How to connect laptop to TV

Laptop to TV Connection

Want to Connect laptop to your TV? Find out how to connect your laptop to TV based on what technologies are available on your laptop and television. There are many options to connect your laptop to TV, choosing a connection depends on what laptop and Television you have.

Based on your laptop and tv connectivity options, here is a list

Laptop Technology Television Technology Options
HDMIHDMIHDMI to HDMI
S-VideoS-VideoS-Video to S-Video
S-VideoRCAS-Video to RCA
VGA PortVGA PortVGA to VGA
DVI PortVGA PortDVI to VGA
All the above methods are wired methods and now with new technologies like Intel WiDi (Intel Wireless Display) are available to connect your laptop to TV without wires (Wireless)! You can currently connect TVs with WiDi technology read more about connecting laptop to tv wireless.

Connecting via a S-Video cable

This is one of the oldest methods of connecting the laptop with TV. Laptops and TV's that are equipped with an S-Video Port can be connected using an S-Video cable as shown in the image below:

S-Video Cable connector

S-Video cables would be available cheap, just make sure you get the 4 pin or 7 pin cable to connect to the laptop , based on your laptop S-Video port. You will have to connect the audio output to audio input of the TV using a standard 3.5mm audio cable which is plugged into the headphone jack of the laptop and into the audio in jack of the Television.

Laptop to TV connection with a S-Video to RCA cable

Some of the older TV's may not have an option to connect using S-Video, the method would be using S-Video to RCA cables. You can get this cable in your local radio shop. So connect the S-Video end to your laptop and the RCA end to the TV. The only thing to note here is to get the correct cables, some laptops have a S-Video port with 7 pins and some have only 4 pins. The 7 pin cable can be used only on laptops with 7 pin holes, while the 4 pin cable can go into both. The S-Video to RCA cable looks like as shown below:
S Video to 3 RCA cable to connect laptop to TV

Read on to connecting audio.

Connecting laptop to TV using a VGA Cable

VGA port on laptop / TV VGA port is one of the most common ports found in a laptop, and a VGA cable is used to connect your PC / laptop to your standard monitor. To connect it to a TV your TV should have a VGA port.
Connect the VGA cable to both the ports and then read on to connecting audio.


DVI and VGA methods to link laptop and TV

DVI to VGA adapter To connect laptop to TV using a DVI on laptop (usually Macbooks) and a TV with VGA port, we can use a DVI to VGA adapter. Now we can use a VGA cable to connect the laptop and TV. Connecting with VGA Cable

Playing audio from laptop on TV

Except for HDMI, all other methods require you to connect the audio output of the laptop to audio input of the TV using a standard 3.5mm audio cable which is plugged into the headphone jack of the laptop and into the audio in jack of the Television.

Configure your laptop to display your screen on TV

Windows options to connect laptop and TV

Open display properties on windows, and you should see a screen as shown below:
display setting on laptop to connect to tv
If you dont see your connected monitors / TV on your laptop screen as shown above, click on the detect button as highlighted.

Now the television / monitor should be detected. There are 3 modes of displaying your laptop monitor on a TV. It is called Projection options since commonly laptops are connected to projectors. You can choose these by pressing (Windows + P ) key combination. Laptop to TV Connection Options

  • Duplicate Mode: In cloned mode or duplicate mode, a copy of your laptop screen is shown on the television.
  • Extended Mode: In extended mode your laptop screen is extended to one or more Television screens
  • Projector Only: On which only the connected TV is used and your laptop screen is not used (handy if your laptop screen stop working)
Click on the appropriate option to see your laptop screen on TV. And now you can watch your movies/youtube on TV from your laptop. 30 Sep, 2011
Comments (7)
  • i connected my dell laptop to videocon lcd but i can not set the lcd to a good picture quality ... i also enlarged the text to view texts on this website but all the text looks blurred or shadowed ... what is the problem??? please help

    By sethy on 13 May, 2014
  • hi im having problem with the hdmi port.. my problem is that i can get it to work on my tv and have been streaming movies on it just fine but all of a sudden now it started glitching when im streaming a movie online or even watching it on dvd from my laptop can u help me.. i dont know why it started glitching on all the movies???

    By guest on 17 Mar, 2013
    • Can you check your hdmi cable?

      Can you try checking with a different cable ?

      By digitalpbk on 25 Mar, 2013
  • i,am having a problem with android2.3 tv box.my tv is 18inch small flat tv.when i plug my hd 2.3 android tv box tomy flat screen tv it was working good,but when i change the picture resolution 760p with my hd android tv box then my flat tv became blank.so please help me if any body can.

    By gautambaba on 24 Apr, 2012
  • Can anyone tell me what is wrong?

    I've Compaq 620 laptop with HDMI port and a Samsun 29" CRT TV with component video and composite video inputs. I wanted to connect my laptop to the TV and so I bought a HDMI -> 3 RCA cable. I connected my laptop to to the tv through HDMI - Component connection and also through HDMI - Composite connection. But in neither case my laptop could recognise the TV. What is the problem?

    By aroy on 19 Feb, 2012
    • Having the same issue. Were you able to resolve the problem?

      By Robert on 19 Mar, 2013
  • I recently bought an Hdmi

    I recently bought an Hdmi cable and set it up no problem but I'm trying to figure out how to set up a video to run in the back ground on my laptop onto the TV while I do other thing on my laptop such a gaming or browsing the internet. So far there are no websites (that I could find) that tells me how to do this and frankly I'm new these cables. Do I need a different cable or is it possible to do this with the HDMI cable? I would really like the help. (I have a Dell laptop and an LCD Tv)

    By Alley on 25 Oct, 2011
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