Please excuse my lack of tech knowledge…
I purchased the Dell laptop, that was available the other day, which I believe is a 14" screen. When I am at home, would I be able to hook the laptop up to this monitor and use the larger screen? Is there a way to make the laptop into a desktop easily, like with a docking station (suggestions would be great here)?
Thanks a bunch
Guess I should have asked this first - is this monitor a good buy?
Dunno about the monitor (sorry) but sometimes dell will sell a docking station specific to the laptop model used, maybe look for that? But those have sort of gone out of favor over the years because they’re pricey (and therefore unpopular), require the company to develop and support a proprietary connection type, can’t be used anymore when you upgrade your laptop, etc.
Nowadays, you can get most if not all of that functionality out of a USB hub. If your laptop has USB C, you can get a USB-C hub, plug your keyboard and mouse and printer and whatever else into it, and when you sit down, just connect the hub to your laptop and poof, you have an office/desktop. And if you get one with HDMI (or your laptop supports usb-c I guess), you can plug your monitor into it as well.
The monitor thing is probably exclusive to a USB-C hub, but you can get a hub that does everything else for USB-A pretty easily. Just be sure to match up the hub’s inputs to the peripherals you want to connect (likely all USB-A, maybe a USB-C or an HDMI, maybe rj45 if also want ethernet), and the hub’s output type (USB-C or USB-A) to what is available on your laptop.
Also, there’s tons of reviewers out there figuring out which ones work well and which ones don’t, so you’re not alone.
Good luck!
Yes, you can make it into a desktop in a number of ways:
- docking station, if one is available
- manually plugging in all the cable to the monitor and a wirless logitech mouse & keyboard combo
Ok, well docking stations are now basically obsolete, this will tell you how far behind the tech curve I am. I have been crawling along with a secondhand (maybe third, fourth or fifth hand) chromebook with a dead battery and I can basically only word process on. Apparently, I have been in quarantine far longer than everyone else.
Thank you for the help, truly appreciated
This monitor isn’t bad, and this isn’t a bad deal. The “3-sided micro-edge bezel” is a very nice design, imo.
If the Dell laptop has an HDMI Out port on it, just an HDMI cable can be used from the laptop to the monitor. And, it can be set up to only feed to the monitor or just the laptop, feed to both in a duplicated screen image, or feed to both in an “extended” desktop style.
If it doesn’t have an HDMI Out port, you could always try something like this:(long link-hope it works)
QGeeM USB C to HDMI Adapter 4K Cable
https://smile.amazon.com/Adapter-QGeeM-Thunderbolt-Compatible-Pixelbook/dp/B07JW7GT7H/ref=sr_1_3?crid=KV5B0HYQ2I3M&dchild=1&keywords=usb-c+to+hdmi+adapter&qid=1592325912&sprefix=usb-c+to+hdmi%2Caps%2C166&sr=8-3
EDIT: Sorry. Shouldn’t have been a “USB-C” link.
USB to HDMI
https://smile.amazon.com/Converter-Multiple-Monitors-Compatible-Firestick/dp/B07WTN45ZM/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=usb-a+to+hdmi&qid=1592336836&sr=8-3
I have a setup that’s probably what you’re ultimately thinking about. I use the laptop itself as a secondary display. The laptop has three cables going to it: hdmi to the monitor, ac adapter for power, and a usb to the monitor. The monitor itself has a built in usb hub which the mouse and keyboard are hooked up to.
The HP monitor from woot has the standard VESA mounting bushings and a built in usb hub, so can be used to replicate this. For scale, this is a 32" monitor with a 14" laptop display.
Everything is mounted to a VESA pole with arms for both the monitor and the laptop. Something like this should do the trick.
Thank you for sharing!