About monitors & native resolution

Hi folks

Need some help here. My lappy comes with 1440 x 900 widescreen... and I'm trying to connect it to an external monitor. I bought (wrongly, I guess) a LG monitor that has a native resolution of 1366 x 768.

When I connect it to my lappy the screen on the monitor is, well, distorted as I guess it's not capable of flashing @ 1440 x 900.

May I know is it that I have to buy a monitor with a native resolution exactly equal to that of my lappy (i.e. 1440 x 900) so that I can see on the monitor what I would see on my lappy (w/o external monitor connected)?

Or do I buy a monitor with a native resolution which is higher than 1440 x 900?

Thanks for your help

 

The native resolution of your laptop monitor does not matter to what the native resolution is to your external monitor.

What does matter is the resolution that your graphics card can display.

You may be getting distortion because you have the laptop set up as mirror mode or because you have the desktop extended to your external monitor.

If you disable your laptop screen when connected, your external will become the main and will display its native resolution without any distortion.

 

erm. according to graphics display options, it can display up to 1440 x 900 @ 50Hz (does the frequency matter?).

So, on my external monitor is there any way to view @ the same resolution?

If not, how do I get one which will? What do I look out for in the monitor?

 

You need to set your external monitor to be the main display and not a clone or extension of your laptop display, then your computer can run its native resolution.

If you use clone it will try to duplicate your computer aspect ratio & res on the external monitor, and same should go with extending your desktop.

 

As I've already said, your laptop monitor resolution does not matter.

It is your graphics card that determines what resolution that can be displayed on an external.

Your display options saying how it can display up to 1440x900 is referring to the native resolution of your monitor not the maximum resolution that your graphics card can display.

Why would you want your external to be at the same resolution as your laptop? Your laptop can display an external at an even higher res than 1440x900.

What's happening is that you are cloning/mirroring your laptop res onto your external monitor. This causes distortions. Set your external as your main display and you shouldn't have this problem.

Again, Your laptop res has nothing to do with an external lcd res. Its your graphics card's ability to display that res.

 

how to check my graphics card max resolution? it's a laptop... the graphics is Intel X4500 (laptop is Thinkpad X200s)

 

ok... i saw that my graphics card can go up to higher resolution than 1440 x 900... but none listed supports my LCD monitor's native resolution (1366 x 768).

So, i should get a monitor that comes with native 1440 x 900, am I right? so that even when i dual view, both the lappy and the monitor will be at their native resolution (i.e. 1440 x 900).

 

All common resolutions including 1366x768 up to 2048x1536 are supported.

 

can someone give me proper advice - whether i should get a LCD monitor with native 1440 x 900 so that i can see the same thing as I would on my laptop screen (which is 1440 x 900)?

Or should i get a LCD with higher than 1440 x 900 spec?

 

1. Do you want to use both monitors at the same time? If yes, go to 2, if no go to 3.

2.For best results, your external monitor should have a resolution with the same aspect ratio of your laptop's screen.

3. Your external monitor's resolution can be anything you want it to be.

 

thanks. i don't use both screens at the same time... however, i'm annoyed at the times the desktop icons automatically adjust themselves when the resolution changes (eg. from laptop screen to monitor)

i always had to re-arrange the icons when i revert back to my laptop screen again at night (as my monitor is used for my office).

i guess that is the pain of having different resolutions for laptop screen and external monitor...

and although my graphics card can support higher resolution (higher than 1440 x 900), the monitor's native resolution (1366 x 768) is too weak to support the scaling and the views are terrible.

so, i guess i'll have to get an external monitor with at least 1440 x 900 as native.

 

I'd say it might be worth exploring using the second monitor as a second monitor instead of as the primary when you hook it up. Then you can use something with a higher res without it adjusting your desktop. Of course, you'll have to remember to drag your windows back before disconnecting, but it's not as annoying. Or yeah, get a monitor with the same res as your lappy display.

 

thanks, i got what i want - one with a 1440 x 900 native resolution LCD.

thanks folks for your help!!