vostro 1500 geforce 8400m gs available external monitor resolutions?

Hello,

I have dell vostro 1500 w/ nvidia geforce 8400m gs (128MB, only VGA output - it doesn't have dvi or hdmi connectors).

I am hoping to buy an external monitor that is FullHD - meaning it has a resolution of 1920x1080 - it would either be a 22' or a 24' at that resolution. Will this card be able to support such resolution on external monitor?

I have found mixed answers. I am using the (probably latest) 260.99 nvidia drivers for this card. I will not be able to test drive the monitor setup - meaning I have to order the right one from the start.

Is anybody successfully using 1920x1080 external monitor with this card using only a VGA cable?

If this resolution is not supported - what resolution is?

Thank you for any input.

 

You should be able to output to 1920x1080, even GMA X3100 can.

You could always use something like this: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0..._m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=1VJ23CR6PVP2KTYAQ4GP

 

Most monitors even support VGA connectors still. And as already stated, desktop resolution of 1920x1080 should be no problem. Resolution mostly depends on available video card memory. Even a 16MB card would be able to display a windows desktop at that resolution just fine.

 

This is where my confusion comes from - nvidia on their tech sheet mentions this:

Advanced Display Functionality
* One single-link DVI outputs for digital flat panel display resolutions up to 1920x1200 (but my card doesn't have DVI - just VGA)
* Dual integrated 400MHz RAMDACs for analog display resolutions up to and including 2048x1536 at 85Hz
GeForce 8400 Tech Specs

But then Dell says this:
Supported Display Modes: Analog and Digital Displays
800 x 600 (SVGA)
1024 x 768 (XGA)
1280 x 1024 (SXGA)
1600 x 1200 (UXGA)
1920 x 1200 (WUXGA)
Documentation


I don't know if Dell's info is just old and Nvidia's is newer - I mean the laptop and the graphics card is almost 3.5 years old. Still working fine - I'd just like to add that external display.

So that's why it's confusing to me - and I'm worried that if I order a 24" 1920x1080 LCD - the laptop will set it at some non-native lower resolution instead of using the correct one.

 

VGA is analog and can virtually display to any resolution. As long as the monitor has a VGA port, it can display the 1920x1080 without issue. There shouldn't be any limitations in your video card drivers to limit the resolution either, just up to maximum monitor resolution.

Just make sure you get a quality VGA cable because analog is susceptible to electrical "noise" and can cause some ghosting, etc if your cable is of poor quality or has bad shielding. Shorter the cable the better too. By good cable I don't mean expensive either. Monoprice.com is very affordable and knows the business of cables.

 

That's only for the desktop card... there's almost no information about the mobile version on nvidias page, see here: http://www.nvidia.com/object/geforce_8400M.html

 

You guys are awesome! I will then give it a try... I'm a bit worried that the picture won't be sharp enough using a VGA cable on such big monitor (I'm leaning towards the 24" simply because of the fact that with the same resolution the text will be a bit bigger on 24" than it would be on 22"). But there's nothing I can do anyway, since there is only a vga port on the laptop. Hopefully I won't have any issues - I'll try to buy the monitor from a local store and ask them if they can test drive it for me before purchase - but when I asked "theoretically" in one store - they weren't too eager.

Is 24" (full hd) using just a vga cable an overkill for this card (in terms of quality)? I will only use it for web/office and some xvid videos. No games.

 

Games should be fine too, but not sure if the 8400m GS can handle too many games at that resolution.

Like I said, buy a quality cable and you shouldn't have much issue. It should be crisp and clear. There should also be an auto configure button or menu option on the monitor that you may need to run time and again that will help maintain a sharp image. I run a VGA on my 1920x1200 24" and it's hard to tell the difference from the DVI that's also connected to it.

 

I run VGA from my HTPC to my 1080p TV (via HDMI, it doesn't recognize anything that's not 720p or 1080p, so no BIOS or boot screens), and everything looks as it should.