laptop to monitor

I’ve got a laptop to monitor, can you help me out? Many laptop owners find themselves in need of a second monitor. There are a variety of different models and sizes to choose from, but if you have a laptop with integrated graphics you might find your options limited. In my case I’ve found that my Dell Inspiron 15 7000 does not have sufficient power for a second monitor (although it does make for an excellent portable computer). Now I use my 7 inch tablet as my second screen, but the apps tend to be much more limited than driving the full size Chromebook PC stationed next to me.

Fortunately there are a variety of options for converting your laptop into a portable monitor. I have tried the HP w1500 and w1700 models and both work well. The w1700 is more powerful, but is much heavier and more expensive than the w1500. Both are about $250 each (w1500 currently on sale at $200).

Image source: https://www.dell.com/

The Dell models require you to remove the graphics card from your laptop, but it seems you could buy a replacement external graphics card for less than $150 which would allow you to use your external monitor. Also be sure to look at the Dell website for videos on how to do this. If you do make the switch to an external card be sure to remove your old graphics card from your laptop if it is not an Intel HD graphics chip.

Another alternative would be an older laptop, preferably a Dell. I do have a few other computers in the house but I would prefer not to use them for this application due to concerns about hard drive failure, etc. Also, if you are using a 15″ or 17″ screen you really don’t have much room for the keyboard and all that is needed. So you may want to consider an older 11″ or 13″ inch screen instead.

We get this request a lot and we’re glad we can provide customers the chance to use their own laptops to monitor with.

Luckily, there are only a few things you need in order to start using your laptop as an ADC.

Image source: https://www.tomsguide.com/

You will need either an HDMI or VGA cable that connects your laptop output port with the input of the ADC. Some ADCs have both inputs so you may not need one of these cables depending on your model.

But here’s the not so fun part. You will need to use the analog output of your laptop and connect it to either one of these inputs (HDMI or VGA) on your ADC.

This means that you will need to use your laptop in a way it wasn’t meant to be used by setting any picture options in your laptop display properties menu, such as:

-Changing the picture quality to “Best for Display” or “Best for Monitor” or “High Quality”.

-Turning off any special effects such as edge enhancement, etc.