How To Connect a MacBook to A TV or Monitor

so you want to hook your MacBook up to a monitor or a TV but you don't know how to do it doesn't have any other traditional ports that you're used to and everywhere you're looking online it's giving you a completely different answer just simply because Mac books have changed so much over time well luckily this video is going to answer any and all questions you have and should work for any MacBook that you have up until 2018 and if it has USB C which we'll talk about later we'll continue to work with your MacBook after 2018 but first off though we need to look at what you're plugging your MacBook into we're doing this because we need to see what kind of connection we need to go into your TV or your monitor right whether it's HDMI DVI DisplayPort we need to know which one you have in which one you're going to use I wouldn't recommend using anything other than DVI HDMI or DisplayPort it doesn't really matter which one of those you use but you need to use one of those VGA is an older analog format you don't need to use that so DVI HDMI or DisplayPort here's what each of those ports look like a HDMI DVI and DisplayPort that way you know what you're looking at and know which one your TV or monitor has that way you can buy the correct cable when the time comes doesn't matter which one of these you have just to know which one you're going to use on the outset speaking of cable so you can find all of the cables we mentioned separated by macbook generation and by DVI HTML that's stuff in the description down below if you go down there and purchase through any of those links they're Amazon links we do get a small Commission at no additional cost to you so thank you very much for doing that so now that we know what kind of cable we're plugging your monitor let's move over to our MacBook now depending on what kind of generation of MacBook you have it's going to be a very different process so how do you find with generation 2 MacBook you have well it's actually pretty simple when you're on your desktop you've got no apps open or anything like that on your Mac you should have a Apple logo in the top left click on that Apple logo and then click on about this Mac here you'll see the type of MacBook you have and it should say something about early whatever or mid whatever year mid-2017 early 2015 late 2018 whatever you're a MacBook says on it that is what generation of MacBook you have some of you having early 2015 you using a different cable than in early 2008 this will actually work on any MacBooks from 2008 up to 2018 now you're going to be using different cables we know what generation you have or and go over that here in a second but you need to know what generation of Macbook you have I've done this on the screen for you you can see how to do it it's very very simple but whatever generation of MacBook you have taken note of that and then you'll have it for later when we discuss what cable you need for plugging in to your macbook so let's go ahead and do that format books from late 2008 to mid 2011 you will need a mini DisplayPort cable a mini DisplayPort cable to DVI HDMI or DisplayPort whichever one your monitor or TV has that you're going to be using to double check this here's what a mini DisplayPort looks like on a MacBook now one note here this looks the exact same as a Thunderbolt port so this is why it's very important to know what generation of MacBook you have if you use a Thunderbolt port for the late 2008 to a mid 2011 MacBooks it will not work you need a mini DisplayPort for those to work so keep that in mind when you're buying your cable here and that actually moves us on to the next generation of MacBook because MacBooks from late 2011 to mid 2016 use a Thunderbolt 2 ports so Thunderbolt 2 is looks the same as mini DisplayPort but it can do a lot more than just display to another monitor if you have a MacBook from late 2011 to mid 2016 you will be able to get a Thunderbolt 2 hdmi displayport or DVI port and get it to work on a second monitor pretty simple plugging in your monitor plug it into your macbook and you are done right now one note here now make sure you are getting a thunderbolt one connector not a Thunderbolt 2 or three connector because a thunderbolt one connector only works for MacBooks up to a mid-2013 if you have a macbook made in late 2013 or after you can get a thunderbolt 2 cable and it'll work and you can also get a thunderbolt 1 cable i'll have all this linked in the description down below that way you can make sure you're gonna get thunderbolt 1 if you have a 2011 late 2011 actually - a mid 2013 and if you have a late 2013 - a mid 2016 you'll be getting a thunderbolt - if you use the links in the description down below you don't have to worry about that but that is something to note that a thunderbolt who does not work on MacBooks made before late 2013 and has to be made in late 2013 or after for a thunderbolt to port to work something changed after this though starting in late 2016 Apple did away with Thunderbolt on their Mac books and moved 100% to just one USB C port yes you heard me right and this is what a USB C port looks like if you have one you probably know but it is because you probably got one of these dongles thus if you have a late 2016 MacBook or newer you will need to get yourself a USB C to DVI HDMI or display port adapter dongle cable right and most likely you'll want to get one of these USB C dongles as well that expands it that way you can actually charge your macbook while you're connecting it to an external monitor Apple loves dongles we all know this at this point with the late MacBooks or the newer Mac books and as long as your MacBook has this port on it you will be using this same method a USB C to DVI HDMI or DisplayPort connection to connect your MacBook to a nother monitor and there you have it that is how you can connect a MacBook to a second monitor or a TV just plug one end of the cable now that you know what correct cable to get into the MacBook the other end into your TV or monitor and you're done to configure the monitor go ahead and again click on that Apple logo on the top left click on about this Mac and then click on displays here to be able to change any of your display preferences go and make everything work and whether your monitor is mirrored or whether it's an extension of your desktop you can change all of that here so yeah that's how you do that and that's where you want to go to get that done if you have any other questions please post them in the comment section down below I am more than happy to help you out and again if you do go purchase any of these cables that I mentioned all of them are linked in the description down below on Amazon we do get a little bit of commission for that at no additional cost to you so thank you very very much for doing that in advance nevertheless my name is Nick give this video a thumbs up if it helped you out subscribe to the channel for more awesome content and I am out pace

Channel: The Breakdown

Views: 280,192

Keywords: How To Connect a MacBook to A TV or Monitor, how to connect a macbook to a tv, how to connect a macbook to a monitor, how to hook up a macbook to a tv, how to connect any macbook to a tv, how to setup a macbook to monitor, how to add a second monitor on a macbook, how to make a macbook work on a tv, how to setup a tv on a macbook, how to use a monitor with a 2018 macbook, cable to hook macbook to tv, cable to hook macbook to a monitor, macbook with a tv, macbook with a monitor

Id: 28FKq-Y4vic

Length: 6min 24sec (384 seconds)

Published: Sat Dec 01 2018