Duff Posted August 24, 2011 Share Posted August 24, 2011 So I recently bought a 22" HD LCD Television with the intent of using it to play my xbox360 on during college. I saw that it had a VGA cable port in the back of it and noticed my laptop also has a VGA cable port on its side. I was wondering, could I technically use this television as a second monitor if I were to buy a simple VGA cable and connect the television to my laptop (and obviously go through the settings and appearance stuff to hook it up)? I mainly want to know because I don't want to buy a VGA cable and then have it not work. Unfortunately, my parents got rid of all my old desktop CPUs and monitors, so I couldn't find a VGA cable lying around to test this. | My Tumblr | Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ember Posted August 24, 2011 Share Posted August 24, 2011 . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D. V. Devnull Posted August 24, 2011 Share Posted August 24, 2011 (edited) Just one question: What's the Make/Model of your Laptop? [Edit: Most new ones should be able to, but knowing this would help.] ~D. V. "Hmm?" Devnull Edited August 24, 2011 by D_V_Devnull and normally with a cool mind.(Warning: This user can be VERY confusing to some people... And talks in 3rd person for the timebeing due to how insane they are... Sometimes even to themself.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duff Posted August 24, 2011 Author Share Posted August 24, 2011 It's a Presario CQ61 Notebook PC made by Hewlett-Packard. It says COMPAQ on it. If it is possible, is there a specific type of VGA cable I would need since its an LCD tv or something? I'm looking at cheap ones on amazon.com. | My Tumblr | Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevepole Posted August 24, 2011 Share Posted August 24, 2011 No, any VGA cable will do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ember Posted August 24, 2011 Share Posted August 24, 2011 . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D. V. Devnull Posted August 24, 2011 Share Posted August 24, 2011 No, any VGA cable will do.That's the beauty of standards. :D Just got a look at an image of the laptop. I third this. :thumbsup: ~D. V. "Yup, you're fine with any standard VGA cable!" Devnull and normally with a cool mind.(Warning: This user can be VERY confusing to some people... And talks in 3rd person for the timebeing due to how insane they are... Sometimes even to themself.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lordkafei Posted August 24, 2011 Share Posted August 24, 2011 It should look OK, but it would look better if you fed it via DVI or HDMI. I have an LCD monitor that looks hella sharp on the DVI jack, but looks godawful fuzzy when I connect via the VGA jack (particularly the fonts). PvP is not for meIn the 3rd Year of the BoycottReal-world money saved since FT/W: Hundreds of DollarsReal-world time saved since FT/W: Thousands of Hours Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duff Posted August 24, 2011 Author Share Posted August 24, 2011 ^ I want it to look sharp, but I don't think my laptop has a DVI or HDMI port (I'm not real knowledgeable about these things, so don't jump on my ass is those don't even exist on computers, heh). Enlighten me if there's a way. If I'm stuck with hooking it up with a VGA cable, then I'll buy a cheap $4.00 off amazon. If I don't like it, heck, it's only $4.00. Thanks guys! | My Tumblr | Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jasignhagj Posted August 24, 2011 Share Posted August 24, 2011 Watch the shipping prices; often you can find more expensive cables that end up being cheaper than the cheap ones due to free/low shipping. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
indy500fan Posted August 24, 2011 Share Posted August 24, 2011 I'm guessing there are different sub models of that model you listed, in one picture I saw it had a port shaped like an HDMI port but it was blocked off, maybe some of those do have HDMI out. pic Regardless you should be fine with VGA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duff Posted August 24, 2011 Author Share Posted August 24, 2011 Oh, that's an HDMI out socket? Mine does have that, but it has a plastic thing over it. Does that mean I can't use it, then? (it's like the one in the picture you posted) | My Tumblr | Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guy Posted August 25, 2011 Share Posted August 25, 2011 Oh, that's an HDMI out socket? Mine does have that, but it has a plastic thing over it. Does that mean I can't use it, then? (it's like the one in the picture you posted)Correct RIP TET "That which does not kill us makes us stronger." - Friedrich Nietzsche Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sbrideau Posted August 25, 2011 Share Posted August 25, 2011 With my laptop I've used both HDMI and VGA with my 37" HDTV and there isn't a whole lot of difference although HDMI looks sharper. You should be fine with VGA. As far as I know, the only difference between both of them is VGA not having sound. Maybe that's because I have a quality VGA cable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
indy500fan Posted August 25, 2011 Share Posted August 25, 2011 With my laptop I've used both HDMI and VGA with my 37" HDTV and there isn't a whole lot of difference although HDMI looks sharper. You should be fine with VGA. As far as I know, the only difference between both of them is VGA not having sound. Maybe that's because I have a quality VGA cable. Digital vs analog Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sbrideau Posted August 25, 2011 Share Posted August 25, 2011 With my laptop I've used both HDMI and VGA with my 37" HDTV and there isn't a whole lot of difference although HDMI looks sharper. You should be fine with VGA. As far as I know, the only difference between both of them is VGA not having sound. Maybe that's because I have a quality VGA cable. Digital vs analogI do know it is Digital vs Analog, it's not because I didn't mention it that I don't know it. I just didn't think it was worth mentioning here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duff Posted August 26, 2011 Author Share Posted August 26, 2011 I got the VGA cord in the mail today. Tested it out, and the quality was pretty poor. Also, for some reason the tv wouldn't display the colors/brightness/contrast correctly (even after I tried messing around with them from the tv menu). And none of the resolutions given as options from my laptop would fit the tv screen perfectly. Well, at least I have a VGA cord lying around to use. :P Thanks guys for the help. | My Tumblr | Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sbrideau Posted August 27, 2011 Share Posted August 27, 2011 I read somewhere that the quality of the VGA cord has to do with the quality of the picture, something to do with the analog signal, where digital always have good quality even with a poor quality cable. If anyone can confirm or correct me on this. As for the image not filling up the screen, I know what you mean, I do not know what causes it, but I know that my laptop doesn't fill the whole 37" TV screen (borders on all 4 sides), but does not have any trouble on my parent's 32" TV, while my brother's laptop, much stronger than mine, does not have these borders, so I don't know if it has to do with the graphics of the laptop seeing as I have an HD 3470 in my laptop and my brother has a GT560m. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jasignhagj Posted August 27, 2011 Share Posted August 27, 2011 Try messing around in the Nvidia/Ati control panel and see if you can change the resolution on the TV. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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