Laptop to Lcd TV

snails's_pace

hello everyone

Can i pick your brains and ask how one would go about connecting a laptop to an LCD TV? (the easiest way lol)
My laptop has a vga port (its an ei system 3103 model laptop). My tv is a 32 inch Techwood Lcd.
thanks in advance x

(just to complicate things..I also wonder if I can connect my laptop to my home theatre system/surround sound system.:o)

almillar

Easy peasy. You know what a VGA port looks like - the plug on your laptop - look for one round the back of your TV! I'll not promise what resolutions you'll get as I don't know the hardware, but you can find that out for yourself.
Home Cinema. Your laptop is bound to have a haedphone socket. There's a tiny chance it has an optical out socket too. Or maybe the optical is built into the headphone socket. Check your manual, google it, or look in the sound settings to look for anyhthing that says optical or digital out. Most likely though, you just need a cable that does 3.5mm minijack (a headphone plug) to red and white phono (standard hifi connectors). Make sure you have somewhere to plug it into the back of your sound system.
And of course you'll need a VGA cable. I'll recommend eBay for both, and certainly not PC World?Currys etc. Good luck! Oh and yeah, bring back Mark and Lard!
HTH
Alan

bristolleedsfan

I asked a local PC shop yesterday about connecting a PC to a LCD TV to watch streamed football, I was informed only way would be using the "old phono" leads with an assurance that the picture quality would be awful.

almillar

You need to look at the back of your own TV rather than relying on the general advice of someone. Loads of LCD TVs have VGA in, they may even have DVI (slightly larger, lots of square pins and a cross, or a new one may even have an HDMI connection. The PC shop lost a sale of a VGA cable I think! Quality of the stream probably isn't very good anyway though...
Alan