External LCD Monitor for Laptop

[montecarlo]

This post is going to be quite long; so please bear with me
I have a Dell Inspiron Laptop with a native resolution of 1280 x 800; it is a 15.4" widescreen monitor. The laptop has VGA and SVideo outputs.
There seems to be a good deal in my town on a 26 inch Sansui LCD monitor. I dont have much details about the monitor, but I am guessing it should be something akin to this LG model here:
http://www.superwarehouse.com/LG_26L...C7DC/p/1501112

I intend to use the 26" monitor only for watching movies that I have stored on my laptop. These movies are mainly regional ones, some of which are VCD versions, since they dont have any DVDs out. Also the resolutions to which they have been ripped vary greatly. When I maximize them to my current screen size (15.4") and maintain the aspect ratio, the quality is quite decent. Now, if I were to plug in this 26" LCD monitor and watch the movies, how would it appear?
My first concern is that, since my graphics card supports only up to 1280x800, and since the aspect ratio is 16:10, how would it appear on the 26" (and say, 16:9) monitor? Is it worth spending an equivalent of almost $750 on it?
Also is it better to use the SVideo or the VGA out, assuming the 26" has both available?
Kindly clarify my queries. Thanks a lot in advance.

[BOB IROC]

If using the VGA output on the back of the monitor the laptop may support higher resolutions on the external monitor. The 1200x800 you are referring to is probably just a limitation of the Laptop LCD. However checking out the monitor specs using your link it looks like it has a max resolution 1366 x 768 and I do not see any reason why your laptop cannot achieve that resolution.

[3fingersalute]

I'd bet that LCD runs at 1680x1050 at the very least. As far as inputs are concerned, I'd guess it will have either a VGA and/or a DVI connector.

[montecarlo]

But my laptop only has an Intel integrated graphics accelerator. When I check the graphics properties, it shows me 1280x800 as the maximum available resolution. Are you saying if I connect the 26" screen, it will automatically support a greater resolution?
If I check the Intel GMA Specs (http://www.intel.com/design/graphics/gma900/), it says the max resolution is 2048x1536 at 85 Hz. But I only see 1280x800 and 60Hz in my laptop graphics settings. I am sorta confused about this. Please clarify.

[3fingersalute]

But my laptop only has an Intel integrated graphics accelerator. When I check the graphics properties, it shows me 1280x800 as the maximum available resolution. Are you saying if I connect the 26" screen, it will automatically support a greater resolution?
If I check the Intel GMA Specs (http://www.intel.com/design/graphics/gma900/), it says the max resolution is 2048x1536 at 85 Hz. But I only see 1280x800 and 60Hz in my laptop graphics settings. I am sorta confused about this. Please clarify.

Yes it will. I just received a new LCD for my desktop machine here at work. Before, my old LCD was a 19" and its max resolution was 1280x1024, as soon as I hooked up the new wide screen LCD, my max was 1280x1050.

If you boot the laptop with the LCD attached, you'll be able to go up to 1280x1050 (or whatever that particular LCD supports up to) and without it connected, you'll only have 1280x800 listed.

[BOB IROC]

But my laptop only has an Intel integrated graphics accelerator. When I check the graphics properties, it shows me 1280x800 as the maximum available resolution. Are you saying if I connect the 26" screen, it will automatically support a greater resolution?
If I check the Intel GMA Specs (http://www.intel.com/design/graphics/gma900/), it says the max resolution is 2048x1536 at 85 Hz. But I only see 1280x800 and 60Hz in my laptop graphics settings. I am sorta confused about this. Please clarify.

Thats becuase the Laptop LCD is limited to 1200x800 even though the video card can do much higher. So if you use the VGA output you can achieve the maximum resolution of that external monitor.