Tweaking your dual monitor display settings

Pt. 2 of 5 | 3:21 |

Setting up Dual Monitors on your Mac

Tuesday September 15, 2009

When you've

connected a second monitor

to your MacBook or MacBook Pro it's time to configure different settings.

Display settings

let you specify the screen size and the resolution of the second monitor you're adding to the mix. Mac OS X will generally do a good job of auto-detecting the monitor size, resolution and even brand, making our job easier.

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Show Notes

- Open up System Preferences either by clicking on a Dock icon or by clicking on the Apple menu and selecting System Preferences.

- In System Preferences first click on Expose and Spaces and disable those.

- Now click on Display.

- On each display a box will appear that allows you to change certain options.

- Click Detect Displays to make certain you Mac has detected the new display.

- On the left select the display resolution that gives you the best display on each monitor.

- Remember that each monitor has it's own resolution settings.

- When you change the resolution the screen fades and then comes back at the new resolution.

- If you wish you can check the box that states Automatically adjust brightness as ambient light changes.

- This helps your monitors adapt to changing light conditions in the room.

- Click the Arrangement tab.

- Here you need to put the monitors in their correct position. You can click on the monitor symbols and drag them until they are correct.

- If the new monitor is to the left, position the monitor icon numbered 2 to the left, for example.

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