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I now have a new ASUS A53U-ES21 Notebook and I hate the keyboard so I connected my USB keyboard to the notebook and that problem is eliminated. Am using a wireless mouse that I also connected via USB to the notebook. Works just fine.
Then I thought about connecting a 19" Viewsonic LCD monitor to be the notebook. I'll know if that works when I connect it but I don't know if any damages will occur--I don't want damages. I will wait until I get some feedback from one or more of you. As usual, TIA.
There should be no problems doing that at all, although battery drain will be higher due to the necessary power supplied by the USB ports. You can compensate for that by using your graphics interface to turn off the laptop monitor completely and use the Viewsonic as your primary.
If you're not running off battery power then it makes no difference.
Thanks fink. I neglected to say that I would sometimes be using the viewsonic monitor only when I am home. When going away I would want the netbook to be just as ASUS built and intended it to be used. I had not thought about the graphics card. How would I configure it to be used with the Viewsonic? I have assumed that by use of the Viewsonic the icons presently on the netbook would appear on the Viewsonic when properly configured.
It depends on the built in graphics card but with most laptops you can right click the desktop and mouse over graphics properties then drill down to the "output to" option and select which monitor you want to use as the primary.
You may need to use a different graphics options UI depending on the laptop.. some will be in the systray or in Start>programs but they all essentially will do the same thing as far as switching/assigning monitors.
You may also be able to use the Fn key to use one of the F keys to select the primary monitor... I can't remember which exactly and I don't have a laptop in front of me but it might be F7 or F8.. the key will have a small squarish monitor like icon on it.
One thing I would suggest, from past experience, is that if you are going to unplug the external monitor you should first reassign primary back to the laptop's own monitor first. I found a couple of times, albeit with older laptops, they get confused if the assigned external primary monitor is no longer present and leave the laptop monitor off until the external is replugged to make the switch manually.
You may also need to adjust screen resolution manually but that's very easily done.
The desktop icons, taskbar, etc will be identical no matter which monitor you use as the primary.
My wife occasionally connects her little 11.6" Acer netbook to various 19" to 22" monitors. Works fine.
BTW, according to the manual for your notebook ...
It has a [Fn] key with the two letters "Fn" on it in sort of a cyan/blue color, and the [F8] key has two little monitor icons on it, also in cyan/blue. Presssing those two keys simultaneously ([Fn]+[F8]) acts as a four-way toggle between the following four display capabilities:
Note: The external monitor must be connected “before” booting up the computer.
- Notebook's LCD display Only
- External Monitor Only
- Notebook's LCD display and an External Monitor in Clone mode (show the same Desktop on both monitors)
- Notebook's LCD display and an External Monitor in Extend mode (stretch the Desktop across both monitors)
Is it little wonder that I stay with this forum, especially when I need help. You people are godsends to people like me and I just want you to know I appreciate the sharing of your knowledge.
I will report back my anticipted positive results after I have checked what you have said. Many thanks fink and Doc.
You're more than welcome ... and Thanks! :)
hey buf? I rarely have to post here anymore. They have taught me a ton....Thanks Train especially and fink. (Shameless plug). I should be here more often but unfortunately am not. Plus I forgot my original password under a different name...That's how long. Anyhow..no hijacking I know.
The pople here are simply great and give of their time and knowledge most freely. Come on back!!!!
I know this....still love Train. He made me (even though he doesn't know it) get my degrees. Thank you Train. After hearing his help for me? I have achieved 4 certs and 1 degree. I love that dude for that. Still can't type but...I've been here under bchzd2 and bchzd but cannot for the life of me remember the passwords.
Sorry fink. I know ya been around forever.
Train is persistant, but persistantly good, and one of the great Mods on this forum.