Has anyone plugged in a notebook computer to a monitor?

Post Reply New Topic

Using a VGA port?

How is the picture quality?

Depends on the video output capabilities of the laptop and the screen it is being connected to.

It's questions like this that make me realize that my employment in IT is guaranteed.

Your statement is true but unhelpful.

Yes, VGA will work pretty well on most TV's an projectors - though I'd avoid full 1080p, as VGA won't do it all that well on average. Given the choice on a TV for 720p or 1080i, I'd take the 720p. (Bigger pixels but no flickering.)

NOTE! Most laptops will set this up almost automatically, so long as you PLUG IN THE DEVICE BEFORE YOU TURN ON THE LAPTOP!

Do it the right way, it'll be a piece of cake.

I don't have the notebook yet.

I want to buy a nice Thinkpad, but when I am at home, I want to plug it into a 23 inch monitor.

The monitor has a VGA connection.

What is the quality difference between an HDMI and VGA input?

My first notebook had a 10" SVGA DSTN screen, and several months after I bought it, (used), the display died. I had no problems hooking a 14" XGA monitor up to it and running it at SVGA resolution. --The computer only had 1MB VRAM, and wan unable to display higher resolution. Also, the last desktop that I had was running a 21" CRT monitor at 1200X1600 resolution and was capable of running higher resolution via the VGA connector, so the connector really isn't the issue so much as what resolution your computer's chipset can support. If it's a newer computer with a decent chipset, you should have no issues running 1080i or better, though you may have some latency issues if the graphics memory is shared with the system.

Also, HDMI is a Digital interface, while VGA is analog, much like an old style Televison.

HDMI is a digital interface - it's capable of higher resolution, and is generally a crisper image (depending on the display it's connected to). VGA is an analog interface, generally has lower resolution capabilities, and is subject to image degradation over long lengths. From a practical perspective - your VGA output should be able to drive your 23" display at the display's native resolution (which is probably 1920x1080 - but not guaranteed). Check both the native resolution of the display, and of the laptop's VGA output to ensure compatibility.

I'll further add that the 'clarity' of the HDMI connection over the VGA connector is due to the fact that because of the fact that it's a digital connection, you'll not have any issues with RFI, and other analog video 'noise'.

My 2GB 10.1" netbook with native resolutions of 1024x600 can easily run 1366x768 on a 32" TV. Since that is the native resolution of the TV, picture quality is great. It can't do any larger because it doesn't have the drivers or graphics card. It does run a little slow with high quality video in fullscreen, but I've often taken my netbook about, and plugged in to larger screens to work on.

The native resolution of the display on the notebook makes 0 difference in it's ability to drive an external display. What matters is the capabilities of the graphics card.

A few years ago i tried to hook up my old laptop to my 48" LCD TV by the HDMI. It was clearly working but, a few seconds in it went blank and propted me to purchase some software. I never really got it to work and, since then both the laptop and TV were stolen. It just annoys me that when the hardware clearly works they extort you to buy needless software for extra money. Playing WoW on a 48" screen would have been EPIC.

I used a monitor as my main screen for my notebook. The picture quality was as good as on the notebook. But vga is analog and being phased out. New notebooks have hdmi.
Windows once told me i had to upgrade the drivers to play a dvd that was playing fine the day before. I did and it played again. hdmi has drm which is annoying.