Laptop via HDMI to TV

Hi,

I'm thinking my 6 year old Dell desktop is getting a bit long in the tooth. Despite all my tender care it's getting a bit creaky and I can't help but think it's on the way out.

My plan is, rather than have another desktop hidden away in the little spare room upstairs, to get a laptop (possibly this one) with a HDMI port than I can connect to my big LCD in the lounge and then via a wireless mouse and keyboard have a nice comfy big screen setup.

Has anyone else tried this and if so can you advise of any potential issues I might encounter.

Any advice appreciated.

Dom

This isn't really an answer to your question, but have you ever used a Toshiba laptop? I find their keyboards horrible (I have a Satellite M60 at home that drives me round the bend).

I hate the keyboards on most laptops but was planning to try one out somewhere before I buy it. As I said I'm mostly planning to use it with a wireless keyboard and mouse setup at home. I don't travel that much so the amount of time it will be used away from home will be relatively low.

I'd be interested in suggestions for laptops around the same price and spec. I always thought Toshiba made about the best and to avoid Dell or HP/Compaq but have never owned one myself.

Dom

Do you specifically want a laptop rather than say a Shuttle mini PC (or even a Mac Mini)?

I have never had a problem with Dell laptops and I think you get a pretty good bang for your buck with them. Not a fan of HP. I'd go for Thinkpad/MacBook if possible, but not at that price point, sadly.

I'm pretty sure it will be a laptop. I'll be keeping my old desktop going for the time being at least to feed my Squeezebox with tunes.

I started speccing a Dell and by the time I'd got it to the similar spec as the Toshiba I was looking at around £650. My budget is £500 tops really.

I'm curious about your original question as well. I'm getting rid of cable TV and I've heard you can watch some TV shows over the net. If I had a reliable way to hook the PC into my 40" Plasma, it'd be much more enjoyable.

Hi Domski,

Is this the same one but £29 cheaper?

Originally Posted by davegugg

I'm curious about your original question as well. I'm getting rid of cable TV and I've heard you can watch some TV shows over the net. If I had a reliable way to hook the PC into my 40" Plasma, it'd be much more enjoyable.

I've already got a Sony Blu-Ray player that hooks up to the net and streams content from BBC iPlayer, 4OnDemand etc (UK catch up tv thingies) and I use them quite a lot. The HD content from the iPlayer is excellent. This is much the same as through a PS3 in the UK. I'm guessing the same is possible with a laptop.

I've read a few things about people having problems with the sound when hooking a laptop up to a tv via HDMI but they all seem to be fixable with a driver update.

I'm not going to rush into this and will probably be a couple of months before I get sorted but I'll keep you posted.

Dom

Originally Posted by oldchippy

Hi Domski,

Is this the same one but £29 cheaper?

Indeed it is. PC World are stocking it for £499 so was probably going to get it from there as Amazon seem to get most of my money these days.

Dom

best bit on the amazon one

Usually dispatched within 1 to 3 months.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well Martin, Dom did say

I'm not going to rush into this and will probably be a couple of months before I get sorted

Yesterday I bought an S Video Cable (because my current laptop does not have an HDMI port) and hooked it up to my 40" Plasma. Then my wife and I watched "Brewster's Millions". Obviously this movie was filmed long before anything was available in HD, but for a SD video, I felt the quality was good. I can only imagine an HD connection would look even better.

The one issue we had was speakers. I believe for what you proposed above, you'd want to make sure the computer had a port for connecting to a stereo or surround sound system. My current computer only has a headphones jack, so the best we'd be able to do is hook it into a single speaker.

HTH

A HDMI cable will carry sound and video so should be fine without any further connections. I've read about people having some difficulty getting the sound to come through but this has been fixed with a driver update.

Dom

Can't comment about the sound issues, but just chuck my two penn'etth in:

I too have a PS3, linked up to a 32" HD LCD TV via a HDMI cable. The video quality of the games is excellent, as is Blu Ray / DV D playback quality, however if I use the internet via the PS3 I find the writing really dificult to make out (especially smallish writing, like that on this forum). The text comes through crystal clear on my 22" HP widescreen monitor.

Don't know if this is a PS3 issue and will render better from a laptop. Have you connected to the internet through your PS3? What's your take on this? You do know that almost any wireless keyboard / mouse (connected via USB) will work through the PS3 also don't you? If it's just for internet / multimedia why not do it through the PS3 you already have?

Dominic

Hi,

I don't have a PS3, just a Sony Blu-Ray with online capabilities, not full internet access though. Know a few people who have though so will check it out.

I guess I'll need to look into what resolution the tv is capable of handling (like I have a clue what that means).

Dom

Have you used the tv for anything other than streaming video? I was hoping to basically use it as a very large monitor but am not sure the resolution will be up to it. Wondering what it will be like viewing spreadsheets etc on it.

Dom

Well after much deliberation I finally did it and went for the Dell XPS 15 with the new 2nd Gen Core i7 processor. It was a bit over my budget at £779 but am hoping it will last me for a heck of a long time.

Not sure what I'm going to do with all that power, I might even get into PC gaming which is something I've never tried before.

I've never been that excited about buying a computer before (since I was a kid anyway) but this being my first laptop and all that I kind of am. Shame there's such a long lead time on delivery at the moment.

Dom

I've got a Sony laptop and a 32" Sony HDTV which I connect together with an HDMI cable.

As a big monitor it's fabulous but there is some colour variation, especially if I use the laptop as an expensive *** player ... the TV can be much darker than the monitor. I guess there's a simple adjustment but I haven't really looked for it (or worried about it).

Enjoy your new toy(s)!

Dom;
I've been doing this for over a year. I especially like to link to Netflix and watch them stream across my laptop to my TV. By the way, the best place to get HDMI cords cheap is through Amazon. I bought two or three 6 foot cables for under $5 US total. Because my TV has only one HDMI port, I also bought a 3 to 1 hookup from Amazon. Again for under $5.00

Enjoy your new experience. You will not regret it.

Alan

It's very cool (in a nerdy kind of way)!!!

Dom

I'd guess it's middle of the road as far as high spec goes but by far the fastest thing I've ever owned.

Base - 2nd generation Intel® Core™ i7-2630QM
Memory - 6144MB 1333MHz Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM
Video Card - 2GB NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 540M Graphics Card
Connectivity - 3 USB 3.0 Ports (1 eSata shared), HDMI etc etc

Have ordered Crysis 2 to give it a proper test. Lights will no doubt dim then

Bwu Ha Ha Ha!!!!