New computer & TV for monitor

[Mountain_Mama]

We recently bought a new Dell pc for home which did not come with a monitor. We purchased a new 24” TV to use for the monitor. Need to get it all set up but have a question about the TV. (I got the HDMI cable to hook it to the computer as I found info online that this was what was needed.) The TV is brand new.. still in box. Do we need to "set it up" as using it for a TV before hooking to computer or can we do that after hooking to PC? TIA

[Gdetrailer]

valhalla360 wrote:

DutchmenSport wrote:

valhalla360 wrote:
...

I wouldn't suggest a desktop unless you have a specific need that calls for it. ...

I would never go back to a desktop now, unless I had absolutely no other choice. With the advent of a cell phone "hotspot", it's absolutely wonderful to be 100% mobile. I even took my (company) laptop fishing with me one day and did a work form home with one hand and a fishing pole in the other, all through my phone hot spot. No one in the office ever knew. As far as they knew, I was in my "home office" ... which just happen to be at the end of a dock, overlooking a beautiful lake, in a State Park that day!


🙂

Sad 😉

You've only done it one day. I've been traveling with a laptop since 2007 and most of my clients don't even know. I did have to come clean one day on the boat when the client overheard a pod of dolphin making "pftt" noises next to the boat.

As I said unless you have a specific need, most are better off with a laptop.

OK, you must have extremely small hands and fingers to deal with the cramped laptop keyboards, lack of numeric keypad and the jumbled messed up order of the keys to fit the tiny keyboard not to mention the silly "scratch pad" that replaces the mouse.

I on the other hand prefer full size standard layout keyboards with numeric keypads and a REAL standalone mouse. No micky mouse stuff for me.

Additionally, laptop processors are low power mobile processors which speed is traded off to reduce power consumption and do not fly as fast as a desktop processor so if you are wanting to do some High def video editing and playback a desktop PC IS the way to go.

Pretty hard to expand a laptop, no PCIe ports so add on cards is impossible and you are stuck with one or two USB ports and if lucky one might be USB3..

Laptop screens at 14"-17" is a down grade for me, love my 23" screen..

Sure, you can put a external keyboard, mouse and monitor on a laptop but now you just have created a wired up cobbled bolts in the neck FrankenPC and it cost you more in the end.

Now if you just couch surfing looking at facebook and emails a laptop can be perfectly fine..

My PC usage IS a lot more demanding..

[joebedford]

DutchmenSport wrote:
So, if you are still a desktop person, well ... consider that glorious day at work I spent "fishing".

I would rather be sitting in front of my 7.5 year-old desktop thanks. But I have a flip phone I could use at the dock (not).

[dieseltruckdriv]

I have been using a 32" tv as a monitor for several years, as a matter of fact, I am using now. I love it, and wouldn't pay for a monitor anymore.

[MNGeeks61]

Since we're discussing laptop vs. desktop now...

I go the other way.

I can't stand a 15" screen, and the 17" screens are barely tolerable plus heavier. My vision being what it is. So I prefer my desktops (one in computer room, two in basement)

Not only that, unless you pay through the nose for a decent i5 or AMD Ryzen or or FX 6300 or above in a laptop. Laptops aren't upgradeable much beyond additional RAM and/or SSD's. Also, not all have the power of a good GPU. Then again, I do play games and use apps that require that power. Not everyone does.

Intel mobile GPU's are barely decent. AMD's are ok. I'm sure they suffice for most people. I am not most people 🙂

I get around the limitations of a desktop (can't move it) by using a tablet or android phone for mobile stuff. Or very occasionally I have to drag out the heavy 17" Dell laptop.

I have a 7 year old computer. Works fine for what I need even with a lower-power GPU. You'd be surprised at what you can get out of an AMD quadcore if you give it an SSD and decent memory bandwidth. Oh, and a good power supply.

Wow, that wandered...sorry!

Original topic - I'd love to hook up our 43" 4k TV to a computer, but... then again, not many video cards can output that. 1080 resolution maybe.

[valhalla360]

DutchmenSport wrote:

valhalla360 wrote:
...

I wouldn't suggest a desktop unless you have a specific need that calls for it. ...

I would never go back to a desktop now, unless I had absolutely no other choice. With the advent of a cell phone "hotspot", it's absolutely wonderful to be 100% mobile. I even took my (company) laptop fishing with me one day and did a work form home with one hand and a fishing pole in the other, all through my phone hot spot. No one in the office ever knew. As far as they knew, I was in my "home office" ... which just happen to be at the end of a dock, overlooking a beautiful lake, in a State Park that day!


🙂

Sad 😉

You've only done it one day. I've been traveling with a laptop since 2007 and most of my clients don't even know. I did have to come clean one day on the boat when the client overheard a pod of dolphin making "pftt" noises next to the boat.

As I said unless you have a specific need, most are better off with a laptop.

[8_1_Van]

I prefer using a larger TV as a monitor and you could get a 32" 1080p TV for $139.99 at Walmart . I sometime use my 50" 4K TV as a monitor in 3840x2160 mode but use my 4K computer monitors most of the time.

[Fizz]

But ...

You can't beat a big box for horsepower and graphics, not without spending twice as much for an equal laptop.
I have latest desktop, older laptop, ipad, Samsung View and spend most time on the iPad, go figure.

[DutchmenSport]

valhalla360 wrote:
...

I wouldn't suggest a desktop unless you have a specific need that calls for it. ...

I joined the computer age when I was about 30 years old. My first experiences were all with the old 8088 desktop computers. The first one I owned had two 5 and 1/4 inch floppy drives and a 10 megabite hard drive. (today, one photo can easily exceed 10 mega bites!)

I advanced from there, gradually updating as technology advanced, and then one day, the glorious "Laptop" hit the market. Everyone raved about the "Laptop". But by now, I was a complete ingrained desktop user. I just couldn't part company with the idea of desktop.

My wife, being more progressive than me, decided one day she was getting a laptop, and she did. I still hung on to the old desktop mindset, but she kind of kept pushing me to try the laptop. Even back then, wireless was still not very popular, but it finally came.

All of a sudden, I realized her laptop could do anything (and even more) than my desktop, and I didn't have to tethered to a wire! My next computer was a laptop and I've never gone back. I've burned through many of them now, as technology continues advance.

I would never go back to a desktop now, unless I had absolutely no other choice. With the advent of a cell phone "hotspot", it's absolutely wonderful to be 100% mobile. I even took my (company) laptop fishing with me one day and did a work form home with one hand and a fishing pole in the other, all through my phone hot spot. No one in the office ever knew. As far as they knew, I was in my "home office" ... which just happen to be at the end of a dock, overlooking a beautiful lake, in a State Park that day!

Ahhh.... there's MUCH to be said for a Laptop over a desktop. They are so convenient, go anywhere, small, and most of all, don't depend on wires!

So, if you are still a desktop person, well ... consider that glorious day at work I spent "fishing". Maybe you'll give it a try!

🙂

[valhalla360]

We'll often use the HDMI hooked to the laptop to watch movies and it does great for that. Just need to select the input and the correct HDMI port on the TV.

I wouldn't suggest a desktop unless you have a specific need that calls for it. For most uses a laptop is more versatile and can be hooked up to TV's or monitors (presuming you checked for the appropriate cable availability.

[MrWizard]

i sometimes use my 32" Vizio LCD TV as a monitor
it has an excellent picture
the windows PC will have the ability to customize the display

right click on an empty area of the screen and choose graphic properties
click on display
choose your primary display
it should give a default resolution matching the pixel count of the TV
i would start there, then adjust color , text , etc.. "IF NEEDED"

[lawrosa]

I use a 26" vizio TV as my monitor in my den for my dell desktop. When Im not on computer I sit on the couch and watch TV with it..

[Mountain_Mama]

The one we got has HDMI (thus my getting the HDMI cable) and it also advertises on box to use as a PC monitor. It is a 1080p also.

[GordonThree]

theoldwizard1 wrote:
Not all PCs have an HDMI out port. More common is DVI. DVI and HDMI are "cousins" so a simple not expensive conversion cable (or plug) is all you need. DVI does not include any audio.

Good point.

A new new computer might not even have HDMI, it's fallen out of favor for some reason. You might need a DisplayPort to HDMI adapter also called a dongle.

[TenOC]

Get a use monitor from craigslist. You will be happer.