![how to use monitor with laptop closed how to use monitor with laptop closed](https://quickfever.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/how-to-close-laptop-and-use-monitor-windows-10.png)
- #HOW TO USE MONITOR WITH LAPTOP CLOSED PORTABLE#
- #HOW TO USE MONITOR WITH LAPTOP CLOSED SERIES#
- #HOW TO USE MONITOR WITH LAPTOP CLOSED WINDOWS#
These adapters typically run around $50 (this basic USB 3.0-to-HDMI unit from Cable Matters is $48 and includes a HDMI-to-DVI adapter). You’ll simply need to pick up a USB-to-HDMI adapter. If you have a rare laptop that is so slimmed down it doesn’t even have an HDMI port, that doesn’t rule out the ability to use a traditional monitor. Use the Fn keys on your laptop (usually Fn + F3) to switch between view modes or use the display panel for your OS to make the adjustments once the HDMI cable is connected. Mirroring is typically the default for laptops as this way they’re ready to go when hooked up to a projector for a presentation. When you plug in the monitor most operating systems and laptop hardware will automatically detect it (and, at minimum, start mirroring your laptop screen to the secondary screen). Playing Minecraft on the second monitor was a smooth experience with no drop in FPS. playing a game) as oppose to simply loading a static web page (which even the cruddiest monitor setup would have no problem with).
#HOW TO USE MONITOR WITH LAPTOP CLOSED SERIES#
We used Minecraft to test every external monitor setup in this series as a way to track movement and frames per second when it really matters (e.g. In the above photograph we have the laptop hooked up to an ASUS desktop monitor (for the curious: it’s the VN248-P, a great value that can be found on sale for around $130 practically every other month) with the laptop screen displaying our Beginner’s Guide to Minecraft series and the desktop monitor displaying Minecraft. Similar adapters exist (and at a similar price range) to convert DisplayPort (another digital video port format) to HDMI or DisplayPort to DVI if that’s the video port available on your laptop. The majority of HDMI-DVI adapter cable product descriptions make it sounds like they’re intended to link DVI sources to HDMI screens (such as a DVI output on a video card to an HDMI-enabled monitor or HDTV) but don’t worry they’re bidirectional just like a regular old HDMI cable. If you have a computer monitor that doesn’t have an HDMI input port but does have a DVI port you can easily use an inexpensive HDMI to DVI cable adapter to bridge the gap as both the HDMI and DVI signals are fully digital and require no transcoding or the like. Laptops with HDMI-out ports can be be easily connected to any external monitor (be it an actual monitor or a HDTV) that accepts HDMI inputs. The new standard on laptops for external displays is the slender and easily overlooked HDMI port. That doesn’t mean there’s no way to plug in a monitor to your laptop. You’d be as hard pressed to find a laptop today with a VGA port as you would to find one with a parallel port: the days of analog peripheral connections are long gone in mobile computing aside from a legacy-oriented build here or there. Throughout the 1990s and well into the 2000s it was common (and expected even) to see a big chunky blue VGA port sticking out the back or side of any laptop you came across.
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It would be easy to think that laptops no longer came with external display ports looking at the sleek and narrow bodies of modern laptop and ultrabook-style machines. Linking a Standard Desktop Monitor to Your Laptop
#HOW TO USE MONITOR WITH LAPTOP CLOSED PORTABLE#
We’re going to start with the cheapest (and, coincidentally, least portable) options and then work our way up to more expensive and significantly more portable solutions. If you’re looking to do the same, to add a little space to your laptop rig to park extra windows, leave notes open, or otherwise enjoy the kind of dual-screen (and bigger) screen space that is typically reserved for desktop users, this is the tutorial for you.
#HOW TO USE MONITOR WITH LAPTOP CLOSED WINDOWS#
While some people prefer the focus of having only one thing open at a time on their single monitor, we really love having room to spread out, place documents side by side, park communication windows on one screen while we work on the other, etc. Before we even begin to explain to you why you want extra screen space, we’ll need to clearly declare our bias on the matter: most of the workstations at How-To Geek are sporting two or more monitors (and the station this particular article was written on sports three).