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Inventor
Original Poster
#1 Old 26th Dec 2014 at 3:01 PM
Default How to make a "convertible" laptop/desktop [tutorial]
THINGS YOU WILL NEED:

laptop
Desktop Monitor
keyboard
mouse
(OPTIONAL BUT USEFUL) External USB ports
(OPTIONAL BUT USEFUL) Speakers

This is very low-budget project (hopefully you have an extra monitor lying around because they are heinously expensive) with only a few steps.

One thing you'll need to ensure is that your laptop has either a VGA port OR an HDMI port. If it has both, hooray, now you have a wider range of monitors to choose from.

Now you need to figure out what kind of monitor you have. If it's VGA, you will see a rhombus with little spikes in it. If it's HDMI, you'll see a little plug, similar to a cell phone charger. Now that you've got it plugged in, go to the Control Panel (sorry mac users, besides, if you have a $1000 mac, you're better off with an actual desktop).

There are two things you need to do in the Control Panel.

First, change your primary monitor to the Desktop one. Go to Hardware and Sound > Display > Connect to a projector > Projector only. Now the display should go from your laptop to the monitor.

Next, you should make it so that nothing happens when you close the laptop lid, unless you plan to leave it open all the time. Go to System and Security > Power options > Change what closing the lid does. The second option, "When I close the lid:", should be set to "Do nothing" on battery and plugged in. Almost there!

Now you're basically done. You can close the laptop and put it somewhere out of the way. Connect the USB ports, if you have them. I have one from Amazon that was pretty cheap and has 7 ports as opposed to the 3 my laptop already has. Once you do that, you can connect the mouse, keyboard, or anything else you have.

If I'm correct, HDMI monitors also have speakers, so there's no need for extra ones. If you're using a VGA monitor, however, you might want to use some speakers unless you want sound coming from your closed laptop.

And now you're done! Want to just go back to your laptop? Do all of these steps backwards! It's really simple.
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Née whiterider
retired moderator
#2 Old 27th Dec 2014 at 2:11 PM
Assuming your hardware is newer than about ten years old, you'll be using a DVI port, not a VGA port. But otherwise, yup, this is a sensible thing to do when you want some more screen real estate. You can also, of course, keep your laptop monitor active, so you can have (for example) sims on one screen and netflix on the other.

What I lack in decorum, I make up for with an absence of tact.
Inventor
Original Poster
#3 Old 27th Dec 2014 at 5:22 PM
I tried that, either my internet is crap (probably) or my system is too slow. I just use my iPhone as a sort-of second screen for Netflix.
 
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