How to Hook Up Your Laptop to TV

Hooking up a laptop up to a TV can be great for watching internet videos, sharing pictures, or for presentations. Nearly all laptops have this capability and as long as you don't have a very old TV, you should be able to do this. The most common cable for this is s-video cable. You will need to determine if you need this cable or a different type though. Follow these steps to connect your laptop to a TV:

1. Check the sides of your laptop for video output connections. Check for an s-video connection, which is a round connection with wholes for pins.
2. If you don't see this connection, look for a VGA connection. If you don't have either of the connections listed so far, you might not be able to connect your laptop to the TV.  
3. Now you need to find out what video connections the TV has. If you have a flat panel TV, check for a VGA connection first. Flat panels are usually easiest for connecting laptops to.  If it doesn't have this connection, then check for an s-video connection.  
4. If you don't see either of these connections, check for a coaxial cable input, which is a screw-on, circular input. You will almost certainly have this type on your TV.
5. If you have matching inputs on both your laptop and TV, such as s-video connections on both or VGA connections on both, simply use the corresponding cable type to connect the two devices. Make sure the cable is long enough for what you need it for.   
6. If there are not matching connections on both devices, you will need to buy an adapter. Try searching the internet or shopping at a store such as Best Buy to find the adapter.  
7. Once you connect the cable, on the laptop go to the desktop.  
8. If your are using Windows XP, right click the background and select properties. Then go to the settings tab. The settings for using multiple monitors are here.  
9. If you use Windows Vista, right click the background and select Personalize. Then go to Display settings.  This is where the settings you will need are located.
10. Finally, if you use windows 7, right click the desktop and select screen resolution.  
11. On the TV, change the input that is on screen to the one that the computer is connected to. You may need to use channel or input buttons to do this.  You should be able to see the computer desktop once you find the right input.  
12. On the computer, you should have the option to either duplicate or extend the desktop among the two displays that you are now using. Use duplicate to show what you see on the laptop screen on the TV or extend to show other items on the TV than the laptop.

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Setting up laptop