LCD vs. Monitor

Okay so I am soon going to be upgrading my laptop to a monitor or LCD TV of some sort. I mainly want to do this so that I can watch some HD movies that I have on my laptop and because I just want it, lol.

So I was wondering what would be the best way to go about it. A monitor is obviously cheaper but can they reach 720p + or no?

Also, the advantage to me buying a LCD television would be that I can actually watch TV on it and so on. I was thinking like 26"-37" would suffice. Do you think that I would have any problems running my laptop on something that big?


Also, what type of cables would I need to connect from my laptop to the television to receive the MAX resolution? I can just connect a keyboard (wired or wireless) to my laptop, and then close it,and have no issues, correct?

Does your laptop have an HDMI-out port?

[quote48ae2ea31f="zr2152"]So I was wondering what would be the best way to go about it. A monitor is obviously cheaper but can they reach 720p + or no?[/quote48ae2ea31f]Monitor as in CRT monitor? Yes, generally you'll have no problems with getting 720p and above on a CRT (but obviously check the specs for max resolution).

[quote48ae2ea31f="zr2152"]Also, the advantage to me buying a LCD television would be that I can actually watch TV on it and so on. I was thinking like 26"-37" would suffice. Do you think that I would have any problems running my laptop on something that big?[/quote48ae2ea31f]
No not really (this wouldn't apply to just laptops, but any PC config), but you'll have to think about how close you sit to it and what resolution it's at. If you sit close to a 37inch LCD that does 720p at most it doesn't seem that comfortable, but if you sit somewhat close to a 24-26 inch LCD at 1920x1200 (this is what I'll probably get and I kind of recommend it to you too), it seems pretty comfortable. You can get a 1080p 37incher too which would be better for movie watching but I don't know how much you'd like using it with your PC.

[quote48ae2ea31f="zr2152"]Also, what type of cables would I need to connect from my laptop to the television to receive the MAX resolution? I can just connect a keyboard (wired or wireless) to my laptop, and then close it,and have no issues, correct?[/quote48ae2ea31f]
VGA, DVI, or HDMI cable, depending on what output you have on your laptop. It would also depend on what inputs the monitor has so shop accordingly. Avoid composite or s-video, obviously.

As long as the laptop isn't set to go to sleep when the lid is closed, you shouldn't have any problems.

Thanks for your replies guys.


I didnt plan on goind s-video but is the composite connection the blue thing on the side of my laptop or is that an HDMI connection? That is all that I have is the blue connection. Is there any way that I can get a connection for an HDMI if I do not have it?

What's it look like? Is it a D-sub? If so it is VGA (most laptops have at least VGA) and you can use it to get high resolution on your external display. It's not digital but oh well. As for HDMI, you either have it or you don't.

Also, if your laptop has a DVI connection (some higher-end models do), then you can use a DVI-HDMI cable or adapter. The video signal is the same so all the cable/adapter does is reconfigure the pins, there is no conversion required.

The analog VGA connection will work though, you can easily drive a 1920x1200 display with VGA (assuming your video card & driver support resolutions that high) and in most cases you won't notice a difference.

Yeah I think i might do that. It has 15 holes and is blue. It looks sort of like something that you find on desktops for printers. I have a toshiba laptop that I got a few months ago.


It's a satellite A305

Yeah that's VGA so just make sure your new monitor has VGA input (they usually do).

aight cool. Yeah I saw that connection on the back of most of the lcd's I was looking at.

Thanks for all the help guys! Now I jsut need to find a nice LCD wink