To increase productivity, the best thing you can do is spread tasks across multiple monitors. If you’re like me, someone who has about 600 tabs open while working, things can get a little overwhelming. Which is why I advise you to use a laptop as a second monitor.
This way, you don’t have to spend money on the absolute best gaming monitor on the market. Instead, you can reuse an old laptop that’s been sat in the attic collecting dust. 💻 🎮
Why Use a Laptop as a Second Monitor?
A second monitor is a fantastic way to increase productivity by extending your workspace over a large area. Some people might enjoy a quality PS4 monitor instead of using a regular TV. The real question is, is it a good idea to use a laptop as a second monitor for gaming? The answer to that is—it depends.
These days, gamers love multiple monitor setups. In fact, most people do. Walk into an office and you’ll often see two monitors, one for taking notes, and one for general tasks; usually accompanied by a high-quality dual monitor stand. However, for gaming, using a laptop as a second monitor can be pretty difficult.
It’s common for a gamer to connect an external display to their laptop to allow them to game on a larger screen. Albeit, when performing tasks that expand over two screens, your video RAM has to work extra hard to displays video and images—same with your GPU. Multiple monitors on one GPU can impact graphics card performance when playing taxing games.
How much it impacts performance totally depends on two things; What game you’re playing and the refresh rate/resolution of your laptop screen.
How to Turn Your Old Laptop Into an External Monitor: Windows OS
Now that you understand why using a laptop as a second monitor is a good idea for work, it’s time set up the monitors. Here’s how:
Step 1: Connect your laptop to your monitor
The first thing you’re going to want to do is to connect your laptop to your monitor. To do this, you must check which ports you have on your laptop and match them with the ports on your monitor.
Most modern laptops have at least one of the following ports:
- HDMI.
- DVI.
- VGA.
- DisplayPort.
- USB-C.
If your monitor doesn’t have an HDMI input, you can pick up an inexpensive adapter in order to connect your laptop to the monitor.
Step 2: Power on your monitor and change the source controlÂ
Next, turn on your monitor and change the source control to the input that you’re using. For example, if you’re using VGA, change the source to VGA.
If you don’t see your desktop on your laptop screen yet, you can detect it by doing the following things:
- Press the WIN key + X at the same time to open up the Power User Menu > Select Settings from the list.
- Click Display from the left side of the screen.
- Click on the Detect button under Multiple displays.
If that doesn’t work, check your connections again to ensure that everything is plugged in properly.
Step 3: Extend the display
Then, from the laptop you’re projecting to, you have to:
- Press the WIN key + P to open the Project panel.
- Select Extended.
This will extend the display across both screens and allow you to use your laptop as a second monitor. Note that you can also use an excellent gaming projector instead of a monitor/laptop by following the same steps.
How to Use a Laptop as a Monitor for Watching TV?
Sometimes, it’s nice to wrap up in bed like a burrito and watch a movie—something you can’t do with a monitor alone. To use a laptop as a monitor for watching TV, you have to follow steps 1 and 2.
Once you’ve connected your laptop to your monitor, you must:
- Press the WIN key + P to open the Project panel.
- Select the second screen only.
Before you use a laptop in bed, make sure you have the best laptop cooling pad, as using a laptop on your bed sheets isn’t healthy for you or your laptop.
How to Use a Tablet as an External Monitor
Another device that you can use as a second monitor is a tablet. Depending on what size gaming tablet you have, it might seem like a pointless idea. For others, it’s a genius idea that helps boost productivity in the workplace. What’s more, is it’s great for programmers who can display lines of code across the tablet as they type away on their laptop.
To use a tablet as an extra screen for your laptop or PC, you’ll need to:
- Hit the WIN Key + P.
- Select Extended from the list.
- Click on Connect to a wireless display.
- Check the box that says “Allow mouse, keyboard, touch, and pen input from this device” if required.
- Then select your tablet from the list.
Final Words
Using a laptop as a second monitor is great for general productivity in the workplace. Alas, it’s not so great for gaming—so for that, I suggest you check out how to set up dual monitors.
Sources:
- How to Connect a Monitor to a PC, Dell Support