How to Connect a Monitor to Your MacBook is a post by Craig Lloyd from Gotta Be Mobile.
If you’re wanting to connect an external monitor to your MacBook for more screen real estate, here’s how to do it.
MacBooks can be great for portability, but if you have a lot of work to do and have a lot of apps open, the 13- and 15-inch screens of the MacBooks aren’t going to be large enough, which is why a larger external monitor can be a great asset to have whenever you’re doing any intensive work.
Plus, monitors are pretty cheap nowadays, with most decent models costing less than $200. In fact, this Asus 23-inch 1080p monitor is only $154 on Amazon right now, which means that it’s fairly affordable to add a second display to your setup without breaking the bank.
However, the biggest roadblock is that many monitors don’t have the same connections as those on MacBooks, which means that you can’t just go out and buy a monitor and immediately hook it up to your MacBook using the connections supplied. You actually may need an adapter.
If you plan on buying an external monitor to hook up to your MacBook, here’s what you need to know about hooking it up to your Apple laptop.
Types of Monitor Connections
First off, there are a few types of monitor connections that you should know about. The most common connection port on a monitor is DVI, and you’ll see this connection on 99.9% of monitors out on the market.
Another common connection port is VGA. It’s not as common today as it was several years ago, but you may still see it on some computer monitors — sometimes by itself or paired with a DVI option.
The other common connection that you’ll see on monitors is HDMI. It’s less common than DVI and VGA, as you’ll usually only see HDMI on newer, select monitors, but it’s becoming more and more common these days.
Lastly, some monitors come with Thunderbolt connections, which allows you to plug in the display directly into your MacBook Pro, similar to that of HDMI. However you’ll usually only find Thunderbolt connections on expensive monitors, like Apple’s own Thunderbolt Display, which is priced at $999.
How to Connect a Monitor to Your MacBook
Ideally, the best monitor to get for your MacBook is one that has an HDMI port, as newer MacBook Pros and MacBook Airs have HDMI ports as well, so there’s no need to buy an adapter in this case. All you would have to do is attach the HDMI cable to the monitor and the other end into the HDMI port on your MacBook.
Plus, if the monitor has built-in speakers, HDMI can send audio signals to the monitor as well, meaning you can have your MacBook’s audio routed to your monitor’s built-in speakers, which is an added bonus.
If your monitor doesn’t have an HDMI port, but rather a DVI or VGA connection, then you’ll need a Thunderbolt-to-DVI adapter or a Thunderbolt-to-VGA adapter (a.k.a. Mini DisplayPort-to-DVI/VGA adapter), both of which Apple sells in-store and online for $30 each.
Since MacBooks don’t have DVI or VGA ports, an adapter like this will allow you to plug a DVI or VGA cable into the adapter and then plug the other end into your MacBook.
If your monitor only has a VGA port, that means it’s probably really old and could use an upgrade anyway. You’ll see significant image quality degradation if you use VGA, and since newer monitors can be bought for relatively cheap anyway, we’d recommend getting one that comes with a newer type of connection, preferably HDMI.
However, if you’re set on using whatever monitor you have now, that’s how you do it. A simple adapter will do the trick it’s a DVI or VGA connection that you need. Otherwise, HDMI and Thunderbolt connections can plug right into your MacBook without the need for an adapter.
How to Connect a Monitor to Your MacBook is a post by Craig Lloyd from Gotta Be Mobile.
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