Inexpensive home office using my current Dells?

Guys I need to set up some sort of 'home office' now that I need to start looking for a job and, knowing myself, using a laptop on the couch won't really cut it. Here's what I have at my disposal:

1. The two laptops listed in my sig. The XPS has HDMI out; the Inspiron doesn't and also has a cracked screen
2. Target $100 GC, probably to be used towards a desk
3. Some cash (ideally don't want to spend much more than $200)
4. 32" Vizio LCD TV with HDMI inputs

Can I use the Inspiron as my cpu (it's got a cracked screen anyway, maybe this would be a better use than spending ~100 on a screen off ebay) or does the lack of outputs hamper this capability?
Can I use my LCD TV as a monitor?
If I were to buy a monitor, could I hook up 2 18" monitors or am I limited to 1 (then I'd get a 22-24")?

Any other thoughts?

 

You can use the LCD TV as a monitor, and spend some of your 100 on a mouse, keyboard and desk. Put the nackered inspiron on the floor in a pyramid stand, Wire it up, and thats you got a rudimentary desktop. (And your inspiron can only support one, as it only has one display out.[you could use a splitter, but this means two of the same image on both screens])

 

Thanks....so what would be the best connection to the lcd? Its inputs are HDMI, Component, RGB/PC and the old composite video

 

RGB/PC = VGA connector... same thing.

"VGA", "RGB", "D-Sub", and "PC Input" are all different names for the same connector.

So... plug in using your Inspiron's VGA port and a VGA cable.

According to some chart that came with the TV, VGA is the second-best way to connect anything to the TV in terms of picture quality. (HDMI is the best way; however, if your computer doesn't have a digital video output port, then converting to HDMI won't improve anything.) Anyway, VGA provides a good picture quality. There's no reason to mess with component, S-Video, or composite, unless the VGA port is already being used by something else.

btw I have a 32-inch Vizio (model VO320E) and I connect my computer using VGA.

There's also an audio port on my Vizio TV next to the VGA... I connect that to my computer's headphone jack using a simple male/male 3.5 mm stereo cable. Although you don't have to do that... you could also connect the computer to any computer speakers and not go through the TV... or just use the laptop's built-in speakers.

 

Thanks! Lot of good info here