We say this a lot but it’s incredible how a tiny change can greatly improve your life
Context
I bought a used Samsung SE450 series monitor a couple of years ago from a local dealer in town. I didn’t have anything fancy in mind, I just needed a 24” monitor which was within my budget at the time. There were a couple of options but I chose this particular one because I recognised the brand even though I was unaware that Samsung also made monitors.
When I got home, I actually looked it up online to see if it was authentic and indeed it was and seemed for at the time it was a great monitor.
This monitor only has a VGA and Display Port as video inputs so no fancy HDMI inputs. I didn’t mind that since I’d bought a VGA cable alongside the monitor.
I have a 2017 MacBook Pro which only came with two USB Type C ports so for any inputs, I’ve always had a cal digit doingle as well as HDMI to VGA adapter that I’d use for presentation incase there was no HDMI cable available.
My connection typically looked like this
VGA -> HDMI Adopter -> Caldigit -> Type C Port
This connection wasn’t perfect especially if and as such the picture quality on the monitor was far from ideal but I didn’t get worked up about it. It worked and that’s what I cared about.
When I received my M2 Mac mini, I thought I’d get rid of the VGA to HDMI adopter but for some reason it couldn’t pick the video signal - a number of people have reported a similar issue - so I painfully stuck with that part of the connection. I started working on a lot of design heavy stuff and the picture quality bothered me as colours and videos looked faded so I was forced to use my MacBook for that part of the work which was really frustrating. I was bothered that I wasn’t using the HDMI port on the Mac mini as I believe this would improve the picture quality so I figured I’d simply get a new HDMI to BGA adopter but instead I came across a HDMI to VGA Adapter Cable on Jumia. It looked extremely sketchy, had no brand name and was super cheap for the specs it offered nonetheless I decided to give it a try.
When it arrived, I was excited to test it out. It didn’t work on the Mac mini which made me nervous but when I connected it to the caldigit hdmi port, it worked and the picture quality was excellent.
This has single Handley increased the time I spend on my desk because of how crisp the resolution on this monitor is. The specs of the cable match the monitor specs which I think is what makes the difference.
Technical Specifications:
- Resolution:* 1920x1080 (1080P), 1280x720 (720P), and lower resolutions
Technical Specifications of Monitor:
- Resolution:* 1920x1080
I now understand why gamers or everyone one YouTube is obsessed about 4K, 8K screens. It really makes a huge difference and makes the viewing experience a tone better.
Conclusion
With this tiny change, I managed to get rid of the VGA cable as well as the VGA to HDMI adopter and now my setup looks so much better. I hope I can enjoy it more this year and get more work done.
I’ve leaned a bit about cables, so many details I used to overlook now make sense. I’ll distill a bit here as I explore more.