DVI port, can it be added?

I'm close to buying my first notebook. A Gateway NX860XL, (T7200, Vista Ultimate, 2 GB ram, 80GB 7200 HDD, WSXGA, NVIDA GeForce Go 7900 GS, 12-cell battery).

Problem is, there isn't a DVI port on this. Not having any experience with notebooks, can I add a DVI port? If not, is there a converter for the VGA port? Will it significantly reduce the quality to an external monitor? I don't game, but I do a bit of playing in PhotoShop Elements.

 

There is no VGA->DVI converter that I know of, but you could check out the Belkin ExpressCard Docking Station for a DVI connection that supports 1600x1200 in 32bit color.

VGA is just about as good as DVI. I've used both at the same time and really didn't see a difference at all...the displays were the same.

 

Can you have an ExpressCard DVI port? I'm sure I've heard of that here.

 

Check out www.expresscard.org to see...they list any/all of the ExpressCard devices out there I believe. If there is one other than the Belkin Dock they'll list it.

 

Yah night_2004 just mentioned the Belkin, which uses the ExpressCard interface.

 

Thank you for the quick replies.

Express Card slot???? I don't believe the nx860xl has one?

 

I use VGA to pump images at 1080p (1920x1080 @60Hz) to my HDTV (Samsung 50" DLP ) at home and I think it looks fantastic. I tried with my DVI connection and there was some issue with HDCP or some such, so it didn't work.

 

What cable do you use? Could you post a link to it?

 

There really isn't much difference, but if your monitor supports ONLY DVI, and not VGA, then you can buy one of these cheap adaptors.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hama-Analogue-VGA-DVI-Adapter/dp/B00006J4LT

A good, shielded VGA cable will give essentially exactly the same performance as DVI.

You just need a standard, male to female VGA cable, they're very cheap.

http://www.aandcaudio.co.uk/view_product.aspx?ProductID=1935

 

You have to be carefull with that. These "adapters" do not adapt anything. They just reroute the signals to a different connector. That means that the analog signals of the VGA get routed to the analog pins of the DVI connector. However, if your TV/monitor what not does not support analog signals this is utterlly pointless.

 

That's odd, because my Belkin Pro SVGA cable only goes up to 1024x764:
http://www.dabs.com/productview.aspx?QuickLinx=TRC

 

The resolution of video outputs from a laptop is often limited by the GPU. Perhaps using different GPU drivers might solve the problem.

 

No I don't think that's right, I think you need a Male/male. A male/female is an extension lead. I have a m/m VGA lead right next to me, which I use to hook this laptop up to my grandma's HDTV.

 

Lil,

Sorry, but this has not been the case since around 1996.

Ice-Tea