I am now the proud owner of a Mac Mini. It's so cute! I got a decent deal on eBay. It came with Parallels loaded on it which is very cool. As this is my first Mac, I'm sure that I'll have lots of questions going forward, but there's one that needs immediate attention.

I've got it set up in my living room, attached to my HDTV via its DVI input. The problem is that all four edges of the computer display are outside the edges of the TV screen. This is most annoying at the bottom, where the dock is out of view.

Is there any way to "shrink" the display at the Mac end so that I can see the edges of the screen? Because it's a DVI input, I can't change it on the TV end. Simply changing the resolution at the Mac end doesn't help either.

Simply changing the resolution at the Mac end doesn't help either.

Huh. I had my Mini hooked up to my TV via DVI and changing the Mac's screen resolution worked fine. What happens when you try?

(Of course, mine's the older Mini, and I think it has a different graphics card.)

Also, Parallels is teh awesome!

It's a rear projection TV, right? You ought to be able to adjust the screen size from the TV.

changing the Mac's screen resolution worked fine. What happens when you try?

I'll try again tonight and let you know exactly what happens. My hazy memory from last night is that the screen gets filled up no matter what the resolution.

It's a rear projection TV, right?

Yep.

You ought to be able to adjust the screen size from the TV.

It doesn't seem like you're able to if you're using the DVI input.

Heh. Googling in search of an answer to my problem above, I found this: [link]

Hopefully, he found a solution and will get back to me.

Hmmm... A later post on the same blog does not bode well....

Success! A mysterious clue at Apple Support (see the Picture Zoom section near the bottom), led me to look again at the Display Preferences pane on the Mini. On the Options tab, there was a checked checkbox labeled Overscan. I unchecked the box and abracadabra -- I can now see the whole screen! Huzzah!!

This may be something that was added to Mac Minis this year, since the Apple Support page is titled "Using Mac mini (Early 2006) with a television". The guy I linked to above who blogged about it was using a 2005 Mini. My guess is that enough people complained so that Apple fixed the problem.

Anyhoo.... Huzzah!!!

Yeah I'm pretty sure my original model Mac Mini doesn't have that option. Thankfully the Plasma TV it is hooked up to doesn't do that.

Google in 1960: [link]

Snerk.