External monitor matching resolution calibration?

[NewSc2]

Hi I just paired my 15" MBP with my Dell 20" LCD, and it looks kind of weird. Mainly the resolutions don't match up. Letters on one screen are smaller than the other, and windows in between monitors end up being slightly distorted.

I know about the resolution differences but this is kind of weirding me out. I work with Logic and the view is either too small on the MBP, but fine on the LCD, or too large on the Dell and fine on the MBP.

Is there anything I can do? The only thing I can think of is to lower my MBP's resolution, and I don't really want to do that.

 

[excalibur313]

I was wondering a similar thing. To be a bit more specific, I have two different monitors with different pixel densities. Is there a way to automatically have text and images shrunk/expanded when on a particular monitor to give the illusion that they are the same size even though the size of a pixel on one monitor is different from the other?

 

[mkrishnan]

Not in Tiger. This feature is being rolled out in Leopard (resolution independent user interface).

The major thing that you can do is calculate out the DPI of your notebook screen (probably around 110) and then adjust the big screen to a resolution that gives you a similar DPI. Assuming that you're extending and not mirroring. Which is what you want. Run the internal screen at native and adjust the res of the Dell.

EDIT: One more recommendation... I'm not sure how the Dells handle screen resolutions below their native res. If you get a really blocky looking pixelation of the screen when you bump down below the native resolution, try switching from using DVI to using VGA.

 

[excalibur313]

Oh wow! I didn't realize exactly what that feature allowed you to do. Is it in the current builds of leopard that are available to adc members?

 

[mkrishnan]

Oh wow! I didn't realize exactly what that feature allowed you to do. Is it in the current builds of leopard that are available to adc members?

I think so, but I'm not sure exactly how well application support it or whether the OS is designed to be able to scale up apps that weren't designed to use it. There are some other threads on it, including this one:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/274101/