Monitor Calibration

[Eeden]

Hey Guys,

I have some troubles calibrating my monitor.
I just bought a new macbook pro 2.4GHZ. The external display that I use is a Samsung SyncMaster 226cw.

I have both display on their highest resolution. On my macbook pro everything is cristal clear. On my external monitor everything seems blurred. It's just unsharp. Especially letters look unsharp. I tried to calibrate my monitor but it doesn't seem tot work.

I don't understand this problem because my 4 year old laptop PC worked perfectly with this monitor.

Thank you in advance

 

[mattw126]

I have both display on their highest resolution.

I would double check this, restart your MBP with the external connected. See if that works.

 

[compuwar]

I have both display on their highest resolution.

Is that the same resolution you were using previously? Have you tried adjusting the sharpness setting on the monitor? Are you sure you're not just seeing the difference between the screens?

 

[ChrisA]

I have both display on their highest resolution. On my macbook pro everything is cristal clear. On my external monitor everything seems blurred. It's just unsharp. Especially letters look unsharp. I tried to calibrate my monitor but it doesn't seem tot work.

You want to set the resolution to the LCD's native resolution. If "highest" is greater than "native" you would have blur do to interpolation.

 

[Eeden]

Well ofcourse their is a big difference between my external monitor and the macbook pro. However this blur is not normal.

How do I know what the native resolution is?

 

[mattw126]

How do I know what the native resolution is?

The native resolution is the highest res the monitor can display (at least I'm pretty sure about that). Hell just do trial & error with the different res settings, until you get it right. I'm typing this reply on my 24", which displays @ 1920 x 1200 (it's highest output), and I don't have any issues. Good luck...

Well ofcourse their is a big difference between my external monitor and the macbook pro.

...and calm down.

 

[Irishguinea]

I had a Samsung and ran into the same problem. Native resolution is a must and your manual should tell you what it is. If its a 22 inch. it'll probably be 1600x1200 and refresh rate should be 60mHz, although it shouldn't allow you to change the refresh rate.

But the key was, I had to change, in Win XP, don't know if Mac has this somewhere or not, the display properties under appearence/effects there was a box checked by default to "use this method to smooth edges of screen fonts" once I unchecked that option the onscreen text became clear.

 

[OreoCookie]

Sounds like you're mirroring your internal display to me. If you mirror, then you don't have an option to go higher than the resolution of your internal screen (which is lower than that of your external screen). Hence, the Samsung needs to interpolate, things are not sharp.

 

[ChrisA]

Well ofcourse their is a big difference between my external monitor and the macbook pro. However this blur is not normal.

How do I know what the native resolution is?

LCDs unlike CRTs have the pixels etched into the screen. On an LCD a pixel is a physical device. On a CRT a pixel is projected onto the back of the glass. It made sense to allow the resolution to be changed on a CRT but the only reason resolution can be changed on an LCD is for compatibility with old equipment.

You find the LCD's native resolution by reading the manufactures specs. Normally when you buy an LCD screen the resolution is printed on the outside of the box. You can look up the specs on the web if you lost the papers that came with the monitor.

OK I just did. I typed "Samsung 226cw" into Google and got this for you

key specifications

* Screen Size : 22" Wide
* Resolution : 1680x1050
* Brightness : 300 cd/m²
* Contrast Ratio : DC 3000:1 (Static 1000:1)

 

[mattw126]

Well ofcourse their is a big difference between my external monitor and the macbook pro

Not my MBP. I really didn't see a need for the higher res when I primarily work on my 2nd monitor.

So what's the deal anyway, did you figure it out?

 

[jampat]

It needs to be at 1680x1050, anything else will look like crap.

Samsung SyncMaster 226CW Black 22" Widescreen LCD Monitor. (22", 1680x1050, 2ms - MPN: LS22MEWSFVXAA).