything was working fine until I connected it to my Samsung SyncMaster 204TS external monitor, which has a native resolution of 1600x1200. The highest resolution shown in the Displays window of System Preferences is 1400x1050. I contacted AppleCare about this, and the AppleCare person had me reset the PRAM, which did not resolve this problem. I checked Samsung's site for a video driver, but they only offered a Windows version. Both of my current machines, a 9+ year old 12" G4 PowerBook and a late-2009 Mac Mini can display to this monitor at 1600x1200 with no problems and with no need for a special driver, so I'm surprised that a brand-new machine is having trouble doing this. I'm hoping that someone here can determine:

1) Is it possible for this computer to display 1600x1200 resolution on a Samsung SyncMaster 204TS monitor?

2) Can this computer support 1600x1200 resolution at all? (I specifically asked about this before making the purchase, since I was unable to find any documentation that gave a full range of external monitor resolutions that are supported.

If this is not possible, then I'm going to return this MacBook Pro and consider other options.

Thank you,

Ken Hjulstrom

Posted on Jun 19, 2012 4:03 AM

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Answer 1

Jul 19, 2012 9:21 AM in response to Kenneth Hjulstrom

Hi,

Is anyone else using a 13" mid-2012 MacBook Pro with the VGA adaptor to drive an external monitor at 1600 x 1200 resolution? I'm not sure if the lack of responses to my original post means that hardly anyone is using this configuration or if people are using the configuration and aren't having any problems.

Thanks,

Ken

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Answer 2

Jul 19, 2012 10:38 AM in response to Kenneth Hjulstrom

Are you using mirrored or extended display mode? If mirrored then the external display will mirror your laptop display, including its resolution. If you want to use the native resolution of your external monitor, turn off mirrored mode in display settings.

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Answer 3

jlugo85

Level 1

10 points

Jul 19, 2012 12:34 PM in response to Kenneth Hjulstrom

I am also having he same problem. I tried to connect my MBP to a projector and I got an broken up image on the screen. I messed with all the screen resolutions but none of them worked.

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Answer 4

Jul 28, 2012 2:10 PM in response to BobTheFisherman

Hi Bob,

I'm not using mirrored mode. I'm at an Apple Store now with my monitor, and one of the sales staff tried connecting my monitor to a 13" MacBook Pro running Mountain Lion, with the same results as before. I had hoped that Mountain Lion might introduce better video drivers that might fix this problem, but that doesn't seem to be the case. An Apple Genius will be looking at this again in a few minutes. I'll post back with the results of the Genius appointment.

Thanks,

Ken

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Answer 5

tinlee

Level 1

4 points

Aug 19, 2012 1:43 AM in response to Kenneth Hjulstrom

Hi Kenneth,

Did you fix this issue? Could you support me, please?

(I use MBP 2012 2.9 Ghz 13" and Dell 24" ST2420L. I have tried to research for 2 days. 3 adapters: HDMI, VGA and DVI were used, but it still occurs)

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Answer 6

Aug 20, 2012 9:39 PM in response to tinlee

Hi, Tinlee,

The last time I visited the Apple Store about this problem (after the release of Mountain Lion), I was able to confirm that using Apple's mini display port to DVI adaptor, I was able to display the full 1600 x 1200 to my monitor, but using Apple's VGA adaptor, I could still only get a maximum resolution of 1400 x 1050. What is the native resolution of your Dell ST2420L monitor?

Ken

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