Secondary Displays for a Laptop

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Slicks

Slicks

TSI AWD
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I'm looking at purchasing a laptop in the next month for use as my primary computer. As such, I'm looking for some advice on my purchase. I, first and foremost, have been looking at and pricing out 17" laptops to my specifications, and have found that they start at the very top of my price range and go up from there. So, I have recently been looking at 15" laptops with the intent to purchase a secondary display to use at home, along with a mouse/keyboard, and to also use the existing sound system that I have for the family desktop.
The specifications that I'm looking at include 1.8 to 2.0 GHz dual-core processors, 2 GB of memory, and a 256 MB graphics card.

I have found the overall price to be slightly cheaper to get a 15" laptop with a 19" secondary display than to get only a 17" laptop.

So, that said, are there any drawbacks to purchasing a 15.1" laptop and larger secondary display?
Also, I have been looking primarily at Dell laptops. Is there anything specific that I should look for, either with Dells or with any laptop?

Thanks In Advance for any advice!

Edit - My price range is $1600-$1800 CDN, taxes not included.
 
Slicks
... So, that said, are there any drawbacks to purchasing a 15.1" laptop and larger secondary display? ...
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I run a laptop as my main computer (don't know what the screen size is) and use a 19" as a secondary display with an extra mouse and keyboard.

I think I have a very similar setup to what you are looking at running.

The good points:

  • I have a big screen to look at.
  • I have a proper keyboard to use.
  • I have a proper mouse to use.
  • I have plenty of deskspace left over.
The downside:

I run a 1280*1024 res. on my LCD screen. My laptop screen can run this res., but there aren't enough pixels to physically fit this res. on the laptop screen. So, that means that my desktop extends off the edges of my laptop screen, and my desktop scrolls. Which is fine because I don't look at that screen.

But...

Now, for some reason, there's a 100px black band down the right hand side of my screen that the laptop doesn't use. So, when I remove all the extra periphials and actually take my laptop somewhere, I turn the res. down to 1024*768 but I still have to sctoll 100px horizontally.

This annoys me. It only happened after I used my laptop for about 3 months with the extension screen plugged in.

I have no idea if this is my OS causing this, or my graphics card. :indiff:

Anyway, just thought I'd share my experience with you so you know it's not all roses and lollipops, although mine is almost certainly and isolated case.

There's nothing better than a big screen though! 👍 And I think laptop keyboards ar crap, so at least go for an external keyboard and mouse setup.
 

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