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Connecting your laptop to a monitor is a good idea. This is the reason why most laptops can connect to an external display. The external display source can be a TV, projector, or LCD Monitor. Hence, learning how to connect laptop to monitors is essential.
Even though it’s an easy task, some people still make a mess out of a simple process. Also, you probably need to take different steps for different models of laptops and monitors.
The main reason why you may want to connect your laptop to a monitor is to increase the display area. This suits well to those people who wish to watch movies on a bigger screen with their family.
You can also stream matches on your laptop to view them on a bigger screen through a projector or your LCD TV for an even better experience.
Thus, connecting a laptop to a monitor or any other bigger screen gives you a better viewing area.
Here is an easy and simple procedure on how you can connect your laptop to monitors. Just follow through these steps and you’ll be fine!
Multiple display connections may be present on the back or the side of your laptop (depending on the model and brand) that may add to the confusion. Some of the main ones present on most laptops have been described below.
Most computer monitors have only one available input. As compared to computer monitors, TV monitors tend to have multiple video input options. Older monitor sets mostly use a DVI or VGA cable connection, but you will normally find DisplayPort or HDMI input options on the back of most monitors.
Here is the tricky part which you may have to take care of. Your monitor might require a different type of cable connection. This will be different from the one that is on your laptop. To solve this issue, you will need an adapter cable.
Adapters serve to form bridges between two types of cables. Thus, the adapter table will then safely connect to the monitor.
While we are talking about adapters, it is important to explain the different types and how each works. For example, if you use a VGA to HDMI adapter, you can connect a VGA cable to an HDMI cable. Other common adapter cables are listed below.
After plugging in, turn on the monitor by pressing the “Power” button. In case you are using an adapter, you also have to plug in the power source of the adapter as well.
Now comes the real part that you have to know while you are looking into how to connect laptop to monitors. You might have to press more than one key after you are done plugging in the cables. Pressing these keys on the keyboard of your Windows laptop will help to activate the display.
The combination of shortcut keys that you can use to make the display work are as follows (might vary depending on the laptop model, but it is the same in most cases). You can press the combination of any key from F3 to F10 with Fn key.
Tip: Usually, there is a picture of the activation function key present somewhere on the monitor. Consult the manual of your device if you fail to locate this key. You can also download a soft copy of the desired manual if you are unable to find this key anywhere.
Here is how you can make the external display work on MacOS X 10.8. The method also works for later versions.
If your monitor has multiple inputs, then you have to select a port that will connect your laptop to the monitor. For the selection of the appropriate video source, press the key which says “input”, “video select”, or “source”.
After you perform this step, wait for your laptop’s screen to appear on the monitor’s screen. The desktop wallpaper, along with the icons, will appear on your monitor’s screen as it is. If there is any change, then you can adjust the display settings on your laptop to fit your preferences.
Connecting your laptop to the monitor is a fairly easy process. However, make sure that you follow the guide carefully. Just go through the text given above step by step, and set up your monitor settings with ease.