iBook Projector image all wrong

**Peripatetics** · November 16th, 2008, 07:33 PM

A friend of mine has an iBook. I am a PC nerd, but recently saw the light and bought an iMac. Love it. However, I'm still on the learning curve, so bear with me.

We used a VGA dongle with the iBook to connect to a digital projector, and when we did, the image on the iBook had to be moved almost off the screen to the right to be visible on the projector image. It is bizarre. I'm guessing there's a simple solution, but I don't know what it is.

When I went to System preferences, there were two displays listed -- one was the projector, which was an Optima, and the other (presumably) was the iBook monitor.

Any quick ideas? Thanks.

**ElDiabloConCaca** · November 16th, 2008, 07:51 PM

You have two options when using an external monitor (or projector) with a laptop:

1) Mirroring: This is where the exact same thing is displayed on both the laptop's display and on the external monitor/projector
2) Extended Desktop: This is where you basically have two monitors that act as one, big monitor. Move a window off of the screen in the correct direction, and it disappears from the internal display and appears on the external display.

This is controlled via the "Displays" pane of the System Preferences. It sounds like you're using "Extended Desktop" mode.

**fryke** · November 17th, 2008, 05:02 AM

The iBook does not have the Extended Desktop feature. It only supports mirroring.

**ElDiabloConCaca** · November 17th, 2008, 08:12 AM

...unless they used Screen Spanning Doctor:

http://www.rutemoeller.com/mp/ibook/ibook_e.html

Which may or may not be the case.

**fryke** · November 17th, 2008, 08:22 AM

I reread the original post and I guess you're right. Sorry.

**OpenTilMidnight** · December 6th, 2008, 06:19 AM

I am having a similar problem. I Just started using my Mac in the classroom and I discovered that the display changed after I plugged in my computer to the projector. I am fine with the resolution change, but on some websites, I cannot scroll to the bottom of the page while the resolution is changed. The bottom half of pages I project are inaccessible. Any ideas on what I can do to fix this?

Thanks!!!!

**DeltaMac** · December 6th, 2008, 07:05 AM

You will get closer to the answer if you tell us some more about your Mac, such as processor type and speed, and your OS X version. You can quickly find that information by clicking on your Apple menu, and choosing About This Mac...

**ElDiabloConCaca** · December 6th, 2008, 08:52 AM

Originally Posted by OpenTilMidnight

I am having a similar problem. I Just started using my Mac in the classroom and I discovered that the display changed after I plugged in my computer to the projector. I am fine with the resolution change, but on some websites, I cannot scroll to the bottom of the page while the resolution is changed. The bottom half of pages I project are inaccessible. Any ideas on what I can do to fix this?

Thanks!!!!

Sounds like the projector image resolution is set to something slightly higher than the height of your (unknown) Mac model's screen.

Try adjusting the resolution in the "Displays" pane of the System Preferences.

Or try Screen Spanning doctor, if you have a Mac that does not natively support Extended Desktop mode. That way, you can have one resolution on the projector, and a different one for the Mac's screen.