Use HD TV as laptop external monitor

First, if I were you, I'd check whether the laptop has a VGA, DVI, or HDMI output (one of my laptops has VGA and DVI, another has VGA and HDMI outputs, and I use both the DVI port and the HDMI port to my TV's HDMI input, with very good results). You can get adaptors for DVI to HDMI and also from VGA to HDMI. Those would use your internal graphic card which would probably be the better option than a USB to HDMI device, which would probably also need an internal GPU and that would make it more expensive.

The laptop has USB ports and what looks like an old monitor cable (female) connector. Is that VGA?

Thanks

A VGA port looks like this:
Regards, Joe

joewinograd

You are saying I would need a VGA cable & an audio cable?

The back of the TV has a place for what it calls PC RGB and Audio; the connector faces downward, I can't see it, it feels like another VGA female.

So an audio cable (both ends male) & a VGA cable (both ends male)?

Thanks.

If you indeed have a VGA output (sounds likely) you can use one of these to convert the VGA output to HDMI and mix in the audio from your microphone output to the same HDMI connection, so you'll just need one HDMI cable for the TV.

http://www.amazon.com/VGA2HDMI-3-5mm-VGA-HDMI-Converter/dp/B003VJ9RCO/ref=sr_1_4?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1372015586&sr=1-4&keywords=vga+to+hdmi

To garycase

I think the back of my TV has BOTH of those connectors, so I don't think I need the convertor box

> So an audio cable (both ends male) & a VGA cable (both ends male)?

Yes, exactly! I have a PC connected to a large-screen HDTV (1920x1080) that way and it works very well.

One caveat: can your laptop put out a high resolution signal on an external monitor? For example, mine can do 1920x1200 (and 1920x1080), but not all laptops can. And if your laptop is old, it may be limited to a 4x3 aspect ratio (such as 1024x768) rather than 16x9 (or 16x10). What make and model laptop is it?

It's an HP 2000-369WM Notebook PC. It's not mine, I'm told it's  1 1/2 years old.

OK, here's the Reference Guide for that model:
http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c02983433.pdf

Download it and take a look at the Video section on page 15. You will see that the options are VGA, DisplayPort, and HDMI. But not all of these laptops have all of the ports...the manual says, "Your computer may have one or more of the following external video ports". Go to the next page and you'll see what the DisplayPort and HDMI ports & cables look like. If your model has one of these, then that's a good way to go (DisplayPort, like HDMI, carries both audio and video...I have several HP laptops running DisplayPort to external monitors and to one TV...works a charm). If it doesn't have DisplayPort or HDMI, then VGA is fine. Regards, Joe

Also, in case you need anything else for it, like drivers or the rest of the user guides/manuals, here's a link to its support page:
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/product?cc=us&dlc=en&lc=en&os=4063&product=5171087&sw_lang=

Regards, Joe