Extra monitor for a laptop

[I, Zimbra]

It was just over a year ago... and it seemed outrageous to me at the time (I was hoping to upgrade beyond 20Gb, but that would have been even more expensive - and yes, tantamount to the price of a new laptop - which at the time I could not afford.)

I will probably just have to bite the bullet and get a more up-to-date laptop - with a WUXGA and all mod cons etc...

It's going to severely eat into my bankroll, though.

(sigh)

Thanks for your help, dik and Stally... I guess I'd better  !!!

 

[dik9]

I bought an acer aspire 1642 a week ago from comet at £599
60gig (although not really large)
1024k ram
1.73 processor
15.4" screen

does the job for me and the cheapest i found live, with those specs.Can find cheaper on net.

http://www.savastore.com/productinfo/product.aspx?catalog_name=Savastore&product_id=10284286&pid=45&tid=2
Same specs but with twice the ram

[I, Zimbra]

Can you multitable on it without overlap?

[stallyon]

if you can get away without having a laptop then go for a desktop. dell are selling some very good PCs at rock bottom prices and all Dells come with a DVI card (digital video something) which allows you to connect 2 monitors to the one card. the problem with laptops is the majority of stuff is integrated into the motherboard so upgrading is expensive. The cheapest is a Dimension 1100 at £349 http://configure.euro.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?b=&c=uk&cs=ukdhs1&l=en&oc=D03115&rbc=D03115&s=dhs&sbc=ukdhsrsdimen_1100_3

[dik9]

Can you multitable on it without overlap?

No I just run another monitor off it

[I, Zimbra]

Stally - I have a desktop that I bought last year, I don't think I can connect two monitors to it though... at least I don't see more than one monitor 'port' at the back of the machine.

Which is why I was trying to connect the extra monitor I have to my laptop instead...

[stallyon]

if the desktop has got a DVI port >>>

then you can buy a dvi splitter cable >>>

this will split 1 output signal into 2

the only other alternative is to fit a 2nd graphics card to your desktop and run a 2nd monitor off it.

hope this helps mate

[I, Zimbra]

Cheers Stally...

Unfortunately, I don't think my desktop has one of those ports... it has a billion USB ports, two firewires, a parallel and a regular monitor thingy.

This all has to be filed under 'information I wish I knew when I was shopping around for a new computer, last October'...

I am now torn between buying a cheapy laptop and hooking up my extra monitor to it, and actually going the whole hog and buying a spanking new laptop with a high res screen, or trying to amend the graphics card in my desktop.

Any which way I slice it, money is involved - I imagine the second graphics card for the desktop is the cheapest option right now... at least if I can hook up the monitor to that one, I can play two or three tables properly with minimum overlap.

[stallyon]

psssst, i'll dig around and see if i cant find a cheapo graphics card somewhere for you....i'm sure i'll have one somewhere

[I, Zimbra]

Just had a thought though... the graphics card in my laptop isn't sophisticated enough to support two monitors...

...so presumably I have to get a graphics card for the desktop that is sophisticated enough to support two monitors...

So it can't be that cheap?   

I don't want to buy the wrong thing. (weep)

They don't make it easy!

[stallyon]

you can (in thoery) fit 2 graphics cards to 1 pc and run a monitor off each...it really depends what the model of your pc is

[I, Zimbra]

Yes, but can I then extend my desktop over both?

On my laptop, I was running both screens over the same graphics card, and couldn't do it.

I don't want to get a second card that won't let me extend the desktop over both screens, that would be useless.

[I, Zimbra]

Erm... can anyone recommend a good site that reviews cards needed for adding a second monitor to a desktop PC?

Or for that matter - can anyone personally recommend a card that they know works?

Cheers...

Z.