The Logistics of External Monitors Vis-a-Vis MacBooks

multimoog

So what with my decision against getting an iPhone, I put that money towards beefing up the experience of my MacBook. Part of this has been getting a bunch of RAM from NewEgg, and now the second part is getting an external monitor. (For reference, I'm on a Feb. 2008 MacBook White, with a mini DVI port)

I've heard and read a lot of stuff about this subject, and have done some research in the real world. The guys at Staples and Best Buy don't know thing one about Apple products, and the people at my local Apple reseller (Philly isn't good enough for an Apple store) tell me they "can't really recommend" anything beyond an Apple Cinema Display, which is more than I'm looking to spend. So! Do any of you guys have experience in this area? I have a few things I want to cover:

A) What's a good monitor to look for? I can check the ratings on NewEgg, but I'd prefer some word-of-mouth from people who aren't comment section idiots. I want a flatscreen LCD, either 19" or 22". I had a decent 19" with my previous Mac Mini (I gave that to a friend as a gift when I got the laptop). Cutting-edge quality isn't THAT big a deal, as while I do design work (hence needing the extra screen space), I also use Pantone color books, and know how to calibrate a monitor. I can get away with spending $100-150 on NewEgg for good deals.

How do it work? I've been looking into it and have seen a lot of indecipherable forum threads on getting ext. monitors to run with the MacBook open vs. closed, trouble getting the Book to recognize the monitor at all, and lots of other things. Does anyone have any experience actually using a monitor on a MacBook, and are there any good tips to keep me from killing myself before I try using one?

Many thanks for the help!

Reckless

On B, I've plugged my MacBook up to my old Dell CRT, as well as two classroom projection systems, with no problems at all. I've always ran the Book open, though - I used the CRT to set up a dual screen situation.

embrik

I always recommend Dell Ultrasharp displays. They often go on sale too. As for B, it should work fine. The open vs closed "problem" is simply that when you shut the lid, the laptop sleeps, thus turning off the display. If you have an external keyboard and/or mouse, you can wake it back up without opening the lid. However, most Mac laptops vent hot air through the keyboard, so you generally don't want to run 'em with the lid closed. I think that was more of a problem with the older Powerbooks, though (as they have the hotter than heck G4 processors (mine always heats up nicely:) )

Garlic Bread

Yeah, Dell monitors are usually great and are often on sale. Just make sure you get one with a native resolution your Macbook can handle so it doesn't look like crap. I believe yours can do 1920x1200 max.

Off topic, but what Mac reseller in Philly do you go to? I know of the two Bundy stores (one at 18th & Chestnut and another up near me in the northeast), but I haven't really seen any other ones. Just wondering because the Bundy store up here sucks and I don't want to go downtown if there's a store closer to me when I need to.

flatlinegraphics

if you do design work, don't cheap out on a monitor. lcd's can get especially ugly on the cheap side. cheap monitors, and especially cheap lcd monitors, have a narrow gamut, and all the calibration in the world won't make up for interpolated 6bit color. hint: they dither the colors to approximate 16 million colors.

heres what you want to look for:
http://www.pchardwarehelp.com/guides/lcd-panel-types.php

ps, apple stores are going to reccomend apple products. thats how they roll.

multimoog

Yeah, I was thinking about the "closed vs. open" thing after I posted it and realized that, duh, of course I'm always going to want to operate with the lid open because I want two screens.

Quality on the external monitor isn't THAT big a deal because I have my laptop screen calibrated and can use that to store all the color palettes and use for color preview, I just want a larger one for getting more real estate on large files. Anyway, I use Pantone books to pick colors mostly, and unless I'm using a broken/black and white LCD, the color difference isn't going to be THAT extreme once I've picked colors.

The Apple reseller I go to in Philly is Springboard Media on 22nd and Walnut. They have pretty good deals on refurb/used Macs - I got this MacBook there as the floor model for $800, $50 less than the cost of a refurb on Apple's store. They checked it, cleaned it and did a new install of Leopard. Best price on this kind of laptop I've seen outside Craiglist, since those are all scams anyway.

multimoog

So I found a not-bad 19" Acer monitor on sale and got it, hooked it up, and it is so very nice to have all the extra real estate for Photoshop stuff. The semi downside: I didn't realize the box included a DVI as well as a VGA cable (I'm used to seeing monitor manufacturers only putting lower-end stuff in the box), so I got a mini-DVI to VGA adapter for it. I can return it of course (minus the goddamned 15% restocking fee), it's just a pain (largely due to that fucking fee).

Is a DVI signal much crisper and cleaner than a VGA?

AngelHedgie

multimoog wrote: »

So I found a not-bad 19" Acer monitor on sale and got it, hooked it up, and it is so very nice to have all the extra real estate for Photoshop stuff. The semi downside: I didn't realize the box included a DVI as well as a VGA cable (I'm used to seeing monitor manufacturers only putting lower-end stuff in the box), so I got a mini-DVI to VGA adapter for it. I can return it of course (minus the goddamned 15% restocking fee), it's just a pain (largely due to that fucking fee).

Is a DVI signal much crisper and cleaner than a VGA?

Yes, mainly because your computer and the monitor work in digital, but VGA is an analog signal. In comparison, DVI-D is pure digital, so there's no need to convert on either side of the line.

supabeast

multimoog wrote: »

Is a DVI signal much crisper and cleaner than a VGA?

Yes. Using VGA to an analog means you’re converting from digital to analog to digital. It really washes out the colors.

multimoog

supabeast wrote: »

multimoog wrote: »

Is a DVI signal much crisper and cleaner than a VGA?

Yes. Using VGA to an analog means you’re converting from digital to analog to digital. It really washes out the colors.

It's funny to read that, because even with the VGA cable the color really pops as opposed to my MacBook's screen - it's really vibrant.