To external or not to external? (monitor)

I have the 7805u with the 1920x1200 resolution. Love it. Small dilemma though - I have a 22" Dell Widescreen 1650x1080 and I can't figure out which to use.

I know, I know - use both right? I'm not the dual monitor type. That kind of drives me nuts. I'd rather use one.

Part of me wants the larger monitor but then it seems kind of silly to me with this "desktop replacement" being hooked up to external monitors and keyboards.

What do you think? Do you hook up to an external monitor?

 

I do, but my laptop is a 14-inch with 1440x900. 22-inch with 1680x1050 is not many more pixels, but is a serious increase in actual area of screen. For example, I can easily use two applications side-by-side on the external monitor, but on the laptop monitor they are too small.

 

You can do what I plan on doing and use it as a media screen. To watch videos on. Such as hulu.com.

 

Yeah in your case I would have it hooked up without question. But I have a 17" beast with a higher resolution. Decisions, decisions.

 

No, no dual monitors!

 

I have that same issue too, exactly. I also have a 22" that I wouldn't mind connecting but having it as a dual clone display would be heaven but alast I can just only have it as a secondary display. I hate having to work with a lower resolution than 1920x1200, now that I've been spoiled by the screen real estate.

 

I agree - the extra real estate sure is nice. Although, gaming on the 22" (higher quality) monitor would be supreme.

 

I'd say just use the external monitor when you're not going mobile, but it's a bit more complicated than that.

Gaming on the 22" will be more strenuous for your GPU than the 17" obviously. On the other hand, it's very likely that your 22" has a higher refresh rate, which means it will be less strenuous on your eyes and you will be able to SEE a higher FPS when gaming (while the game might be outputting a high number of FPS, the amount of FPS you see is limited by your monitor's refresh rate. If you have a 60hz monitor like on the FX series, the max FPS you can see is 60.)

to be honest, I would just use the external for movies and for music with visualizer when I have people over.

 

The bigger monitor is harder on the GPU even with a lower resolution? I just thought it was all about resolution. The 22" has 1650x1080, while my 17" is 1920x1200.

 

I have my P7805u hooked up to a Dell 22" with no problems, looks great. My P-6860fx is hooked up to a Septer 22" no problems. All at 1650x1080, no performance issues. I am using this setup for movies, and gaming, there is no question about it, why stress.

 

actually i missed where you said its lower resolution. I'm not sure then, you might very well have just the same or better performance then on the bigger monitor.

 

I had same dilemma as you, frankly I cheated by giving my monitor to my gf who only had a 19 inch and upgraded her to 22 inch.

Honestly only other monitor I use my laptop with is my TV, to watch movies, play myspace poker etc. Otherwise I really don't use an external monitor for the laptop, i see really no reason.

 

I don't see why you wouldn't want to have a dual monitor setup with desktop extended if you already have the monitor laying around. I always use an external display for things like hulu or watching movies. It's great to use if you consistently have things like IM or web browsers up for news or whatever, and then use the other display as your main work space. What's there to lose? Plugging it in is a real pain... (sarcasm)

 

I do have a 70 inch TV setup to a gateway refurbished simply for recording TV and watching movies that I download, works wonderful and only paid $300 for it, only has to be a 2.2ghz to record, best 300 I ever spent.

Only problem is I realized that 250GB Hard drive it came with didn't last long recording and downloading, had to throw in a 750GB. It does some gaming, like myspace poker and reading news, but I haven't got any games like C&C Red alert or war games to work on it.