Quote Originally Posted by meeloche
First off very nice setup,

Second, I am looking at getting a 20 0r 21 inch lcd monitor, However I want to use it with a decent laptop that I have now (i dont have the monies for a new desktop) How do I get this set up so either I run both laptop and lcd at the same time or just the lcd off the laptop. I have a dell laptop so if i have to get a new video card i think i have to order it through them. The ideal senerio is only use the lcd while running the laptop. As you can tell I have no idea what the hell I'm taking about so some help would be apreciated!
My laptop is a couple years old and runs on an Intel graphics card that is built in to the motherboard, i.e. least fancy configuration. Anyway, I just plug the monitor into the VGA/serial plug on the back of my computer and then right-click the desktop screen. The pop up menu gives me the option to select outputs. I choose notebook & monitor for both or just monitor for monitor only viewing. You should have this on your right-click popup menu for your desktop already if you have a generic dell lappy.
If you want to use both monitor and laptop screen you can do the same right click and select properties to adjust how the screens interact with each other. i.e. side by side or on top of each other.