SOLVED Which monitor would do?

[denetoet]

Dear MacHelpers,

A problem that has more aspects (and solutions?) than I imagined. It is about finding a monitor for my Mac!

My Mac is a MacBook Pro 13", Late 2013 It appears that the type of connections it has are of great importance.
Well, it has 2 Thunderbold sockets of the older type, i.e. not Thunderbolt 3. It has also an HDMI socket - not mentioned in the Hardware overview of the System Report! It has no USB-C connection.

All this technically limits the choice.

Apart from that, searching on internet it appears that Monitors that work well according to (Windows?) users are often less appreciated by (spoiled) Mac users.

My motivation: Becoming older the (excellent!) 13" screen of my Mac becomes slowly a bit too small to work with it comfortably. I would like more space mostly for reading and arranging windows, not for creating works of art. But the quality of the image should of course be very reasonable.

And I am not looking for expensive solutions. Maybe my old MAC will also soon retire!

Who has experience and/or recommendations?

Thanks for your answers in advance! Dirk

 

[Cory Cooper]

Hello,

Pretty much any will do, as you will need an adapter to connect it any way. The Thunderbolt 2 Ports on your MBP also support Mini DisplayPort for video, so any Mini DisplayPort to HDMI/VGA will work for monitors.

I am currently running an inexpensive HP ProDisplay P240va using a Mini DisplayPort to HDMI adapter on a 2015 MBA and it works perfectly.

Hope that helps.

C

 

[denetoet]

Thank you Cory for all this info. The 'adapter' you mention is this Mini DisplayPort to HDMI/VGA contraption I presume, which I connect to one of the Thunderbold2 Ports. From there to the monitor with a HDMI cable or a VGA-VGA(?) cable. Is this correct?
The HDMI-Port of my MBP is of no use here I conclude. Correct?
Cheers, Dirk

 

[wab123]

No answer here Dirk but I run a new HP 27" monitor off my 2017 13" MBA, thet work very well together.

 

[Cory Cooper]

Yes, that is correct for the adapter-HDMI connection. You could use the HDMI port directly with an HDMI cable as well, but the display would need to have an HDMI input.

C

 

[Jigs]

I had an old 2015 MBA in the dust bin (puffed battery), and I recently made a nice workstation using a 2-monitor stand and two cheap Dell 1080p IPS monitors. As stated above, u just need two thunderbolt to HDMI adapters, and it all just works.