Yes, what's going on is when you attach the external monitor the Linux kernel fires an event to reconfigure the monitors automatically. gnome- display-properties hears that event and then changes the monitors to match what's in your monitors.xml config file.
Looking at your xrandr output, it shows your laptop LVDS1 screen configured to 800x600, and that's what is indicated as the desired resolution in your monitors.xml for LVDS1. So, you just need to go to the GUI configuration tool and reconfigure your monitors the way you want them. If you need technical support about how to configure your computer, you might try asking on http://askubuntu.com. I think this can be closed as a non-bug, but I'll refile this to gnome- control-center in case there is a usability issue or in case the control tool isn't behaving correctly. ** Package changed: xserver-xorg-video-intel (Ubuntu) => gnome-control- center (Ubuntu) -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Desktop Bugs, which is subscribed to gnome-control-center in ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/719295 Title: With external monitor attached, netbook screen is reduced in widht -- desktop-bugs mailing list desktop-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/desktop-bugs
