Using a Macbook Pro with a Samsung HDMI Monitor

I recently started using my Samsung Monitor through an HDMI connection rather than DVI. I have used Samsung Monitors for a few years now since selling my 30″ Apple Cinema Display before they were discontinued. Samsung Monitors are very high quality and a fraction of the price. My eye (even with glasses on) can’t tell much of a difference between an Apple Cinema Display and a Samsung. I only need my monitor to be a monitor. The extra features an Apple Cinema Display offer are nice, but I can live without them. However, in making this change to HDMI I encountered a few problems.

My monitor is a 27″ Samsung S27A350H which offers an HDMI and VGA input. I was not about to connect my MBP through a VGA connection and loose valuable quality so I opted to connect through HDMI. To be honest, I didn’t bother trying the VGA connection to test differences in quality.

On my desk, I have my laptop on a Twelve South Bookarc stand and I keep it closed. I use the external monitor as my only monitor. I have several HDMI cables ranging in quality. The HDMI Cables that I have been using for home audio and my computer are the MediaBridge cables that Amazon.com carries. They are quality cables at a cheap price. To connect the HDMI Cable to my MacBook Pro I am using the Moshi MiniDisplay Port to HDMI Adapter, which I also bought at Amazon.com.

The problem is that when I connect the Moshi adapter to my MacBook Pro and attempt to wake my computer by tapping a key on my Apple Wireless Keyboard, nothing happens. I checked that the Samsung monitor is turned on, the cables are connected, and that my MacBook Pro in hibernate mode. Everything was fine. If I opened my MacBook Pro with the HDMI connected, both monitors would come on and it would operate in dual display mode. However, once I closed my laptop, I could not get the monitor to come back on by itself. I also have a generic brand MiniDisplay Port to HDMI adapter which is horrible and makes the screen flicker. This is the only monitor that seems to have a problem with the cheaper adapter. As far as image quality goes, the Moshi adapter works perfectly.

After trying everything, I called Samsung, who was also unable to help. I did some searching online and all that I found is that many others were experiencing similar problems. Determined, as usual, I kept at it and found a few different things that seem to have solved the problem. A few forums even suggested that the Samsung Monitor does not work properly with Apple’s way of detecting a monitor has been attached. It was also suggested that there were problems with many PC manufacturers as well, so it’s not a specific issue to Apple.

Changing Settings – Go into Menu on your monitor and switch the Auto Source to Auto, by default it comes set to Manual. You can get to this menu option by tapping menu twice to get it to come up, selecting Setup&Reset, then go down to Auto Source.

The first time I did this it seemed to work right away, however, the next day I came into work and plugged in I had the same problem.

With this Samsung Monitor, it seems that you have to tap each button twice to get it to do anything unless the option is already on the screen. The second thing I did was tap the Source button on the monitor twice. This switched sources from one to the next. I assumed that since the screen kept toggling back and forth between Analog and HDMI that it was doing this on its own. It may have been but hitting the source button twice seems to have made it work once again.

Performing this song and dance each time I connect my MacBook Pro to the Samsung Monitor got old really fast so I opted to try a different workaround.

Changing Cables – The solution that fixed the problem was purchasing an HDMI to DVI cable from Amazon.com and using my MiniDisplay Port to DVI adapter. This makes me believe that the problem is not so much in the Samsung Monitor or the MacBook Pro as it is the Moshi adapter. I can not confirm that the Moshi adapter is the problem as it does work perfectly in all other situations including a situation where I connect my MacBook Pro to a projector through HDMI over a 50-foot cable without any issues. I have no idea who to blame for my frustration, all I know is that it works great now.

The other fix would be to just use the monitor with your VGA adapter where you may lose some image sharpness but not have any connection issues.

Does this make me want to return my Samsung 27″ monitor that I paid $300 for to exchange it for a $999 Apple Cinema Display? To be honest I thought about it for a moment but it’s not work the extra money.

I hope that one of these suggestions helps you with your Samsung/MBP issues if you are having any.