You’ve made a great presentation, but you don’t know how to show it in the office or school because you haven’t figured out how to connect your Mac to a projector yet? Don’t worry, it’s a lot easier than you think. Follow the instructions on how to project with Mac that I am about to give you and you will be able to make your trusty computer recognize any type of projector or TV in no time.
All you have to do is buy the right cables and most importantly the right adapters to establish a connection between your computer and the projector and that’s it. If, on the other hand, you want to project content from your Mac wirelessly, you can resort to some devices that connect to the TV and that allow you to achieve this in an extremely simple and fast way.
You will see: if you scrupulously follow the “tips” I am about to give you, you will not have the slightest problem in completing your “business”. So tell me, are you ready to get started? Yup? Perfect. Make yourself comfortable, take all the time you need to focus on the information below and, after discovering which solutions are available, use the one that seems best suited to your needs. There is nothing left for me to do but wish you good reading and, above all, have fun!
Index
- How to project with Mac with wired connection
- Preliminary operations
- Connection configuration
- How to project with Mac wirelessly
- Apple TV
- Chromecast
How to project with Mac with wired connection
Do you want to project with Mac by connecting it to a projector or a TV via a wired connection ? This is certainly a great idea, especially if you want to get a stable connection between your computer and the device you intend to use for projection. Below, therefore, you will find explained in detail how to do it.
Preliminary operations
To be able to project with Mac there are some preliminary operations that you must perform, based on the model of computer in your possession, or better the ports available. The same applies to the projector or TV to be connected.
If your Mac doesn’t have an HDMI port, or if your projector or TV only has a VGA input, but your computer still has one or more Thunderbolt ports , you can find Thunderbolt to HDMI / VGA adapters , such as in the case of those reported below (which are also compatible with the most obsolete MacBook models, those in which the Mini DisplayPort output is present ).
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If, on the other hand, your Mac hosts an HDMI port (from MacBook Pro late 2013 up to MacBook Pro 2015), you simply need to find an HDMI cable (if you don’t already have one) through which to connect the computer to the projector or On TV.
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If you have a latest generation Mac (e.g. a MacBook Air 2020 or a MacBook Pro 2021) and therefore have a computer with only USB-C ports, you must have a USB-C to HDMI / VGA multiport adapter instead. , such as those listed below.
Once you have found all the material needed to connect your Mac to the projector / TV, turn them on both by pressing their respective power buttons . Now, if you have a Mac equipped with an HDMI port , connect your computer to the projector or TV using your HDMI cable and that’s it.
If your Mac does not have an HDMI port (or if your projector or TV only hosts the VGA input), take the Thunderbolt to HDMI / VGA adapter and, after connecting it to your computer’s Thunderbolt port (or to the Mini DisplayPort output which, as I told you before, supports this type of connection), connect it to the HDMI or VGA port that is present on the projector or TV.
Connection configuration
After connecting your Mac to the projector or TV, click on the System Preferences icon (the one in the shape of a gear wheel ) found on the MacOS Dock bar , select the item Screens in the window that appears and proceed to configure the behavior of the projector from there.
More specifically, if you want to change the way in which the projector or TV is seen by default by macOS, or as an extension of the desktop of your Mac, and then if you want to duplicate the computer screen, press the Settings button located at the bottom , select the name of the reference screen from the list on the left in the box that opens and choose the option of your interest from the Use as menu .
From the box above you can also change the resolution or brightness, always selecting first the reference screen from the list on the left and then using the menus and adjustment bars proposed.
If you’ve chosen to extend your desk, you can also arrange the screens in any order you like (presumably based on their actual physical location). To do this, you simply have to act on the virtual monitors visible in the central pane of the display settings window, moving them to the right or left and / or up or down.
How to project with Mac wirelessly
Do you want to project your Mac screen on your TV without using cables, adapters and other similar accessories? In that case, let me explain how to establish a connection wirelessly , using some rather simple and effective solutions, as in the case of Apple TV and Google Chromecast .
Apple TV
The first solution that I recommend you try to project wirelessly with Mac is Apple TV , the multimedia box of the Cupertino giant which, using the proprietary AirPlay technology , which I told you about in detail in my guide on the subject , allows you to project the screen of macOS (and, of course, also of iOS / iPadOS) on all supported devices.
Apple TV is available in two versions: one called Apple TV HD , which is 32GB and allows you to play content at the maximum resolution of 1080p, and a more advanced one called Apple TV 4K , which is available in 32GB or 64GB versions and allows you to play content in 4K resolution with Dolby Vision and HDR10. It can be purchased directly on the Apple website and in major electronics stores.
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Before showing you how to proceed, it is good to clarify that to take advantage of the screen projection functions between the Mac and the Apple TV you must have supported devices: in this case, you must have a Mac produced from 2011 onwards and equipped with macOS Mountain Lion or later and an Apple TV of at least 3rd generation .
If your devices have the right requirements and are connected to the same Wi-Fi network, after configuring Apple TV as I explained to you in my specific guide , you can project your computer screen on the TV by clicking on the Control Center icon ( the one with the two levers ) on the macOS menu bar, pressing the Duplicate Screen button and selecting the name of your Apple TV from the menu that opens.
After completing the above steps, you can choose whether to use the TV as a separate monitor by selecting the Extended desktop option or to duplicate the integrated monitor by selecting the Duplicate screen option . As regards, however, the possibility of adjusting the arrangement of the screens, follow the same indications that I gave you in the previous chapter .
If necessary, you can also decide to project a single content with Mac via Apple TV, using one of the applications compatible with the service (eg QuickTime Player ). To do this, you must start playing the content of your interest on Mac, locate the AirPlay icon (the one with the monitor and the triangle ) within the program in use, click on it and select the name of your Apple TV from the proposed list. For further information, you can read my tutorial dedicated exclusively to how Apple TV works .
Chromecast
Another solution that you can consider to project with Mac on the TV wirelessly is to use Google Chromecast , a key marketed by the Mountain View giant that connects to the HDMI port of the TV allowing you to send content to the latter. using Google Cast technology .
Chromecast, like Apple TV, allows you to transmit both multimedia content and the Mac screen to the TV, even if (this should be specified right away) the performances are not comparable to those offered by the AirPlay system with which the set-top box works. of the Cupertino group. If you’re interested in knowing, Chromecast can be purchased on Google’s website and in major electronics stores.
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To project the Mac screen on the TV via Chromecast, after having correctly configured the key as I explained to you in my specific guide , open the Google Chrome browser , in order to send the contents present in the browser tabs and / or to the Chromecast device on the entire computer desk.
To transmit multimedia content to the TV, first connect to the web page that hosts it, click on the button (≡) located at the top right of the Chrome toolbar, select the Cast option from the menu that appears and, finally, click on the name of your Chromecast device to complete the operation.
Do you want to cast the entire Mac desktop to the TV you connected the Google Chromecast device to? No problem: all you have to do is expand the Transmit to drop-down menu and then select the appropriate item from the box that opens. For more information, you can read my specific guide on how Chromecast works .
