How do I connect my Mac laptop to a monitor

“How do I connect my Mac laptop to a monitor?”

I’m not sure which model Macbook you have but I’ll assume its a late model Macbook.

As you already know most of your connections are on the side of the Macbook laptop. All recent Apple laptops (Pro and non-Pro) comes with Mini-DVI port. Locate the Mini-DVI port which is the “video out” port, check out the image below to see what I’m talking about.

The Mini-DVI port is used for connecting an external monitor, TV, or projector to the Mac laptop. Now you just have to figure what kind of port your external monitor can support. Most modern monitors will have a “DVI” and or “VGA” connection.

When you figure out what kind of ports your monitor has it’s time to figure out which cable to buy. These are the available cable options for connecting the monitor to the Macbook. None of these cables come with your laptop which really sucks so you’ll need to buy them separately.

• a Mini-DVI to DVI adapter – Apple Mini-DVI to DVI Adapter
• a Mini-DVI to VGA adapter – Apple Mini-DVI to VGA Adapter
• a Mini-DVI to Video adapter – Apple Mini-DVI To Video Adapter

With the external monitor connected to the Macbook you can “mirror” your laptop which will show the same image as your laptop display or you can “extend” the monitor which gives you more screen real estate. You can even use the Macbook with the lid closed (closed clamshell) as long as you have a external monitor, keyboard and mouse connected.

Note: S-video will not work on these MacBook laptops with NVIDIA graphics cards:

• MacBook (13-inch, Mid 2009)
• MacBook (13-inch, Early 2009)

Some older Mac laptops don’t have a DVI port instead of the Mini-DVI port. If that’s the case then use the supplied DVI to VGA cable to connect the laptop to a monitor.