m1330 HDMI versus VGA

Would I see any noticable improvement hooking my laptop to an external monitor via HDMI versus VGA? Also, which forceware should I be using if I were to do so?

 

If your monitor supports HDMI, you might as well take advantage of it. If you don't already have a cable get one from monoprice.com and not a retail store. I got mine for $4 a piece.

 

What's the tangible benefit to providing the monitor with digital output though?

I'm thinking about purchasing an external 24" panel, and if I drop HDMI as a requirement I'll have a greater selection of displays to choose from.

So yeah I too am wondering if there is any tangible/noticeable difference to using HDMI/DVI over VGA

 

Yes you will notice a pretty big difference.

My external monitor will support a larger resolution through hdmi than it will VGA

 

WHAT difference though? Do you know what the word tangible means?

Larger resolutions are irrelevant in an LCD scenario because the highest res you can run at is the native res - which both VGA and DVI/HDMI already support.

 

not true

on my 42" the native resolution is 1080i, however the maximum vga resolution is 1024x768, whereas through hdmi you get full native resolution

on my 22" when i use hdmi for 2 reasons
1)the edges i find to be sharper
2) the m1330 does not have any sockets to screw a vga shell in to, which i find gives a very poor connector prone to coming out

you dont NEED a monitor to have hdmi, just make sure it has DVI.

if your buying a monitor over 19" that doesnt have either digital input ... i would question the quality of the product you are looking to purchase

 

In my case, my Sony LCD with HDMI looked bad. There were borders around the picture and the image quality was bad. I was looking for a solution but didn't have my M1330 with me. I was probably missing a setting somewhere... but with VGA, perfect pixel mapping, and it was beautiful. I have yet to try HDMI again since my second M1330 came in yesterday.

 

Indeed, don't necessarily assume HDMI is better, there are far more important factors, namely the ability to use the native resolution of your screen. Most HDTV's will only accept HDTV-standard resolutions over HDMI (720p, 1080i/p), whereas VGA will allow you to use 1360x768 and other common HDTV native resolutions.

And indeed, if the TV has a very good implementation of VGA (like my Bravia 32S2030), it can look as food as HDMI visually.

 

All 24" LCD panels these days (that I know of) provide DVI and VGA, but only some HDMI. Now the thing is, the 1530 and 1330 only provide a HDMI and VGA output. So aside from a dodgy HDMI to DVI converter which I'm not particularly interested in, I'd like to just be able to buy any panel even if it doesn't have HDMI support... unless of course there is some tangible benefit. You mention something about sharper edges - can you elaborate? Any pics etc?


ShinyFalcon / Shakey_Jake.. thanks that makes me more comfortable about sticking with VGA if need be. But I guess the small plug of HDMI would be nice too, if all else is equal.

 

dodgy converter? it uses the same pins , just in a different configuration. i wouldnt really call it dodgy

id love to take some pics, but my m1330 went splode and im waiting for a new mobo.

 

Oh not so much dodgy as just big and cumbersome. If I was going HDMI I'd want a display that supported it directly rather than having to convert to DVI, because half the fun would be in the small/neat HDMI plug.

 

with the 8400 card there's no difference between VGA and HDMI that isn't related to the placebo effect.

 

hdmi is awesome, thats all im gonna say. if your monitor or tv supports it, i suggest you try it out!

 

Understand that both VGA and DVI/HDMI output an 8-bit RGB signal from a PC. True, HDMI does support higher formats (up to 48-bit RGB/YCpCr), but PC GPU's do not output in those higher formats. In other words, the signal is the same, the difference being analogue Vs. digital. On any screen that is competent at handling analogue input, they should look roughly identical, the key difference being the selection of resolutions available.

If you're lucky enough to be able to set native resolution over HDMI, great. For the vast majority of people, native resolution over VGA will be superior.