Laptops with VGA inputs

[2jamesl]

HI, i am inteested in purchasing a laptop but i want one which has a VGA input so that i can plug my xbox 360 into it for optimum graphical performance. I would also want a very high resolution or one which is at least 1278 by 764.


Please Help!



thanks

[esselte]

I may be wrong (usually am) but I don't think you can do it this way?

[dxg]

I have never heard of such a thing. You could buy a usb tuner for the laptop and then run something like dscaler on it, but then you'd be processing a compositie signal with the quality and lag issues that brings.

I would recommend having a look for a 19" widescreen monitor. These can be had for well under £200 now. This is what I did and the xbox happily pushes its max resolution to it, although the xbox hi-def is 16:9 and these monitors seem to be 16:10 so the display is a bit scretched vertically. No lag, though, and excellent quality.

[thepassenger]

dxg said:

Wise words.

Even my 1yr old top end laptop only has outputs... no video in capability (ok... it's has USB/Firewire but you know what I mean). I think you'd be hard pushed to find any laptop manufacturer that shipped with native Video-In.

But you should be able to get something like a WinTVGo that bolts on to the USB port.

[bez_uk]

If you want a lapy with nice screen check out the Dell M1710 XPS's your XBOX wont be able to max them out, their res is larger than 1080p (as its also 16:10) Doesn't stretch the image unless you want it to. Again you would need the usb tuner tho. Or www.rockdirect.com (they have built in tuners)

[SaTTaN]

You won't be able to acheive what you want with a laptop - its screen is for output only - the VGA ports on a laptop are for hooking up a 2nd screen.

as some people have said you /could/ get a usb tuner and take the input that way but you'll get rubbish (analogue) quality.

What you need is TFT (flat-screen) monitor, if you want big screen gaming then get a Plasma/LCD TV that has a VGA/HDMI input (check tho - the xbox may be DVI or HDMI I don't know which)

HTH

[2jamesl]

thanks everyone. Your comments have probably saved me several hundred pounds!

[bez_uk]

People say analogue like a it's bad thing... it's theoretically better. We just have problems transporting signals properly.