Running your own separate monitor with a laptop.

[Zarlak]

So I'm going to buy a laptop and I'm looking around for deals etc but I had a question I thought was unrelated to the new laptop thread so I'm going to ask it here.

I've got PC world vouchers to use up, and none of the laptops I can see are good for what I want, which is running games like BF3 at max, so I'll buy that elsewhere like I was going to do originally, but I still need to use these vouchers... so what I'm thinking, if any of you guys can answer this, is if I was to buy this which would end up costing me £20

DELL STUDIO ST2420L 24" Full HD LED Backlit Monitor at cheap prices | PC World

and just plug my laptop into it and stick the laptop off to the side of me somewhere and use my own gaming mouse/keyboard that I have and that monitor to game from whilst having the gaming laptop powering it off to the side of me. Does anyone have any experience with this? Does performance stay the same running it a separate monitor or would it suffer? This is an area of hardware that I know little about. I could just sit the laptop on the couch with me when I'm browsing about, but when I want to play properly just take it over to my desk with monitor and mouse/keyboard and plug the laptop in and get down to proper gaming.

Why you might ask, what's the point? I just need to use these vouchers on something so I may as well. If the performance doesn't suffer greatly which is what I'm wondering. What say ye Weaste or anyone else?

 

[x42bn6]

Performance will suffer due to the fact that something needs to output those pixels. If you get a mobile graphics card then it's going to have lower performance overall anyway.

However, if you're not going to use the laptop at all, you really are better off getting a desktop, even one of those micro-tower ones.

Lastly, don't just get any old monitor - it's the monitor you will be looking at all the time. Set a decent budget for your monitor.

The link's not loading for me but I don't see how a 24" monitor can be £20 unless it's third-hand.

 

[Biscuit1871]

I'm assuming £20 on top of the vouchers, but the links not working for me either.

 

[Zarlak]

Performance will suffer due to the fact that something needs to output those pixels. If you get a mobile graphics card then it's going to have lower performance overall anyway.

However, if you're not going to use the laptop at all, you really are better off getting a desktop, even one of those micro-tower ones.

Lastly, don't just get any old monitor - it's the monitor you will be looking at all the time. Set a decent budget for your monitor.

The link's not loading for me but I don't see how a 24" monitor can be £20 unless it's third-hand.

It's £150 but I have some PC world vouchers I need to get rid of. I don't particularly mean that specific model, just the theory in general of running a monitor next to the laptop, I could sub that specific monitor for any other one.

I spend too much time with the laptop next to me on the Caf while I watch tv or while the missus watches tv that I can't be arsed watching, or loads of other things so I'd rather have a laptop than a desktop as my desktop is in another room, I can always game on the laptop for most games on the couch but for proper FPS I'd need to sit down at the desk, I just thought hey I've got some vouchers and need to spend it on something, I wonder how it would look on a bigger monitor, so was wondering if this would work or not.

It was a Dell full HD LED back lit, 24" but the actual monitor was irrelevant and just an example. More interested in the act itself, what kind of performance loss are we talking about when connecting via HDMI?

 

[Biscuit1871]

Performance will suffer due to the fact that something needs to output those pixels. If you get a mobile graphics card then it's going to have lower performance overall anyway.

However, if you're not going to use the laptop at all, you really are better off getting a desktop, even one of those micro-tower ones.

Lastly, don't just get any old monitor - it's the monitor you will be looking at all the time. Set a decent budget for your monitor.

The link's not loading for me but I don't see how a 24" monitor can be £20 unless it's third-hand.

Can you explain the first bit to me in more detail x-man? If you output from the laptop using an HDMI, then where is the loss in quality? What's the difference between an internal connection from gfx card to monitor, as opposed to the connection to an external monitor?

 

[kietotheworld]

Can you explain the first bit to me in more detail x-man? If you output from the laptop using an HDMI, then where is the loss in quality? What's the difference between an internal connection from gfx card to monitor, as opposed to the connection to an external monitor?

The external monitor will have a higher resolution than the one on the laptop.

 

[x42bn6]

Can you explain the first bit to me in more detail x-man? If you output from the laptop using an HDMI, then where is the loss in quality? What's the difference between an internal connection from gfx card to monitor, as opposed to the connection to an external monitor?

There's no loss in quality - it's the fact that the video card has to render the (larger) screen. So there will be a drop in performance than running it on your laptop's screen.

 

[beardsleybob]

I only watch films on my laptop when I connect it to my television, but I get a different shade anyway. Then again it's not a great Graphics card

 

[Zarlak]

There's no loss in quality - it's the fact that the video card has to render the (larger) screen. So there will be a drop in performance than running it on your laptop's screen.

Thanks x42. So in short, is it a massive noticeable loss in performance? If you had a decent enough laptop? Or is it one that could be shrugged off by certain specs.

 

[kietotheworld]

Thanks x42. So in short, is it a massive noticeable loss in performance? If you had a decent enough laptop? Or is it one that could be shrugged off by certain specs.

I run a 1680x1050 monitor alongside a 1366x768 laptop, both at once, and I have noticeable loss in performance.

 

[x42bn6]

Thanks x42. So in short, is it a massive noticeable loss in performance? If you had a decent enough laptop? Or is it one that could be shrugged off by certain specs.

It would depend on the video card. Onboard graphics and low-end video cards can noticeably struggle with much larger monitors.

It's just that it begs the question why you'd want to do this - you can get mini-tower PCs (40-45cm) for cheaper.

 

[Zarlak]

It would depend on the video card. Onboard graphics and low-end video cards can noticeably struggle with much larger monitors.

It's just that it begs the question why you'd want to do this - you can get mini-tower PCs (40-45cm) for cheaper.

Just because I've got vouchers to spend and may as well spend them on something rather than let them go to waste, plus I can't play on the PC on my couch. I have to get up and go sit in another room. I like to play while having the TV on or browse the internet whilst watching the football/F1/whatever.

I could play football manager/browse the Caf/web on the couch and then get up and go and plug into the monitor to play BF3 properly with mouse and keyboard rather than spending all my time away from the missus in a separate room.

Meh, I'll rethink it, there's no point if the performance goes to shit, depends how much of a drop it is.

 

[Rado_N]

Put the vouchers on eBay and get cash for them.

 

[Zarlak]

Put the vouchers on eBay and get cash for them.

Yeah I'm considering that, although I'd most likely have to accept less than they are worth otherwise they'd just spend the cash themselves. When I could just spend them and get the full worth. I might just look at other things to spend it on, why does their range of laptops have to be so shit.

 

[Rado_N]

Yea you'll get a bit less cash but if you're just buying the monitor for the sake of it surely slightly less cash is better?