Led LCD tv for laptop monitor.

[mborg10]

2013 show was run from my laptop with 17" screen. This year I am setting up my garage as a workshop/man cave and want to add another monitor to my laptop. I can get a computer monitor 27" for $200 or a 32" HD LED TV for $200.
Does anyone use a tv for a second screen. The plus side of a tv is I can use it as a tv but are they too grainy.

 

[kane]

2013 show was run from my laptop with 17" screen. This year I am setting up my garage as a workshop/man cave and want to add another monitor to my laptop. I can get a computer monitor 27" for $200 or a 32" HD LED TV for $200.
Does anyone use a tv for a second screen. The plus side of a tv is I can use it as a tv but are they too grainy.

I would compare the resolution of both - the tv should hopefully list the resolution? I'd be going for the one with the higher resolution.

You could always install a cheap tv tuner to watch TV on the PC if need be.

 

[fasteddy]

The cheaper TVs usually have a lower resolution that is 720P. You want to ensure you have 1080P to have a similar resolution as what a standard 21 inch monitor would have

So a 1080 resolution is best if choosing a TV to use as a monitor.

 

[caffeine]

A half decent 27" should be running at

• 
  2560 x 1440

Which would be greatly preferable...


EDIT: Oops!!! just noticed the price. That will be 1080p at best I would think.

 

[Habbosrus]

Well, I have our computer hooked up to our cheapy 50" Soniq plasma tv via hdmi. The graphics card was one of the cheapest around at the time. Tv resolution is only 1366 x 768 but looks absolutely fine. I'm sure a full hd tv would look even better but it's all we have. Prior to that I had the computer hooked up to our older 32" LCD tv, also 1366 x 768. Both look pretty good. I've been doing this for about 7-8 years now. New visitors still look at me kind of strange when I show them something on our "computer". They love it and ask if they can do it too.

 

[mborg10]

The 32" I was looking at was a cheapy soniq 1366x768 led LCD for $200. Budget won't stretch further cause I need more pixels and controllers. I basically just run lightshowpro and autocad off the laptop. Everything else is on our Mac which has all the power.

 

[ecbailey]

You should be able to pickup a reasonable 24inch, 1080p monitor at the price. I'd suggest this over a lager one with same or lower resolution, as the picture simply won't look as sharp. However, if you're primarily using it for sequencing or just watching TV, then a 27inch at 1080p would work potentially better, as you can zoom the columns/rows out more and still have the grid large enough to work with.