Answered System with only VGA to laptop with only HDMI port?

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by Juelz, Mar 25, 2016.

  1. Juelz

    Juelz Gigabyte Poster

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    I have a old system running windows 7, that only has support for a VGA connector, I want to use my laptop as the display output and keyboard input system and connect it to the unit of my old windows 7 system. I've looked online and it appears I need a cable that supports VGA to HDMI which I can get but I am wondering how would this work? If I power on my laptop which will then power on the screen, this will power on the HDD with the OS of the laptop on.. which is not what I want.. so how would I get around this if possible?
     
  2. Best Answer:
    Post #2 by dmarsh, Mar 25, 2016
  3. dmarsh
    Honorary Member 500 Likes Award

    dmarsh Petabyte Poster

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    You can use RemoteDesktop / RDP to remote into the Windows 7 machine over a network and use the laptops display and keyboard.

    The HDMI on most laptops will be output only, its not designed as an input.

    Even if HDMI was an input, which it isnt on 80%+ of laptops. You could never use the screen without power, and the power will come from the laptop, same goes for the laptop keyboard. So the laptop would have to be on, you could use a power profile to encourage the HDD to spin down, and the CPU to shut down unnecessary cores, but that is about it.

    HDMI is digital and VGA is analog, converters are therefore not simple cheap cables and don't support all resolutions. They also generally go in the VGA -> HDMI direction, not the reverse.

    LCD Monitors are generally cheaper than laptops, and can support HDMI, DP, DVI, VGA.

    So either just buy a cheap LCD monitor with VGA or use RDP.

    Decent new monitors generally won't have VGA support now. I wouldn't spend money on anything with VGA these days as its poor quality and wasted cash that could be spent on modern upgrades.
     
    Last edited: Mar 25, 2016
    Juelz likes this.

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