Having trouble setting up my LCD as Laptop Dislplay

Umm, have you tried changing the resolution of the external one. If you right click on the desktop and select properties, then settings, you get to choose either the main screen or the external. Then you choose what res you want, so you should increase it to make things smaller.

Unless that is the max resolution, in which case you are stuck with that.

it can get a little tricky if you want to only use an external and shut off the main lcd. you have to go into the advanced settings and work with the displays tab, which should show the main lcd and the external with 1 and 2 buttons below. these help you select which is the primary and which is secondary. after you switch that, you can choose in the display settings screen to shut off secondary display and just alter the resolution of the primary one.

fn+F8

1st press Internal LCD--->Internal+External@Internal LCD's resolution (unless you have changed the res in display settings)
2nd Press--->External only

Go into Display properties & settings and adjust the monitor res accordingly.

on the settings tab you can select which monitor is primary, move the monitor orientations (click on the display area & move the monitors around) as well as select whether you want to use both displays or just one.

I would suppose that would apply in my case: I have a Gateway mx6027 with a 17" wide-screen LCD but I want to use the laptop strictly as a CPU with a docking port to my peripherals. My KDS 15" LCD standalone flatscreen registers "no signal input" when I hook up my parallel to the parallel port in the back of my laptop. Again, is the advice above pertinent to my case or is there to be another perhaps more convoluted way?

have you tried it yet? only way to find out. i don't know of a simpler method (though this is hardly difficult), and i can't see why it would need to be more complicated. it is a matter of navigating through display menu's and picking the right options- not as straightforward as it should be.

You may want to try Vista, it made a huge difference on my uncle's setup (he is using a 19" Samsung Flat-Panel LCD HDTV). With XP I could hardly read anything displayed on the screen. After building him a new PC with Vista Premium the text is much easier to read. See more information below:

Change Screen Resolution
The biggest change to screen resolution in Vista is that not all resolutions are displayed by default. Vista simply displays the resolution it thinks will be suitable for your monitor. This is based upon on the assumption that monitor size decided screen resolution as follows:

15 Inch Monitor Resolution 1024x768

17-19 Inch monitor Resolution 1280x1024

20+ Inch Monitor Resolution 1600x1200

While you can slightly alter these resolution - downwards rather than upwards - in order to increase the resolution above these figures you need to change a few settings.

1/ Right click on the desktop

2/ From the drop down menu click Personalize

3/ In the Personalize window click the Display Settings link

4/ To reduce the screen resolution adjust the slider until the desired resolution shows

5/ If you wish to increase the resolution above the default; and you must remember that your monitor must support this new resolution, then click the Advanced Settings button

6/ In the Advanced Settings window click the Monitor Tab. In the monitor tab window remove the tick mark from the 'hide modes that this monitor cannot display', then click Apply followed by OK

7/ An extended display resolution range should now be available on the Monitor tab. All you need do now is slide the resolution slider up to your desired resolution and then click OK


Make text easier to read using ClearType
Applies to all editions of Windows Vista.
Which edition of Windows Vista am I using?

ClearType font technology makes the text on your screen almost as sharp and clear as text that is printed on paper. It is on by default in this version of Windows.

To get the full benefit of ClearType, you'll need a high-quality, flat-panel monitor, such as LCD or plasma. Even on a CRT monitor, you might get some improvement in readability with ClearType.

To tune ClearType
You can use the online tuner to further adjust the legibility of on-screen items.

• Go to the Microsoft typography website, and then follow the instructions for tuning ClearType.

To turn on ClearType
1. Open Appearance Settings by clicking the Start button , clicking Control Panel, clicking Appearance and Personalization, clicking Personalization, and then clicking Window Color and Appearance. If the Appearance Settings dialog box is not displayed, at the bottom of the page, click Open classic appearance properties.

2. Click Effects.

3. In the Effects dialog box, select Use the following method to smooth edges of screen fonts.

4. Select ClearType in the list, and then click OK.

NoteWhether you select Standard or ClearType from the list, you must have a video card and monitor that support a color setting of at least 256 colors. You'll get the best results with High color (24-bit) or Highest color (32-bit) support. You can change color quality in Display Settings in Control Panel.
Open Display Settings by clicking the Start button , clicking Control Panel, clicking Appearance and Personalization, clicking Personalization, and then clicking Display Settings.

Paul