Hopefully this separate thread will eliminate hijacking another.Many RV'ers including myself use laptops instead of desktop units. But the 17" laptops seem to gobble laptop battery power at an astonishing rate. So here I am with a 15.6"I start shopping online for a 23" power thrifty monitor, and run into a blizzard of hyperbole and confusion. I do not have HDMI. Merely an old Compaq CQ57 with video connection.I would prefer a screen resolution as clean as what's on the laptop. But this is up to the video card inside the computer.Do monitors operate directly off a 12 volt power brick? I would love a 23" monitor that consumes 2.0 amperes of 12 volt power. Or less.And then, up jumps my ugly troll social insecurity income.I would love to stick the laptop on a shelf and use the monitor and wireless keyboard with track ball. I would fabricate a stand that allows the monitor to be placed about 30" from me, and then conjure up a sound system with a parts express Lepai audio amplifier and 2 of their 5" speaker bookshelf speakers.But limited money is the needle that pops the balloon of such dreams. 12 volt power efficiency is key. Or do I run the speaker amplifier through an inexpensive 12 volt car radio amplifier?The monitor is by far the most important item.

Here's one that plugs into the laptop's USB. So it's powered by the laptop battery or brick. The "+" in the model number means it offers higher resolution than ASUS model without "+" and others listed on Amazon where I searched "USB MONITOR." Still "only 15.6-in" though. I'm happy with that size monitor and I think the ASUS linked here is aimed at tablet users.

I'd suggest to buy a 22" or larger LED/LCD TV, nearly all have HDMI input accessory port. Get a VGA-> HDMI cable and you have connectivity. I've never seen a computer monitor with a power brick, not to say they don't exist. My daily laptop extra screen is a Samsung Syncmaster 2343, direct wired 120V.The Lepai or other T-amps can be run off batteries or 12V, they are power misers. Tip: just buy the amp board for $10->$15 and stick it in a tupperware container (or some handsome metal box). Don't know the price or shipping on those PE speakers but I'm using these 3" Faital Pro speakers for a project with a T-amp. The Faital's can be mounted in a small box(cigar box?) and are big on sound, also weatherproof. They are better than the usual computer squawkers. Good luck with the PC upgrades.

Have you considered a tablet? IMO for web browsing it's fine and low power use. I still prefer the PC for office apps.

j-d wrote:Here's one that plugs into the laptop's USB. That monitor says it requires USB 3.0. But it also says it's "compatible" with USB 2.0. USB 2.0 does NOT have the bandwidth to pass a video signal in all its glory (that's why it has not been used for that purpose). The specs say the following about USB 2.0. USB 2.0 connection may affect brightness settings and image quality.I'm betting it lowers the resolution in order to be able to pass the video signal. Don't use it on USB 2.0, it will suck.MEX, I'm thinking you should get a Chromebook for surfing if you're worried about battery life. They all get much better battery life than the cheap laptops. HP's new Chromebook 11 gets better battery life than 10" tablets. Yeah, the screen is small at 11.6" BUT you could combine this with a low power TV and probably draw less power than your current laptop. AND the HP Chromebook charges from dead in 2.5 hrs. No leaving it plugged in overnight. If you need to do real work, you can always fire up the laptop.HP Chromebook 11 Power Draw TestingIt has a SlimPort port on the laptop, you can get a SlimPort to HDMI adapter to connect to your bigger screen LCD TV. Or for a more stable solution (IMO), you get a $35 Google Chromecast, install the Chromecast extension on your Chromebook and "cast" your chromebook screen to the TV. This solution assumes you have wifi.

Oh BTW, since there is no analog in HDMI, you'd have to buy a VGA to HDMI CONVERTER. Best to just get a monitor with a VGA connector on it. Plenty of computer monitors have VGA connectors.

Power Efficient Computer Monitor Upgrade? | Good Sam Community

pnichols
Explorer II
Oct 26, 2014
Mex,

Both "LED" and "LCD" monitors are Liquid Crystal Displays. With LED in the name it means light from LED bulbs shines from the back through the liquid crystals to your eyes. With LCD in the name it means light from fluorescent tubes shines from the back through the liquid crystals to your eyes. Nice and confusing, huh?

You can guess which display type takes the smaller amount of power to run - always look for that type of display.

If you can find it, look for a (hint: LED) display that internally uses 12 volts DC for it's circuits. That means you can run it directly from your battery without an inverter middleman. What I found when looking a couple of years ago is that LED displays larger than around 24 inches usually use more the 12 volts DC for their circuitry, so you'll probably wind up easily finding a 12 volt DC display if you're looking at only 23" on down models.

Just make sure your potential new display supports VGA video input ... and don't forget you gotta have some way of getting sound to it from your laptop ... unless you can put up with sound from the laptop but images from the new display!
MEXICOWANDERER
Explorer
Oct 26, 2014
Yes, I realized it's the battery getting gray whiskers I was just penning a thankyougod for allowing it to last four years.

What a great education this is. A 720 is inexpensive as no one seems to want them anymore. Should I prefer LCD or LED given a choice? I have no idea what backlighting is. Also is it worthwhile to shop Top Gun and go for a View Sonic, or is a Vizio just as good?

The local stores want 4,300 pesos for a 23" HungChow (a joke) monitor. $331.00 US Dollars. Before I shop online I want to play the part of the Aware Consumer.

If my eyes weren't so danged bad this would be a lot easier (
Almot
Explorer III
Oct 26, 2014
Mex, my laptop is VERY old, 2007 or older. About 2-2.5 hours on 4-something AH battery in web surfing mode, yes. Your 2011 is super-modern compared to this. The previous poster is right - it's not the laptop that is getting more power hungry with time, it's the battery that is dying. Paid $16 for a new battery on Amazon last year, maybe you should replace yours too.

Correct, VGA is probably 15 pins, I didn't count.

I've edited my previous post - TV will do, just not "any" TV.
MrWizard
Moderator
Oct 26, 2014
2-hours full to auto shutoff to me is astonishing. Brand new Toshiba. The VGA? connection on this laptop has 15 holes, and has tapered sides. This dinosaur is almost 4 years old and has the original battery, sort of neat as it still lasts 3 hours. When it was new the battery lasted 6 hours surfing the web.

David..
as you well know, the laptop power use hasn't changed
it's the battery..that no longer has the capacity it once had..
westend
Explorer
Oct 26, 2014
Samsung Sycnmaster 2343 and Toshiba laptop ---40 W with the Killawatt just on the monitor.

(Sorry about the exposure on the picture)

I dunno, my 32" LED/LCD screen only draws 33W and I can view a webpage from 6'. Actually, I'm ill at ease with web surfing on the big screen so I rarely plug in. I have a standalone DVD player for movies. I haven't researched it but it seems the TV's may be less power hungry than a monitor. If Mex had a TV down in his casa he could keep up with the telenovellas.:D

I do like that notepad idea for Rving, though. I need to do some looking on the pads.

@Mena,
Yeah, I used to build boxes, too. Not since Dell could build one cheaper than I can get parts, though. I have an old Athlon box downstairs that has been running since '97. The two IDE hard drives in RAID 0 were replaced about five years ago.
mena661
Explorer
Oct 26, 2014
You're welcome MEX. A 1080P monitor/TV is not needed at a size of 23". You won't see the difference. As to Almot saying stay away from TV's, the only difference between a TV and a computer monitor is the TV has a tuner, computer monitors do not. Otherwise, there is ZERO difference. Sometimes the addition of a tuner adds to the price. You can get either a TV or a monitor, makes ZERO difference. I am an IT guy, tech is my job and my hobby. That's why I am trying to keep this simple because it is. See the steps I listed above.

Almot, cheap laptops have cheap components. A new 17" laptop may or may not draw less power than your old 15". At the cheap end of the spectrum, people do not care about these things so the manufacturers don't either. That's why I build my own desktop computers because I don't want cheap. I do have a laptop and it was cheap but I don't pretend it is something it isn't.
MEXICOWANDERER
Explorer
Oct 26, 2014
2-hours full to auto shutoff to me is astonishing. Brand new Toshiba. The VGA? connection on this laptop has 15 holes, and has tapered sides. This dinosaur is almost 4 years old and has the original battery, sort of neat as it still lasts 3 hours. When it was new the battery lasted 6 hours surfing the web. The issue is I am limited to a single group 31 AGM battery now. TelCel installed a UPS on the server so when the power shuts off we still have internet and cell phone. The battery sees LED lighting duty plus BiPAP overnight. So I have to be frugal.

I don't need TV so I will stay away from them. Thank you.
Almot
Explorer III
Oct 26, 2014
If you get a TV, go for at least 1080p resolution. Most popular computer monitor resolution now is 1366x768. 1080p TV meets and exceeds this requirement. 720p TV is a bit below this plank.

Get a monitor with VGA input - any laptop should have VGA. It's a rectangular 8(?) pin connector with tapered corners. VGA cable is usually included with monitor. With TV you'll have to buy a VGA cable, costs ~$5 in Canada and US.

17" laptop gobbling battery at astonishing rate? Remove the battery and run laptop through inverter together with detached monitor :)... What is this "astonishing rate", btw? My very old 15" draws max 2A @12V in web browsing mode. 3-4 times less in offline mode, unless I'm watching saved movies. New 17" laptop will probably do better than that.
MEXICOWANDERER
Explorer
Oct 26, 2014
Mena, thank you. I knew I was running in circles and that's more than sorta dumb. Time to call for help on the forum...

Many sites are closed to me such as your links

"The all-new VIZIO Mexico site is on its way!"

So the thousand whatever (70?) monitors are a waste of money no advantage over the 720's? Haven't owned a television in 35 years. Never have subscribed to cable service and this is why this subject is so alien to me.
mena661
Explorer
Oct 25, 2014
MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
The laptop is a low-end purchased in 2011. I believe it has a VGA connection, a rectangular shaped connection with tapered sides and 15 holes. Somewhere in the Windows software says there is a selection for a separate monitor.

A 23" is about it as far as room to carry a monitor in the toad. Going from 15.7" to 23" -should- be quite a jump in screen area. I just don't want documents and images to go all grainy because of the limitation of the laptop video card. The laptop image is not all that hot to begin with.

My HMO won't pay for those cataract lenses that adjust for near and far focus. So with the laptop I am forced to wear strong reading glasses. One eye is fixed the other is getting pretty foggy. So after surgery I am going to have a one meter focusing point. I can place the 23" screen that far away and still see stuff.

But ratings like 720 or 1080 are confusing or 1920 X 1260. What does that mean for a laptop and can my group 31 power the laptop and screen for several hours?

I need a fountain of youth and triple air tanks...
Like MrWiz said, the laptops video card will work fine. Likely the resolution of the laptops screen is 1366x768 which is a little more than 720p HD. Computer screens have always had higher resolutions than TV's (exception being the new 4k TV's). Don't worry about that part. Any 23" computer monitor OR TV with a VGA connector will work with the VGA connector of your laptop. All common standards. Don't worry about that either. Just worry about the price of the TV or computer monitor AND the power draw.

This isn't complicated and I can see this thread making this complicated. All you need is the following:

1. 23" computer monitor or TV with VGA connector.
2. VGA cable.
3. Low power draw, preferably under 30W.

Anything more than that list is overcomplicating things.

PS - Here's a TV with a VGA connector. Advertised power draw is 22.77W. It does not have an ambient light sensor but at 22W, who cares.

Vizio E231-B1

Vizio E231-B1 Specs