Can someone explain DVI to me please?

I have found results searching, but it has basically only confused me more. I have a very simple question, although I am beginning to get the feeling that the answer is going to be "no"

Question: I have an Acer 8200 w/ DVI analog+digital options. Max res is 1680x1050. x1600 card. I want to hook it up to a Samsung 204b monitor which is 1600x1200 native res and be able to use both screens with one mouse, specifically, put poker tables on the monitor and surf the internet on the laptop display.

Is this possible? I really would need the monitor to STAY at its native res of 1600x1200, and have the mouse move back and forth or some arrangement.

 

If you're going to be running a second monitor from you notebook, it is my understanding that you will be limited to whatever resolution your notebook's screen is capable of on the external monitor as well. The external monitor cannot exceed this resolution.

I'm not sure how that works out when you couple it with a UXGA screen though--you may have to crop something on the Samsung.

 

Actually, you should be able to display 1600 * 1200 on your external screen. If you have a problem, update your vidcard drivers. Use the driver from your screen if you got one. And if all else fails, you still have Powerstrip.

 

I think Ice-Tea is right about this. Now I don't have a UXGA external monitor to check this on, but in my GPU properties I am able to setup 1680x1050 on my notebook screen with an external screen at 1600x1200--and it seems to accept the setting.

 

well, then I am optimistic and will proceed with the project. If all else fails, there is always the return button

 

Yes I agree. The external resolution a laptop display is often significantly higher than it's own screen. My old Portege could manage maximum 1024*768 on it's own 12.1" XGA but could easily manage 1280*1024 on an external 19" monitor, even with the awful trident cyberblade IGP. Doing them together was a struggle but an X1600 wouldn't have that problem at all.

Looking at the product information for my current machine (specs below) even my x200m can handle 1600*1200 external when it's own screen is only XGA (1024*768). You should have no problem.

 

When tweaking it a bit, it should even be able to handle 1920*1200

 

My go 7600 has settings as high as 2048x1536 available for the external monitor.

 

No, 1680x1050 is not the same image aspect ratio as 1600 x 1200. you'll have to turn down the external, secondary monitor resolution a notch in order for the monitor to cater for the amount of pixels it needs to display vertically and horizontally.

For example, my GPU has a max external display resolution of 2048x1536, which is a normal 4:3 ratio. When i set the resoluton to 1920 x 1440, my 1920 x 1200 displays a message "cannot display image in this mode". Thats because it cant cater for the 1440 pixels, it can only cater for 1200 pixels.

Therefore, I need to use a resolution of 1600 x 1200 on my montitor with my laptop, even though I use DVI. Your better off getting a widescreen monitor. But on some GPUs it can cater for widescreen ratios as well.

 

Yeah, but not on DVI

 

Hey! I only said I have the settings for it. I never said it would look good or that I have the proper port for it ;p.

 

You may run into a problem with your total amount of video ram. Mirror or same picture is not a problem. When driving two seperate screens you may have to reduce resolution and color bit depth on the second display to keep your video card happy. Let us know what you find out.

 

I *really* do not want another 1680x1050 monitor (even though it would match my notebook LCD). For my purposes, 1600x1200 is necessary (4 poker tables, 800x600, no overlap + tables can't be resized, fits 1600x1200 perfectly).

Are you referencing a mirror or another display? Because I will be using the monitor for extra real estate. And you still don't think it will work?

 

Are you buying this UXGA monitor in a store? If so, perhaps you could take your notebook with you and test it out before buying. That would eliminate the questions before you get home with it.

 

Yeah, Lil Mays's answer was a bit confusing. People use regular-aspect monitors with widescreen laptops all the time. For example, I have attached a photo of a setup I have at home where a 1280x800 laptop is also driving a 1280x1024 monitor (note that this is a VGA connection, not DVI). Now that I think about it, there is a guy at work who has a 1600x1200 monitor and a 1680x1050 monitor attached to the same desktop system by DVI, and that works fine too. So I'm not sure why it wouldn't work on a laptop.

 

This is wrong.

The fact is, you can set the monitors to operate at resolutions independent of one another, but use them to extend your desktop. For example, I had my laptop working at 1280x800 and then extended to a 1024x768 screen.

Likewise, I've also been able to extend that 1280x800 to a 1680x1050 widescreen external.

Bottom line, the way Windows handles multiple screens is that you can set their resolutions independently, and if you look on the "Settings" tab under "Display Properties," try clicking on the individual monitors (the pictures marked "1" and "2"). You can move them to suit however you have your screens set up. Play with it.

But YES. Regardless of your notebook's resolution, you can attach a second monitor to use as an additional screen. Surf the internet on one, game on the other.

 

I've been running 1920x1200 on the lappy LCD while driving a plasma TV monitor over DVI at 1366x768 (or whatever that funky plasma res is) without problems. I recall being able to select all the way up to 2048x on the plasma in the driver. If I have time later tonight I'll check and post with more details.

Doug

 

To confirm, there's no problem running _any_ res over DVI while the lappy's own LCD is fixed at 1920x1200. Standard WinXP multimon support.

Doug