DELL 2407WFP 24" with Macbook Pro - Need Help!

If you choose to "mirror" your desktop then it will have the same resolution as your MBP. At this point make sure you have the power plugged in and have an external usb keyboard & mouse. Then close the lid. It will look like the MBP is going to sleep but if you wait about 30 seconds and hit any keys on the keyboard, it will come back to life and you should have max resolution on your dell. You MUST have external power plugged in (ie: your magsafe). Hope this helps.

You don't need to close the display to get this to work... Just make sure you uncheck the "mirror displays" checkbox on the Arrangement tab of the Display Systems Preference Panel. This will allow each screen's resolution to be set independently (and optimally).

-N

first off..why are you using vga when you could be using DVI? I'm pretty confident that a 24 inch monitor has dvi...correct me if I'm wrong. That should give you a little better resolution.

O and btw..to make the 24" you primary..go back to that arrangement preferences screen and drag the menu bar (the white top bar) from one monitor to the other. The monitor with the bar across the top is the primary monitor. So...to reiterate, if you want your main monitor to be the 24", drag the top white bar on the arrangement preferences screen from the 15" screen to the 24".

The original reply is correct. I do this with my MBP and the 23" Cinema Display all the time. Put your computer to sleep/ close the lid. Make sure the power cable is plugged in, as well as your keyboard and mouse, and the display you want to use. If you have Bluetooth devices it will still work. Simply tap a key on the keyboard and the computer will wake up, sense that the lid is closed, and make the external display your sole & primary display. I use bluetooth devices myself and they work fine. I've even formatted my computer before while attached to the external display and it will sense the display/keyboard/mouse on first startup and work with them. It's wonderfully simple. 🙂

If there are USB ports on your Dell monitor then there should also be a USB connector for your computer on the cable. Essentially it's a USB hub, and should work fine provided the USB cable from the screen is attached to your computer. VGA & DVI do not provide USB signals.

This may seem out of the blue, but I have a question for you. How are you liking the 2407WFP? I've heard alot of good and bad things about it but I'm still thinking about purchasing one for my macbook pro. Any comments on it?

Chris W.

Get one. It rocks.

I've been using the 24" Dell monitor (2407WFP) for almost a year now. At first with a powerbook-g4, and now with a macbook pro. I really like it and wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to anyone looking for a nice monitor.

I just purchased a Macbook Pro (2.33) as well, and i have the same Dell monitor. I'm experiencing a different problem though and was wondering if any one has encountered this before.

Upon plugging my dell display into my MBP (using DVI or VGA) my Dell display appears fine with 1900x1200 resolution, however I receive extreme static on my MBP display. When i unplug the cable to the dell display the static still remains and the only way to get rid of it is to restart the computer.

I just purchased the laptop last night (my first mac) and i've never experienced something like this with multiple displays before... any advice?

Thanks

I've had my 24" dell monitor since August and I am pretty happy with it (notice not very or extremly).

For the price you can't beat it... it's great as a desktop, with hight adjustment, multiple inputs and even PIP (onec i get my MBP I will use this while running it and my old G4).

As a a media playback monitor I am less impressed. I put in a couple of DVDs and they didn't look so hot.

If this is just a computer monitor than it is a great choice, but if you are trying to make a digital livingroom setup and plan on watching DVD on it... save your cash.

I have the same problem with the static (for me, the MacBook Pro display is so bad that only the external display is usable). If I disconnect the DVI cable, it goes away, but "tearing" is visible in the windows and fonts.

I'm not sure if it's a hardware problem. I installed Vista through Boot Camp and was able to use both displays without any problem for a couple of hours. The static/blurring only shows up in OS X after I open a few windows (like several instances of Safari and Firefox) before the MacBook display becomes completely unusable. The external display (A03 revision if I remember correctly) is fine.

I spoke with Apple support on Tuesday and they said they'd like a few days to look into the issue. I'm waiting for a callback. I've already ran through the whole battery of tests and support call procedures (creating a test account and logging in, doing the equivalent of resetting the PRAM, etc.)

MacBook Pro C2D Mac OS X (10.4.8)

i brought mine into the store the other day and showed them what was going on. Apparently the video card was bad so they just swapped it out for me. The new one hasn't had any problems as of yet...