New Laptop or Monitor

[Red9R]

Afternoon,
I have been seeing a lot that people are editing with there laptops connected to a large monitor, so my question is,.
I have a cheap i3 toshiba laptop, the screen is not great to say the least but for now it does the processes I want it to, I know the laptop has the ability to connect a monitor but will it be worth it, will it have the guts to really make an image look good on a monitor? Or should I save to get a better quality laptop first and when I can get a large monitor to link to it for better editing? Thinking 24" / 27"
Thanks
Ian

 

[Neilc28]

It will almost definitely be worth it, would highly recommend the Dell Ultrasharp range, I have 2 and would never look back! Your i3 will have no problems driving 1 or 2 1920x1200 (16:10) or 1920x1080 (16:9) displays.

 

[Red9R]

Thats great, Thank you Neil..

 

[ricky1980]

Monitor...just bought a U2713H for £375 on auction. Fingers crossed...

 

[Pookeyhead]

@Red9R

re: 27"

Check you have enough VRAM to display 2560x1440 over your DVI or display port. Also, if DVI, make sure your laptop as a dual link DV-I or you're limited to 1920x1200. 27" (2560x1440) and 30" (2560x1600) screens require a dual link DVI or display port connection.

Running a 27" screen at 1080 will suck! LCD monitors need to be run at their native resolution otherwise they looks terrible.

If you only have single link DVI or VGA outputs, you're better off with a 24" screen. I'm not even sure VGA analogue will do 1920x1200 actually.. so check that as well if you only have a analogue VGA (D-Sub) connection.

Did you check this before buying? How are you connecting it?

 

[Red9R]

@Pookeyhead
I sort of inherited the laptop when we bought my daughter a new one for Uni, I had been getting by with a 10+ year old laptop so this was an upgrade for me
I am sure the laptop only has VGA (blue insert in a off shape rectangular fitting) so I guess this is how it will be connected, I have never run a separate screen from a laptop, it was only reading another thread on here that got me thinking about last week, I am so out of touch with tech, last time I looked was when I put a tower together prob 12 years ago.
Any advice is welcome and greatly received!
Cheers
Ian

 

[Pookeyhead]

I'm sorry then, but if it's only an analogue output on a 10 year old laptop, then you've got problems if you want to run a 27" screen from it. It's not a limit of VGA, as theoretically it has no limit, but the available clock speeds on the VGA output and the available VRAM in a 10 year old laptop will make it VERY unlikely.


My advice is test it. Is there a large computer outlet near you? Somewhere like Scan in Bolton, or Aria in Manchester? I'm not talking Currys/PC World here... they're just chimps... If so, then just ask to test it with whatever monitor you wish to buy.


Seriously though... a 10 year old laptop? I think you've got your priorities wrong. You need to replace that first, then worry about a decent screen. Also.. if you're going t spend a great deal of money on a large screen, you need to calibrate it. I can only assume a 10 year old laptop is likely to be 32bit based as well, so you'll have issues getting calibrators to play nice. If it is 32bit you're seriously limited in memory as well, especially if there's not enough VRAM, as it will be sharing system memory.

[edit]

Just noticed its a i3. Can't be 10 year old then, and will be 64bit. i3 processors were launched in 2010, so it can only be 4/5 years old.

If it can drive a large enough screen (you'll need to test if it can display to the screen at native resolution) it may still be viable depending on memory and HDD space available.

 

[Neilc28]

[edit]

Just noticed its a i3. Can't be 10 year old then, and will be 64bit. i3 processors were launched in 2010, so it can only be 4/5 years old.

If it can drive a large enough screen (you'll need to test if it can display to the screen at native resolution) it may still be viable depending on memory and HDD space available.

OP said his previous laptop was 10+ years old, the i3 (current laptop) was an upgrade from buying his daughter a new one And for reference, I'm running 1920x1200 on my D-SUB here, with a second ultrasharp connected by DVI-D.

As far as I was aware, the limitation of resolution is dependant upon the VGA cable length/quality AND the graphics card, however unlike DVI-D and Displayport, there is no guarantee of acceptable image quality at the higher resolutions as it is dependant on the analogue throughput.

 

[Pookeyhead]

As far as I was aware, the limitation of resolution is dependant upon the VGA cable length/quality AND the graphics card,

It's not a limit of VGA, as theoretically it has no limit, but the available clock speeds on the VGA output and the available VRAM in a 10 year old laptop will make it VERY unlikely.

Yeah, as with all analogue signals, there's attenuation over a cable run. I'd still advise he checks whether he can drive a 27" screen with it though, no matter how great the cable... before he sinks a few hundred quid into it.

 

[Red9R]

Thanks gents, yeah I have upgraded from a 10+ yr old laptop to a positively modern 4 year old one LoL, the new one is a Toshiba Satellite C660 -21Z running an i3 chip, I am not sure which one.
Reading this I should be able to run a monitor, I guess to be safe I would be better off buying a better quality smaller screen 19" to 24" than a similar priced 27" that it may not run, most screens should be an improvement over the 15" one the laptop has .
Graphics I am not sure what it has they are on board, ram i have just ordered 8gb to replace the 4 it has now, and I replaced the HDD with a new 500gb WD unit 3 weeks ago (original failed strange it just happened and the bang of laptop hitting bedroom floor had nothing to do with it LoL) ..
Seriously appreciating your help as I really am out of touch with tec and never really new much about monitors in the first place!
Thanks
Ian