Using a 22" monitor with my laptop.

[emilymat]

I would be grateful for any advice.

 

I have always had a desktop computer via the phone line until recently when I moved house and it has Wi-Fi. So, I purchased a lap-top which works fine on the Wi-Fi but I wanted a bigger screen.  I went to the computer shop and purchased a connection (HD into lap-top and multi pin into the back of monitor , which is a View Sonic).  Nothing happened, but I did see a message  on my Windows 10 saying something about 'the device may not support HD.'

 

I'm not a great one on the technicalities but could this message mean the monitor or the lap-top are just not compatible or do I have to take other steps to get it working?

 

I'' try and include a photo of the connecter. If this doesn't work, is it possible to convert my 'tower' to receive Wi-Fi?

 

Many thanks

 

Sorry, will not let me upload photo.  The connecter has a HD cable which runs into a little white box MINI VGA2HDMI and the multi pin connecter runs out the other side. There is also a USB power lead.

 

[emilymat]

PS. I should have mentioned my lap-top does not have a multi pin connection. It is not an expensive one and just has USB and HD port. Ta

[ukrules]

There's often some kind of 'fn' (function) type key which when pressed along with one of the F keys above the numbers along the top of the keyboard will turn on the external monitor.

 

It can then be configured inside the control panel as to how you want to use the screen.

 

I rarely use the laptop but I do use a USB wifi device to connect to the network. I'm assuming you know you can buy a wifi USB adaptor  which will work in any desktop for less than 1000 Baht ?

[wpcoe]

9 hours ago, emilymat said:

PS. I should have mentioned my lap-top does not have a multi pin connection. It is not an expensive one and just has USB and HD port. Ta

By HD do you mean HDMI, or something else?  Does the Viewsonic monitor (LCD?) not have HDMI input, but only VGA and/or DVI?

 

You can buy inexpensive USB WiFi adapters for under B500 for your your tower computer if you want to add WiFi to it.  See   http://www.invadeit.co.th/category/wireless-networking/usb-adapter/sort/price/asc/ for some basic ones as low as B270.

 

Ach!  The forum software sends the link above as https which is not valid in this case, so you need to copy and paste the link from the above paragraph.  Well, it seems to be working normally again...

Edited April 9, 2017 by wpcoe

[emilymat]

Thank you both for those replies. I will try the solutions you offer.   I confess, I didn't know you could simply buy a converter. ! Age I guess.

[RichCor]

@ukrules and @wpcoe point out two possible solutions.

 

The older "Multi-Pin" type SVGA monitor connector has been superseded by the TV-friendly HDMI connector on newer computers and laptops.

 

    

 

The HDMI connectors allow greater versatility of connecting computers (or other Audio/Video equipment) to a wider range of display monitors or TVs.  If the computer or display monitor doesn't have an HDMI Port connector then, as mentioned, you may be able to purchase an VGA>HDMI or HDMI>VGA adapter/converter to use with your current devices.

 

When using external monitors, some fiddling with the settings is usually required to tell the computer what to send to each display.  The Fn (function key) that @ukrules mentions usually allows you to 'rotate' through the choices with each combination key press:

 

MIRROR (show same contents on both displays)

This setting may cause issues if the two displays are of different resolutions.  The lowest resolution wins, and one of the displays may be show as distorted or fuzy.

 

EXTENDED DESKTOP

This allows different content to be displayed on each monitor, with the computer allowing you to 'drag' material from one display onto the other. (Think of a magician cutting the person in half trick)

 

EXTERNAL ONLY

INTERNAL ONLY

As the title implies, only one display is active, the other is blanked.

 

So... when you plug in a second display you need to set the computer option and tell it what you want to do if you don't like what it does as the default option, which could be nothing: as in, Internal Only - External Display blanked.

 

 

The other solution mentioned is adding a simple USB WiFi Adapter to your existing Tower to give it WiFi capability.  While some WiFi 'sticks' just plug into the USB Port, it might be a better option to find a USB WiFi Adapter with a long USB cable or USB Cradle so you can place the adapter up on a flat surface where it can have better WiFi signal coverage.