Laptop hook up to LCD TV - Need help ASAP

I have a Samsung LCD TV, and a Alienware M9750 laptop.

I basically want to hook up my laptop to my TV, with video and audio. My Laptop has a DVI connection, while my TV has a HDMI connection.

I plan on buying a DVI to HDMI cable, which should take care of my video. But my question for that is: Will I have a picture on my TV AND laptop, or just the TV?

I heard DVI-HDMI does not support audio so I need another cable for audio.

My laptop has these connections:
Audio In
Center, Surround, Front
Optical
Headphones

And my TV has:
DVI IN with the Red/White audio jacks (Looks like it is for the HDMI port)
Audio Out with the Red/White audio jacks
Audio (one jack) for the PC VGA hookup
Digital Audio Out (Optical)

What is the best hookup to use for audio? And how much would the cables be? I plan on buying the DVI-HDMI cable at Fry's.Thanks.

 

You will need to buy a DVI-HDMI cable - go to monoprice.com and buy it. You will not find a better price, period! You'll also need to connect audio from your laptop to the TV, since no audio is sent from the DVI port. You can buy those types of cables at monoprice - just look at the audio outputs on the laptop and the inputs on the TV. Now, if the TV doesn't allow you to select a different audio input, you'll have to send the audio to a receiver (or just use the laptop's speakers or external 3.5mm speakers).

You should have several choices for the external video output, and the most common are mirror and extend. Mirror means both screens have the same display and extend means just that - the display is extended, giving you two different screens (imagine two monitors next to each other, where you can move the mouse from one to the other). It's perfect if you want to watch a movie on the big screen and surf on the laptop. Display resolutions will probably be locked to whichever display has the smallest resolution, since it's not common to have a video card that outputs different resolutions for different monitors.

 

I have updated my question to it is easier to understand what I have. To get a mirror image, will that work with the regular DVI-HDMI connections? And how to I find out if my TV lets me select different audio ports?

My TV recognizes when something is plugged in (like my 360), so when I select "source", it switches between the TV and 360. But if I unplug the 360, it will not let me press the "source" button on my channel changer.

 

If you buy cables at a brick and mortar store, expect to pay waaaaaaay more. You can save quite a bit of cash if you wait a few days for the cables to arrive.

Read the manual for your TV - it will explain how to pair audio inputs to video inputs, if that feature is available.

Mirror and extend are operating system and video card terms, and have nothing to do with your television or the cable used to connect the laptop to an external monitor. Review your laptop's video card settings and/or the laptop manual for more information.