Help with external monitor for macbook pro

December 10, 2011 11:51 AM

Year old apple macbook pro laptop. I spilled water on it and killed the screen. I have heard that you can plug in an external monitor if you have the right "dongle". I no longer have the dongle the laptop came with, so I would like to kow what is the name of the adaptor I would need in order to plug in a second hand LCD screen? And where would I get one? Thank you.
posted by cascando to computers & internet (10 answers total)

You need an Apple Mini DisplayPort adapter. They come in at least two flavors, DVI and VGA (Amazon links for expediency). Pic the one that best suits your monitor.
posted by mosk at 11:58 AM on December 10, 2011

Depends if your second hand LCD screen has VGA or HDMI/DVI inputs. If it's HDMI/DVI, you want a http://store.apple.com/uk/product/H1824ZM/A/Moshi_Mini_DisplayPort_to_HDMI_Adapter?fnode=MTY1NDA3Ng; if its VGA you want a http://store.apple.com/uk/product/MB572Z/A?fnode=MTY1NDA3Ng. Confused as to which you need? Look at the photos of the plugs in the Apple store, then look at the sockets on the back of the monitor.

I use the first with my Mac Book Pro to connect to an HDMI absolutely fine... on preview, this may still be useful for info on plug pics!
posted by Hartham's Hugging Robots at 12:02 PM on December 10, 2011

They also sell these at the Apple store, that's where I bought mine.
posted by shoesietart at 12:16 PM on December 10, 2011

If you don't have an Apple store, they are also sold off the rack at Best Buy
posted by yeolcoatl at 12:39 PM on December 10, 2011

Once you know which type you need, you can get them cheap on eBay.
posted by auto-correct at 12:48 PM on December 10, 2011

Monoprice.com is great for buying adapters/cords at really good prices - mini-display port adapters
posted by Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug at 1:11 PM on December 10, 2011

Generics are sold on amazon for ten bucks. I have a VGA one that I use occasionally, and a DVI one that I use daily.
posted by oceanjesse at 1:15 PM on December 10, 2011

Skip the genuine Apple products, they are great quality and look very nice, but the Mini Displayport -> DVI adaptor from Monoprice will give you the same quality on your display, for $8.53 delivered. They are a well known maker, and I have been very happy using their Mini Displayport -> HDMI cable on my 1.5 year-old MacBook Pro. This is assuming you get a monitor with DVI; if you can afford a Mac Pro, that's almost certainly the case, even for a used one. Also, note that your Mac Pro can drive almost any monitor that's 24" or less; you don't have to get a small one just because your original screen was 1280x800.
posted by wnissen at 3:02 PM on December 10, 2011

The above advice is good, but there's a decent chance the water did not just kill the LCD, but took out the logic board or some other vital component. So you're taking some risk that buying the dongle (and, if applicable, monitor) would be a waste.
posted by raf at 9:14 PM on December 10, 2011

Definitely seconding the point about the logic board. The price of the dongle isn't much of a risk, but the screen definitely is. I'm sitting here using my nice shiny Mac Book Pro precisely because I had a painfully costly mixup involving my old Mac Book and a bottle of water. (I plonked them both down together, just for a couple of minutes, on a bed with a thick duvet. They both sank down in the feathers, the top of the bottle wasn't quite open, and the rest... hey, I'll get over it one day :) But the point was: some water utterly fried my machine. No amount of external monitors would have saved me. Buy the dongle, then find a friend with a monitor.
posted by Hartham's Hugging Robots at 3:04 AM on December 11, 2011