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How to:
Attach a monitor to a notebook
Tired of staring at that little screen on your notebook? Or maybe your notebook is hooked up to a dusty, old CRT monitor. If so, it's time you attached a bigger, brighter CRT or LCD, which will give you much more screen space for presentations, spreadsheets, games, and so on. Nowadays, you have a wide field of monitors to choose from, including 17-inch (or larger) CRTs and increasingly popular, space-saving, 15-inch (or larger) flat-panel displays. In most cases, all you need to do is plug in your monitor and turn it on. If you're hooking up an older monitor, however, or using an older OS, you might need to load a driver.Attach a monitor to a notebook
Notebook with VGA-out port Monitor with VGA-in port VGA cable DVI-to-VGA converter (for LCDs with only a DVI port)Required attention span: 5 minutes
Follow these five steps...
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Step 1
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Make sure your notebook has a VGA (monitor-out) port; these are almost always on the back of the notebook. Not all notebooks do, so check the vendor's Web site before you buy. Power down your notebook. If you already have an old monitor hooked up to your notebook, turn it off, too. Disconnect your monitor from your computer.
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Step 2
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Attach the new monitor via the attached cable to the notebook's VGA port. The other end of the cable should already be connected to the monitor's VGA connector. If not, hook it up. If you purchased a flat-panel display with only a digital video interface (DVI), you'll need a DVI-to-VGA converter, available at electronics and computer stores. Unfortunately, this solution will cause some signal degradation. Next, plug in the power cords. For Mac users: Some late-model PowerBook G4 laptops have a built-in DVI jack so that you can hook up a digital flat-panel without a special adapter. If you're using a conventional CRT or analog LCD, just use the supplied converter. If you have one of those spiffy Apple flat-panel screens, you need a special adapter (ADC to DVI, or ADC to VGA) to connect to the proprietary connector on these models. |
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Step 3
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Turn on your monitor. In almost all cases, Windows will automatically detect the monitor. Follow the directions, if any, for installing drivers, small applications that let your computer talk to your monitor. At some point, the wizard may ask you for a driver disk. If you have one, pop it in the drive. A list of drivers should appear. Choose the appropriate one for your monitor. In some cases, Windows may not find the required INF file, and you will need to browse the disk to find it. If you can't find it there, check your monitor maker's Web site; nearly all manufacturers also make drivers available for download. Generally speaking, you don't need to install drivers because most monitors will work with generic Windows Plug and Play drivers. These may not provide optimal performance, however. |
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Step 4
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Troubleshoot. If Windows doesn't detect your monitor, you'll have to tell Windows where it is with the Add New Hardware wizard (Start/Settings/Control Panel). Again, the wizard will ask whether you have a driver disk for your new monitor. If you have one, insert it at the correct time and choose the driver from there. If your monitor comes with special software or utilities, install them after you've installed the drivers. Mac users should be able to run just about any conventional display without having to install special software. |
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Step 5
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You can illuminate your notebook's built-in screen, the monitor's screen, or both at the same time. To switch from your notebook screen to the monitor, hit the Function key (it has an Fn on it), then whichever F key is the External Monitor key on your notebook. (Look for a little monitor icon on the key.) The F8 key serves this purpose on the Dell Inspiron 8200, which we used for this demonstration. On an Apple laptop, settings for an external monitor can be adjusted via Control Panel > Monitors under Mac OS X.
