I have Ubuntu precise installed on a MacBook Pro. When connecting to an external television using a VGA style cable the highest resolution available seems to be 640x480.

I'm using the proprietary NVIDEA Accelerated Graphics Driver (version current) and attempting to setup the TV using the nvidea-settings tool.

I know all the equipment supports higher resolutions because of the following:

• Prior to rebuilding my machine with precise, the same TV, cabel & adapter gave higher resolutions
• The same machine & TV when used with a HDMI cable allows higher resolutions
• Windows laptops with the same cable & TV are able to achieve higher resolutions

I'm not sure what to look for next, there are some similar FAQ questions but I'm not sufficiently familiar with the areas involved to know if these are my issue or are safe to try. Specifically:

• colord problem & my monitor resolution 640*480 with no other options! - is the closest, but as I'm having no problems with the main laptop monitor I'm not sure the described symptoms apply. I can't work out from the answer or Bumblebee site how to determine if nvidia optimus applies to my laptop.
• Why isn't my monitor's native resolution appearing as an option? - suggests configuring X by hand, but doesn't entirely match the symptoms I'm seeing