There are reasons why you may want your laptop connected to your television. It could be you want to play a game on a larger monitor than your laptop, enjoy movies from your direct.tv subscription, watch some web television like Hulu, or movies downloaded from Netflix. Sure a desktop can do these things, but you cannot take a desktop to your parent’s house to show them video or pictures you uploaded of the kids. The portability of a laptop makes this convenient anywhere.
Please remember to keep your laptop off while you are hooking up the cables. Most laptops have the S-video output. This is the round receptacle with four prongs inside. Most televisions also have the S-video input. So all you need to do is grab an S-video cable and connect the laptop and the television. But you need some sound. Use a 3.5 mm cable with male connectors on the ends, run from your head phone jack on your laptop to your audio jack on the television.
If you have an older television set that may not have an S-video input, you need to use the RCA cables. You may recognize these cables that have the red, white and yellow ends on them. Purchase an adaptor that fits whatever jack you have on your laptop like the S-video. You would need S-video to RCA adaptor. However, if you have a newer television and laptop, use the HDMI cable. This gives you the ultimate in sound and video quality.
Now that you have the hook-up completed, your laptop and television need to find each other. Go to your display options on your laptop. Select either a new or secondary monitor, your laptop should detect your television. Now go into your television settings. You should find the input button on your remote and just keep pushing that button and the television will find your laptop. You may need to tweak the video resolution on your laptop to fit your television.
