New Monitor & Power to the Ports

[Julia Falling]

This is just a bit off topic, but I thought the info might be useful to someone else. I had previously posted this on a thread on the Mainly Macintosh forum, then realized it applied more generally.

 

I got an early Christmas present a couple of weeks ago – a Dell U2713HM monitor (27"). Beautiful screen. 2560 x 1440 resolution – the max my Air will support. Built in USB-3 hub (1 upstream, 4 downstream). It's connected to my 13" MacBook Air. Only one problem, and easily fixed once you figure it out.

 

When we first got it set up, all peripherals were recognized – the Time Machine disk, iPhone or iPad, ethernet (via a USB to ethernet adaptor). But then it seemed that all the ports went dead. Not even a thumb drive was seen. Searched the web. The only hint I found had to do with power. My husband suggested plugging a powered USB hub into the Air, and the display-to-Mac USB cable into the powered hub. That solved the problem. (Unfortunately, the solution was discovered a little late. I'm using a replacement monitor sent by Amazon. We had concluded that the first was defective. It probably wasn't, but the model could use more power to those ports.)

 

To get the maximum resolution, the display port connection must be used – the cable was cheap off Amazon ($9.99). Neither HDMI nor VGA will yield the maximum 2560 x 1440.

 

Anyway, if you don't mind purchasing a powered USB hub, this monitor is a great way to go. Under $600 from Amazon. Lots of real estate for running Accordance.