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Thread ID: 126551	2012-09-04 05:20:00	Higher resolution monitor with lower resolution laptop	John Calvert (16516)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
1298798	2012-09-04 05:20:00	Hi All I realize that if you plug an external monitor into your laptop, they don't have to have matching resolutions, but my question is this: Is there extra processing/conversion going on and does that degrade the image? So, for instance, say you had two 17" laptops, both powerful enough to display what you want without faltering, but one has 1920 x 1080 resolution and the other has 1600 x 900 . Then you buy a flat-panel monitor that's 1920 x 1080 and hook it up to both laptops and display something undemanding like a spreadsheet (I'm not concerned about gaming performance) . Will the higher resolution laptop show a better image on the monitor because it's sending out a signal with its "native" resolution, or is it completely irrelevant? Anybody with lots of gear care to test this?	John Calvert (16516)
1298799	2012-09-04 05:26:00	Are you cloning the image from the laptop to the external panel, or extending the desktop?....Usually, if in clone model, change the power options so the laptop doesnt go to sleep when you close the lid. This means that the laptop panel will turn off and only the native resolution of the external panel is used, and the larger resolution will not make a difference to performance on modern lappys....hope that cleared it up for you!	SolMiester (139)
1298800	2012-09-04 05:37:00	I think it's irrelevant, to a point, as it would depend on the age of the laptop. The VGA/HDMI output can be run independantly to the built in screen so even if your laptop screen is 1366x768 the VGA/HDMI output will display at 1920x1080 without an issue. Some older laptops may be restricted by the graphics card only being able to display up to a certain resolution.	CYaBro (73)
1298801	2012-09-04 06:02:00	We have a Netbook with VGA/HDMI, it works in 1200 reso b/c I have a 1200 reso monitor. It works 1080 as well with a HD TV. Looks fine. When you plug them together, you can have diff resolutions on each device like laptop screen (1) and external LCD (2). Under display properties. There are buttons to ID them like "identify", so your laptop may display 1 momentarily on the screen and maybe 2 on the external LCD. Then you just change the reso. Maybe 1024x768 on laptop and 1920x1200 on the external. This applies to "extend area" how you can drag window from the laptop screen to the side and plonk it on the external LCD ... or turn off laptop and just use external. If you clone "duplicate" no I don't think you can use higher reso .. cos the laptop LCD cannot. Both will be the lower reso. B/c LCDs don't like being used outside their native reso it won't look so nice. So .. if it is 1024x768 on a netbook, the 24" HD TV or computer LCD will be that too. Yeah it would depend on the laptop age and what it can do etc. I have a 5yr old laptop 1200 reso. Our Netbook 1 or 2yr old can do that too. The 5+ yr old Dell cannot. My PC DVI can do 1200 but VGA for some reason cannot. With the Netbook I think it is 13xx x 800 or something like that. That looks crap on the HD TV. The HD TV or monitor looks great at 1200 or 1080. Native is the "display device" you are currently using ....	Nomad (952)
1298802	2012-09-04 06:24:00	LCD won't scale images anywhere near as well as CRT does. But, as long as the resolution you send the monitor is the same aspect ratio as the monitor's native resolution, it won't look too bad generally, when scaled up larger. However, if you give it something with a different aspect ratio the image will likely be squashed or stretched, monitors don't typically display black bars to solve that issue.	Agent_24 (57)
1298803	2012-09-04 06:28:00	But, as long as the resolution you send the monitor is the same aspect ratio as the monitor's native resolution, it won't look too bad generally, when scaled up larger. Hey, you mean scaled down? How can you scale up? I might be lost ... If the laptop is 1024x768 you cannot choose a higher reso right...	Nomad (952)
1298804	2012-09-04 23:38:00	Hey, you mean scaled down? How can you scale up? I might be lost ... If the laptop is 1024x768 you cannot choose a higher reso right... Every LCD has a native resolution that matches the exact number of pixels the actual display panel has. If you give it a resolution lower than the native resolution, it has to scale the image up to fit the screen. Some monitors will let you display such images with black borders without scaling to preserve quality but this is not usually the case. If you choose a resolution higher than the panel supports, it all depends on the monitor\panel firmware and video drivers as to what will actually happen.	Agent_24 (57)
1298805	2012-09-05 00:03:00	The display adapter and the monitor are sort of independent, even in laptops. Typically however the manufacturers will match the resolution of the panel with the capabilities of the graphics adapter (in a general sense). Yes you could quite happily plug a 1080p monitor into a laptop or netbook where the max resolution of the in built monitor is something much lower, provided the graphics adapter and installed graphics drivers support outputting to 1080p. It'll just push the gpu a bit harder to output that resolution, particularly if you're using two screens at once. The resolutions don't have to match between screens, however. Though if you're using clone mode (same image, both screens) then the smaller of the resolutions will be what you see. (unless you get into eyefinity setups then yes they have to match but that's a whole nother kettle of fish)	8ftmetalhaed (14526)
1298806	2012-09-05 01:14:00	OK, thanks to all who replied. I think I should be okay since my laptop has a separate graphics chip, which according to its specs handles very high resolutions.	John Calvert (16516)
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