How to connect a MacBook to TV

Here's a quick guide on how to connect a MacBook to TV with two methods, one wireless and the other with the help of a common HDMI cable

In various circumstances you may want to connect your MacBook to TV. There may be memories of vacations from years ago, photos, videos of christenings or concerts of good music inside your computer, material that you sometimes want to take out but to which the MacBook screen, even if it is well made, would not do justice.

Why not connect your MacBook to the TV then? It's a good idea, but some may be unaware of how to do it. Actually, it's a very simple operation and within anyone's reach, assuming you have the right tools and know, of course, how to do it. For this last requirement you have already ended up on the right guide, on the first point instead we must make a distinction: if you want to connect a MacBook to the TV wirelessly you must have an Apple TV and also be relatively close to the router so that the connection is not unstable or slow; if even a cable connection can be good, you must make sure that the MacBook has the correct output.

Connecting a MacBook to the TV wirelessly

To connect a MacBook to the TV wirelessly, using Wi-Fi and not the classic cables, you must first have an Apple TV to connect to the TV. If you have an Apple TV then the road is downhill because the steps are within the reach of anyone.

First, make sure that the MacBook and Apple TV are both connected to the same Wi-Fi network and both are set up with the same Apple ID. After that, the next step is to open the Control Center on the Mac, whose icon is usually to the left of the date and time, on the menu bar: here you have to click on the Duplicate Screen item and wait for the name of the Apple TV to appear.

Connecting a MacBook to your TV via cable

To connect a MacBook to your TV via cable, you need an HDMI cable. One end should be connected to the specific input on the TV while the other end should be connected to the input on the Mac. The point is, however, that not all Apple laptops have an HDMI output, especially the most recent ones: in this case you have to get an adapter among the dozens you can find online, sometimes for a few euros.

After connecting via HDMI cable between MacBook and TV, images and audio of the Mac should automatically be already visible on the TV screen. If the sound is still coming out of the Mac speakers, you have to open System Preferences, go to Sound, Output menu and select the correct audio output from the list, in our case the TV.

After that, the audio will be played on the TV, until the HDMI cable is disconnected from the TV or Mac.