VGA vs DVI

Well, I´m looking for a new laptop, I will use it 95% of the time connected to my 19" Dell LCD, I would like DVI out on the laptop, but does it matter that much compared to VGA ?

In other words, should I only look at laptops that have DVI output, if all other specs are mostly equal ?

Thanks

 

dvi will give better picture quality but i find vga is still good for my 17'

 

It will largely depend on the video card and the monitor. Some monitors you will see little difference between VGA and DVI with a quality video card. Others you will see a huge difference. Often cheaper monitors go wtih really cheap ADC (analog to digital conversion) chips and you end up with terrible quality VGA.
I would say try to get a DVI connection.

 

Dell monitors are usually very good. With a 19" notebook, you're really not going to be running very high resolutions. You dont need to worry whether or not it has a DVI outputs. Cheap laptops dont usually have DVI outputs.

I've used VGA and DVI on an external monitor, at 1920 x 1200, and I really could not distinguish anyhting that set either of them apart.

Even if your monitor only supports DVI, you can get a Cheap VGA to DVI converter. Cheap converters often do not convert the signal into a digital signal, and so, they are often VGA to DVI-A convereters.

 

My monitor is Dell 1905FP, it´s really good and currently I´m using VGA, as my laptop doesn´t have DVI. Actually very few 15,4" laptops have DVI. I´m considering the ASUS G1 which has DVI and Nvidia G7700 and the Dell Precision M65 which has Nvidia FX 350M, for use in web graphic development.

 

I wouldn't worry about the DVI vs. VGA. I use a 17" DVI monitor hooked up to my laptop via DVI-D everyday; I also use a 17" VGA monitor at work. I can't tell the difference.

Some notebooks are available with a docking station that have DVI-D in them, so if the laptop you are looking at doesn't have DVI-D, check to see if a docking station is available.

 

If you have true HD video, and a monitor that will display it, then use DVI-D. Otherwise, you will only notice minimal differences between using the analogue signal from DVI and the analogue-only signal from VGA.

 

Ok thanks, I did think that DVI would make a bigger difference, no way I can test it in my current setup, but yes, with a dockingstation I would have both. Thanks a lot.

 

Does it matter "that much", no. Does it matter, yes.

DVI will produce a better picture, but VGA will still work nicely.

 

Thanks, I will test it and let you know.