Dual Monitors on NP2090?

I'm trying to setup my NP2090 so that I can hook up an external monitor to it and use it in addition to using the on-screen display. I have an old headless desktop that sits at my desk that I sometimes run some simulations on, but I'm looking to get a monitor for it and I thought it'd be cool to use the monitor with my Sager too. Does anybody know how to do this and what hardware I may need? Thanks.

Mets

 

its just plug and play, should be in the manual.

- connect the monitor
- go in Nvidia Control Panel
- set the display settings

 

Oh cool, just wanted to make sure

I guess what I was also asking, but wasn't quite specific - is there a way to hook the monitor up to both my desktop and laptop at the same time so that I can use it as monitor for the desktop and a second monitor for laptop depending on which setting I select, without having to plug/unplug it over and over again? I'm not sure if there's a name for this or something, I thought I saw it once, but with servers not desktops or laptops.

 

you cannot really use your notebooks monitor for another system... efficiently anyway.

If you have a TV Tuner or Tv-input, you can connect by S-video, but that would only look good up to 480i.

 

You should be able to use something like a KVM switch to connect one external monitor to both your desktop and your laptop and alternate between the two with just a flip of a switch.

On the other hand, if you want to be able to use your laptop's monitor for the desktop, you'd need something like MS Remote Desktop Connection (the desktop would have to be running XP Pro - I have no idea how RDC is handled in _Vista, unfortunately).

EDIT: Ah! Found what I was actually looking for - if all you want to do is be able to switch a monitor back and forth, but don't need to switch keyboard and mouse as well (which is what the KVM is designed to do), then all you need is something like this 2-1 VGA switch.

 

Awesome Shyster, that's what I meant, thanks a lot.

One more question - does the monitor have to be the same resolution as my laptop? I have the 1680x1050 display, but would a lower resolution monitor still allow me to use both at the same time? Would it look ok or just be really weird?

 

This point I'm not very good on, so anyone who knows better - please chime in and correct me - but I believe that the external monitor just has to be one of the resolutions that is supported by the video card, so as long as your video card supports it, it doesn't matter that it's a different resolution than on your built-in display.

Also, just to be clear (I think ), I'm pretty certain that you won't be able to use an external monitor and the laptop's built-in display simultaneously - in other words, once the signal is going from the VGA adapter on the notebook all the way to the external monitor, the built-in display will shut off. Again, I may just be putting my foot in my mouth, so anyone who wants to help me pull it out, hop in and correct me.

 

Each monitor can have it`s own individual resolution. Max supported,that is.
With 2 monitors you can :
-Create an extended desktop,but then I think the resolution has to be the same on both systems(50% I`m wrong here though)
-Clone the desktop and run it simultaneusly on both desktops(it`s what I do when we watch movies at friends and there`s too many for a single display,so I hook up another and clone it )

 

Ok, so I have the 1680x1050 display with my NP2090 - does that mean I have to get an LCD that is also 1680x1050 in order to do the extended desktop? I thought you can run both in their native resolutions, it's just that window sizes may be weird (i.e. too small/big) in one of the monitors.

Mets

 

You do not need a monitor that supports 1680x1050. Your laptop will produce the resolution your monitor supports. (You can adjust it in the display properties)