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I have a Dell xps 13 and a 24" Dell monitor connected to it by a Mini Display-Port and HDMI. The problem is that if I turn on the laptop without the monitor connected to it, it looks perfectly clear. If I turn on the laptop with the monitor plugged-in the laptop display looks awful, everything is too small, unclear etc. If I connect the monitor after turning the laptop on, it's exactly the opposite, the monitor looks awful. I can't explain why this is happening, it's driving me crazy. Does anybody know what would be the problem?

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  • If I can understand this correctly, when you have the monitor hooked up and the laptop open, the screens for both look awful? Your explanation is somewhat unclear, and although I might have a solution, could you please provide a little more clarity on your issue?
    – nightsurfer
    Jun 22, 2016 at 19:04
  • Thank you for trying to help me out, it's really appreciated. I turn the laptop on, then plug the monitor in = laptop looks good / the monitor awful. I turn on the laptop while the monitor is plugged in = the laptop looks awful / the monitor looks good.
    – LuckyDaniel
    Jun 22, 2016 at 21:18

2 Answers 2

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Your laptop is likely set to mirror display. Therefore it will try to use either the monitor's native resolution or laptop's resolution. If they aren't the same, which is often the case, one of them will be blurry.

The solution is to "extend" one display to the other. Which you can set in display settings. After that, you may still need to change the resolution of each screen. Make sure you choose the native resolution.

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  • pretty much. The only way to avoid distortion on mirrored mode is to have each monitor (your laptop and the external) have the exact same resolution. Visualize the issue like this: you have a 4x4 image. One of your screens is 4x4 and the other is 4x2. The only way to display the image on both would be to squish it on the 4x2, thus resulting in an ugly looking screen
    – Blaine
    Jun 22, 2016 at 23:51
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When you hook a monitor to a Dell laptop, and leave the laptop open, it attempts to force one resolution to another screen. This can be the case in either way; the laptop will force its resolution to the monitor, or the monitor will force its resolution to the laptop. Try these steps:

  • Try closing the laptop screen, and see if the monitor's resolution is correct.
  • If this does not help, see if your monitor has an Auto-Adjust function. Try to run this as well, as it can help the monitor gain the correct resolution.
  • Check in Windows' Screen Resolution settings (Right-Click the desktop, select Screen Resolution) and check to see what resolution the monitor and laptop screen are on. Try to set them to the optimal/recommended setting.
  • Check to see if your drivers are up to date. A Dell XPS most likely does not have a graphics card, and instead uses onboard Intel graphics. Regardless of which, check them for updates.
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