Laptop with External Monitor

[theSundanceKid]

I attached an external monitor to my laptop and after downloading an updated video driver, am able to use both my laptop LCD screen and the monitor.

*However*, its not doing what I was expecting. I see the exact same thing on each screen. I wanted the external monitor to be an extension of the desktop so I can run applications on each screen and move them around from screen to screen. I tried looking for something on the Display properties dialog box, but was unable to find anything that seemed like it would do that. Is there anything I'm missing here?

 

[SkipCox]

That's how my old dell works too. I believe it's dependent on the video card drivers available to display pic in pic or dual display.

Skip

http://home.comcast.net/~skip9/index.html

http://scc.i8.com

 

[KimLeece]

I think that you need two output channels from one video card - or two video cards - to get a dual monitor setup. Laptops don't normally have that function - it's more the capability of having a larger screen than your laptop to work on. That's how my Omnibook works in any event!

Kim.

'Everybody is ignorant - only on different subjects.'
Will Rogers.

 

[garebo]

I think its also os dependant, as win98se could do that, i would imagine that win xp can do that also.
Have you tried rightclicking on your desktop, go to properties\settings\advanced and have a look there?

 

[MaxPipeline]

I have been off and on in the AV and convention business for almost 8 years now. I have seen hundreds of different laptops from all the major manufacturers such as Dell, Gateway, Toshiba, Sony, etc. I have never seen a laptop with this capability. You will need a special video card that can send to two different monitors to basically extend your viewing image beyond the usual 4:3 or 16:9 ratio. Most standard video cards do not have this functionality including most AGP models designed for desktops. Laptop video cards are primarily used to power the laptop's built-in LCD screen. Although pretty much all recent laptops can also send the same signal to an external monitor or projector for presentation purpose or whatever, It is simply a mirror (if you want to use an old Apple term) of what your LCD screen would show. The only instances I've seen of extending your viewing area to more than one monitor is with special "video wall" devices (not within the realm of us mere home users in terms of price and complexity) or special video cards designed for desktop PC's. The OS per se really has nothing to do with it.

 

[MaxPipeline]

Forgot to mention. I have seen software before that could split the image onto two screen, but the name of that software escapes me at this moment. But even in that instance you still needed two external monitors and some extra hardware. You couldn't split the image from your built-in LCD and an external monitor.