Buying a Monitor

Charlie Ruggiero - 2001.02.12

Q: I just purchased a used Power Mac. It did not come with a monitor, and I am having an extremely hard time finding used Apple (brand) or compatible monitor. Is there any way I can use a monitor you buy at Best Buy or Circuit City? None of the boxes say they are Macintosh compatible. Also, what do all of those specifications mean on the monitor box?

A: Any Power Mac can run practically any "PC" monitor sold at an electronics or computer store. Macs before the Blue and White G3 had a monitor connector with 15 pins, but it was about twice as wide as the standard PC VGA connection (which also has 15 pins). To use new monitors (including those from Apple) you must have an adapter which converts the wide Apple connector to standard VGA. Because the pins on the older Apple connectors do not always mean the same thing on the VGA connectors, you may have to get an adapter that allows you to change what kind of signal is being sent to the computer from the monitor. They usually come with an instruction booklet which either has your Macintosh listed or has a list of settings to try.

Before I continue we should go over some of the specifications that computer companies list on a monitor box.

Resolution: The number of pixels or dots on your screen. As you increase the resolution, more dots are shown per inch. This is why, when you increase your resolution or decrease it, the menus, text, and, icons change size as well.

Refresh Rate: Often this is listed like this: 1024 x 768 @ 60 Hz. The first two numbers are the resolution, and the "60 Hz" is the refresh rate. This is how fast images are redrawn on the screen. Think of it as frames-per-second. A TV has about 30 frames per second. Movie film has about 24 frames per second. This is a similar measure. The higher the refresh rate, the less likely you are to see flicker.

Size in Inches: This is a measure of the diagonal size of your screen. A lot of monitors list two numbers. These appear like this: "17 inch monitor. 15.3 inch viewable." This means that the diagonal size of the CRT from corner to corner (part of that hidden by the case) is 17 inches. The viewable size is always lower. LCD monitors usually have the exact size listed. If you are comparing a CRT monitor and a LCD monitor, be sure to compare the viewable sizes.

Flat screen: This means the glass on the front of the monitor is completely flat. There are no curves, and in theory there is less distortion on the edges.

Trinitron: A technology developed by Sony which only means the monitor has three electron guns in it instead of one. In theory this gives a sharper image because the guns do not have to shoot as high or low.

LCD: Liquid Crystal Display. These monitors are very similar (if not exactly the same) to what you would find in a laptop.

The specifications you should worry about are Resolution, Refresh Rate and if it is a LCD screen. If a monitor supports 1600x1200 resolution, you may not be able to drive it at this resolution because your video card does not have enough memory. If you do want to purchase a monitor with higher resolution support and use that resolution you should check your video card's memory - and if necessary get a new video card. Many new video cards are using the PC 15 pin VGA standard rather than the older Mac standard. This means you do not have to purchase an adapter to use a new monitor.

Some Macs only display at refresh rates of 60 Hz or 75 Hz. Some newer monitors do not support refresh rates as low as 60 Hz (though most do) so you should be sure the specs line up. PowerMac owners should not have this problem as much as the 680X0 series Mac owners do.

Luckily most monitors support resolutions down to 640 x 480, which is the only resolution supported by some early Macs.

Keep in mind that the adapter you buy, the refresh rate, and resolution can effect how the monitor reacts to your Macintosh. If you hook up a monitor and you see black (or a message that says "out of range") or you pick a resolution that produces the same result, you can fix this easily. Restart your Mac and flash the PRAM 3 times (cmd-opt-P-R). Keep in mind this will probably reset other settings as well.

When buying an LCD monitor make sure the connector will work your Mac. Some LCD monitors use a VGA connector. Some have a special digital connector, and still others have a proprietary connector (like Silicon Graphics and Apple's LCD monitors.) There may be an expensive adapter you have to buy to get the LCD monitor to work.

Some tips on buying monitors that are not specifically compatible with Macs:

1. Avoid buying old PC monitors. They may have a similar looking connector, but it will have only 9 pins. There is no adapter for these, and they do not have the resolution, color, or refresh qualities required by a Macintosh computer. These monitors are often 16 color monitors, or they support 16 grays, or only display green and black.
2. Buy a monitor from a local store that not only takes returns, but does not charge a restock fee - just in case you can't get the monitor to work with your Mac and have to return it.
3. Adapters are available from online retailers and many stores. I have seen them in Best Buy, CompUSA, and other Mac resellers. They usually cost between $12 and $30. Many will have switches you can adjust for your Mac. If one does not work, return it and try a different one. They all have different designs.
4. Just because the sales person says it will not work with a Mac does not mean they are right. Many monitors work with the Mac even though they do not list Mac support on the box. I once had a PC sales person tell me, many years ago, that those adapters caused the monitor to explode. This is not true.
5. Just because the sales person says it will work with a Mac does not mean it will. There are probably a few monitors out there that do not work for some reason.
6. There are a lot of monitors that are made by same company under different brands. If one monitor works with your Mac, then there is a good chance there is another that will also work (and possibly cost less).

There is no reason to search the Internet for a used Apple monitor. Getting a new monitor will allow you to not only use it longer, but nearly guarantee use of it on future computers. Newer monitors support higher resolutions and better refresh rates as well. You will probably find the monitors at the local electronics store are cheaper than even 4 and 5 year old Apple brand monitors (depending on brand).

You have a huge selection of monitors with various features and prices to fit your old Mac. 

Charlie Ruggiero has used a lot of Macs, from Plus to G4, and even ran a BBS (remember those?) on a Plus. He works as Macintosh tech support and technology advisor for the College of Education at Michigan State University. He does a lot of hardware and software troubleshooting, as well as a great deal of video editing, capture, and streaming. Charlie is well versed in HyperCard, fairly knowledgeable in Future Basic, and has a good background in sound and video. He even has his own site, Edge of Heaven.