Beginner BenQ Monitor ,How to connect to Laptop

Coho-Blue

Coho-Blue

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Hi Guys

I need some help to determine how I will hook up my Laptop to a monitor for editing purposes ..

This is the Laptop that I currently use > > > Lenovo X1 Carbon i7, 16gb, 512gb, 4G,

This is the Monitor that I am planning to buy > > > BenQ Pro SW2700PT

Here are the spec`s and a review on the monitor BenQ SW2700

Currently I just use the laptop for the usual editing of general photos however while the Laptop appears to be decent enough with its onboard graphics I know that its no match for a purpose built monitor to do the job properly, so I decided at some stage I should probably invest in a monitor especially seeing as I would like to do some family photos and a little bit of landscape. I also have a subscription to lightroom and trying to edit on this laptop as the screen is small, is and always has been a bit of a chore ..

The next link in the chain is "How do I connect the Laptop to the Monitor" I was assuming I could do this by using an HDMI from the port on the laptop to the HDMI to the monitor , would that be correct ?

Any help, tips and/or suggestions are greatly appreciated ..


Coho-Blue
 
The BenQ is 2560 x 1440px resolution

The Intel page here indicates that the hdmi v1.4 port will drive that resolution but at max 24Hz......so none too sure if you will get best benefit using an HDMI connection.
www.intel.co.uk

Maximum Resolutions Supported in a Three Display Configuration

Lists maximum resolutions for simultaneous three display configurations with Graphics for 3rd Generation Intel® Processors and newer.
www.intel.co.uk www.intel.co.uk
 
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If your laptop has a display port or mini display port output then use that. If the monitor only has hdmi then get a DP to hdmi cable. Lenovo also make an external graphics card that can use a USB C connection.
 
Display Port or Mini Display Port, possibly need a combination of both depending what ports the screen and laptop have.

Might also want to think about getting a calibrator if you're going to be printing.
 
Hi All

Please excuse my dumbed down replies but I really am a bit out of my depth when it comes to PC/Laptop matters and connectivity ..

I figured it was a simple matter of putting one end of a cable from my laptop into the monitor and Voila .. However it seems there is more to it ..

How do I know if my Laptop has a Display Port Or mini Display port ? What does it look like ? and if it does are these cable’s readily available

I should add that NO I’m not thinking of printing anything myself , however I will more than likely want to send photos off to a printing firm so in that case if I need to purchase a screen calibration tool of sort then I will do so ..

Thanks for your patience


Coho-Blue
 
Just as a point of information I think the monitor you're planning on getting is now out of production, although some stockists may still have them of course. The replacement is the SW270C, which I have. Last time i looked a couple of months ago refurbished SW270C's were available from the BenQ website at a discount....... :)

The SW270 comes with a selection of cables (or should do.....) and if the one you need is not included you can buy one online or from Curry's etc.
 
Coho-Blue said:
How do I know if my Laptop has a Display Port Or mini Display port ? What does it look like ? and if it does are these cable’s readily available
Click to expand...

Not sure that “what it looks like” is a good guide. A quick Google tells me there are 8 generations ofLenovo X1 Carbon i7 and the latest doesn’t have display port (has thunderbolt/usb3) but the earlier ones did.
 
Box Brownie said:
The BenQ is 2560 x 1440px resolution

The Intel page here indicates that the hdmi v1.4 port will drive that resolution but at max 24Hz......so none too sure if you will get best benefit using an HDMI connection.
www.intel.co.uk

Maximum Resolutions Supported in a Three Display Configuration

Lists maximum resolutions for simultaneous three display configurations with Graphics for 3rd Generation Intel® Processors and newer.
www.intel.co.uk www.intel.co.uk
Click to expand...

So what “in real terms” does that mean for me. ?

Does that mean that I would not have good screen resolution ie lesser quality if I were able to connect via HDMI so therefore it would not be worthwhile to invest in a monitor ?

Assuming that my Laptop doesn’t have a Display Port or mini Display port what other options are open to me ? Would I have to try and find a monitor with a lesser screen resolution than 2560 x 1440px

Appreciate all the feedback guys


Coho-Blue
 
@Coho-Blue

As mentioned above in another reply, there are it seems a few variations of your laptop....I only came across one where it did not have Display Ports.

Therefore, it might be a good idea if you stated exactly the model number of your laptop? Perhaps either in your invoice and/or on a label on the underside of the laptop.

Furthermore, whether you are printing at home or sending away for printing it is IMO a good idea to calibrate it. :)
 
I think you need to find what hardware you have either from the precise model version or from Windows such as from here:
www.groovypost.com

How to Find Your Windows 10 PC Hardware and System Specs

Whether it's for troubleshooting or replacing a part, sometimes you need to know what's under the hood of your Windows 10 PC.
www.groovypost.com www.groovypost.com
 
If you have the latest generation of X1 laptop, you should have an HDMI connection on it.
Then you can just connect it to the monitor with an HDMI cable. However because that BenQ monitor is so big and has such a high resolution, the laptop may struggle to provide that high resolution at a fast enough refresh rate (ie the speed at which the computer can re-draw the whole image on screen) so you'd likely see a flicker in the image.
My screen is the Dell U2419H, it's running at 1920x1080 (the same resolution known as "Full HD" in tv terms) at 60hz refresh rate.

One other connection option is to buy a USB-C display adaptor or docking station, this can give you a number of different connection methods.
Take a look at your laptop and work out whether you have one of these.
displayport-vs-HDMI.jpg

It's likely that if you buy a new monitor it'll come with cables to connect it.
Though oddly my Dell monitor only came with a DisplayPort cable not an HDMI cable. But HDMI cables can be picked up in supermarkets for a couple of pounds because they're commonly used for TVs.

Take a look at this article, perhaps it will help. https://uk.pcmag.com/how-to/117669/hdmi-vs-displayport-which-should-i-use-for-my-pc-monitor
 
Post a pic of the ports on the side of the laptop. My old version of teh X1 drives a 2K screen no bother via mini Displayport and all the X1s at work had mini or full sized Displayport connects from what I remember
 
Thank you ALL very much for your advice and your efforts in trying to hell me along- unfortunately I’m at work right now but as soon as I’m home I will get all the relevant info regarding the spec,s for the laptop

@Box Brownie , I will absolutely get a calibration tool as soon as I get all this up and running, thank you for the confirmation

@ ABTog ,, thank you kindly for all the visuals and the link ..

Coho-Blue
 
Here are the graphics ports on my X1. The mini Displayport is next to the HDMI, same side as power cable. They are labelled on my machine so look out for that.
 

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Hi Guys

Once again thank you all for your help ,,here are the spec`s of my Lenovo Laptop..
I have looked on the side of the laptop and there is NO Display port .. I have 2 thunderbolt ports , 1 USB 3 , 1 HDMI , and a USB c port that are all on the left side ... on the right side of the Laptop there is only 1 USB 3 port and a Headphone socket ..

Given the specifications I am now coming to the conclusion that I may not be able to hook up a monitor unless I can find some sort of docking station . would that be the case ? and If so are there any particular docking station that I must buy to be compatible with my system ..
Screenshot (2) edit.png

Coho-Blue
 
wookie6262 said:
Why not use hdmi
Click to expand...

This is the whole point of the ""Figuring out"" .. Read Post TWO ^ ^ ^ ^

The BenQ is 2560 x 1440px resolution ,, Apparently the HDMI 1.4port will only drive the resolution at 24Hz which could cause flickering ? ?


Coho-Blue
 
@Box Brownie ,, would this a possible solution ? > > Lenovo USB to DP adapter

Although if I were going to spend that amount I would much prefer to spend a bit extra and buy maybe something that has much more connectivity in the off chance that somewhere down the line I may want to add some more hardware ...

Coho-Blue
 
Coho-Blue said:
This is the whole point of the ""Figuring out"" .. Read Post TWO ^ ^ ^ ^

The BenQ is 2560 x 1440px resolution ,, Apparently the HDMI 1.4port will only drive the resolution at 24Hz which could cause flickering ? ?


Coho-Blue
Click to expand...
According to post 2 it will do that for a 4K monitor driving another two monitors too. Your one has far fewer pixels and I assumed you just wanted to drive the laptop and the BenQ
 
wookie6262 said:
Look at the table below for 5th generation chips and it shows it will drive two HDMIs one at 60Hz and one at 24Hz both with more resolution than the BenQ
Click to expand...

which table @wookie6262 ?

Thank you also for your time and effort .. as I`m sure you`ve already guessed I`m not exactly blessed with lots of PC/Tech skills :help:


Coho-Blue
 
wookie6262 said:
Look at the table below for 5th generation chips and it shows it will drive two HDMIs one at 60Hz and one at 24Hz both with more resolution than the BenQ
Click to expand...

Ah! my bad ~ yes that other table does infer that at the resolution of the BenQ it will be @60Hz
Coho-Blue said:
which table @wookie6262 ?

Thank you also for your time and effort .. as I`m sure you`ve already guessed I`m not exactly blessed with lots of PC/Tech skills :help:


Coho-Blue
Click to expand...

The table he refers to is on the page I linked to in post #2

In principal it should be plug & play.......though do check what your laptop manual says of using external monitors.
 
In regard to calibration?

The BenQ has what is called "hardware calibration" this means the profile is loaded into the monitor compared to where in "software calibration" the profile is loaded into the graphics card.

So AFAIK two things to be aware of:-
BenQ have their own version of calibration program and that relies on a compatible calibration device.

I think I recall reading that onboard Intel graphics such as your laptop has sometimes do not play nice with calibration???

PS at the end of the day your efforts to understand and use such good monitor will pay dividends.
 
Thank you :ty: to every single person who contributed to the thread I am very grateful , you simply wouldn`t get this kind of information in any magazine ..

I am kind of at sixes and sevens now regarding the monitor ,, I don`t want to end up forking out almost £600 only to discover that I need to throw another bucket full of cash at this little project... It really does seem to me that regardless of which monitor I decide to purchase the crux of any future problem lies with "This Laptop" due to it`s lack of compatibility because of its Onboard graphics .. I may need to rethink things ..


Coho-Blue
 
I'm not so sure onboard graphics are that problematical.
I use intel integrated graphics with a Dell U2415 and it calibrates fine with a Spyder X Pro.
You don't need a dedicated graphics card for software such as Lightroom.
 
Coho-Blue said:
@Box Brownie ,,,, Should I possibly consider looking at a different brand if BenQ are going to be troublesome ?


Coho-Blue
Click to expand...

Can only ever be IMO but I did swallow hard when shelled for the BenQ SW270C but having my i1 Pro calibrator and having checked it was supported for hardware calibration I have been very happy with my choice.

Now though I have not tested it, AFAIK you can still calibrate it 'conventionally' i.e. software calibration.

Therefore I don't see a BenQ as any more troublesome than any other make.

PS my PC is one I have built myself so I know and am comfortable about adding upgrades as needed......but a laptop is, upgrade wise, a closed loop i.e. limited. That in part was why I suggested checking it's manual has to say on the matter of external monitors.

Unless someone has the same laptop with the same version of Windows all advice can only be general.
 
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