What resolution tv for Hp 500-281

[Renee82]

I just bought an HP 500-281 tower and I want to hook it up to a tv screen using a dvi to hdmi adapter and an hdmi cord. The computer resolution says it's 1366x768. What resolution of screen am I going to want to get so I don't have a blurry screen/text? I'm looking into getting a screen between 24 inches and 29 inches. I'm not very tech savvy and would appreciate some help! Thanks.

 

[dsperber]

I just bought an HP 500-281 tower and I want to hook it up to a tv screen using a dvi to hdmi adapter and an hdmi cord. The computer resolution says it's 1366x768. What resolution of screen am I going to want to get so I don't have a blurry screen/text? I'm looking into getting a screen between 24 inches and 29 inches. I'm not very tech savvy and would appreciate some help! Thanks.

Time to slow down...

Why do you want to hook up your computer to a TV? What are you wanting to do with it? Will this be a second display along with your current probably small monitor, or will it be a replacement for your existing small monitor, or what?

The 1366x768 resolution describes your current monitor, which I assume is connected to either the VGA or DVI connector on the back of the machine... i.e. the motherboard video graphics connectors. However the built-in Intel HD Graphics on the CPU on the motherboard can support higher resolution than that, if you connect your machine to a montitor/TV with higher resolution.

The motherboard in your HP tower has expansion slots, including one for PCIe x16 which is normally where a discrete graphics card would be installed. If you don't have one of these cards in your machine then you're simply using built-in Intel HD Graphics which is part of the i3 CPU. So you have limited ability to connect to an external monitor or TV, and limited audio/video options.

Do you plan to have sound coming out of your TV if/when you connect it? Or are you going to to use separate external speakers? Speakers built into the TV have to be fed from a true HDMI (or DisplayPort) cable, which carries both digital audio as well as digital video. But using the DVI connector on your computer doesn't provide any audio at all. It only delivers digital video, even if you mate it to an HDMI cable. You will only be sending digital video to your TV... no sound. So you'll have to handle sound from your audio outputs on the computer.

Anyway, before making any further comments or suggestions, please describe what you intend to do with this new external display (and it does not have to be a real TV, i.e. it can simply be a genuine monitor). What will you do with your current monitor? Do you want two displays (i.e. Windows "extended desktop" running across both of them horizontally), or will you only have one with your new one replacing the old one entirely?

 

[Renee82]

I just bought the tower and haven't hooked up a monitor yet. Trying to decide on what my options are. The info I have is based off of what Staples told me. Apparently using a tv isn't the best option then. What would be a good monitor? I haven't upgraded the graphics card so it's just operating currently on what it came with.

 

[oscer1]

Personally I like Asus and dell monitors

 

[Renee82]

Is there any certain thing I need to look for other than having the right hook ups? Or will any computer monitor work?

 

[oscer1]

What you going to use computer for? In theory any monitor should work.

 

[Renee82]

Just browsing the internet, placing orders thru my website, making up the invoices for my boyfriends business and uploading pictures off my camera to send to online printing services. No gaming or anything like that.

 

[oscer1]

Then any monitor will work for you.

 

[dsperber]

Do you have a decent set of computer speakers? You should really have some. They are "stereo analog" and powered, and would be fed from the "lime green" stereo output jack on the back of your computer, which is connected to the onboard audio chip (Realtek HD audio).

I "built" a modest Lenovo-based desktop system for a friend back in December and included these particular Creative speakers (which fortunately were $30 cheaper back then!). But obviously you can go with less expensive speakers, depending on how important decent sound is. You may be unhappy with tinny cheap sound, so decent speakers are something to consider.

Also, since you haven't put a discrete graphics card in your x16 expansion slot, there is no HDMI or DisplayPort output which could provide both digital audio and digital video from the graphics card. There is only the VGA and DVI video connectors. So you should not think of getting sound from any speakers built into any monitor or TV that you buy.

Again, for my friend's system I included this very reasonably priced 22" Viewsonic monitor. It was perfectly adequate for his needs and supports "full HD" 1920x1080 16x9 resolution. You would connect it with a DVI-to-DVI cable to the DVI connector on the back of your computer. You don't need a discrete graphics card to support 1920x1080 since the built-in Intel HD graphics will be fine for your "modest needs".

You can of course spend much more money on a larger monitor if you want (just be sure that it has a DVI connector on it, which virtually all monitors do), and for example 24" monitors often provide 1920x1200 16x10 resolution which provides somewhat larger screen real estate in Windows desktop. But for your needs I suspect that 22" Viewsonic or similar would be fine. I do not recommend you use the VGA connection method from PC to monitor, although that will work fine. The digital DVI connection "looks better".