Laptop display question

The #1 community for Gun Owners in Indiana

Member Benefits:

  • Fewer Ads!
  • Discuss all aspects of firearm ownership
  • Discuss anti-gun legislation
  • Buy, sell, and trade in the classified section
  • Chat with Local gun shops, ranges, trainers & other businesses
  • Discover free outdoor shooting areas
  • View up to date on firearm-related events
  • Share photos & video with other members
  • ...and so much more!
  • wtburnette

    WT(aF)
    Site Supporter
    Rating - 100%
    44   0   0
    Nov 11, 2013
    26,859
    113
    SW side of Indy
    I'm running into a problem where the display on my new laptop doesn't look very good. My company recently rolled new Dell Latitude 5580 laptops out to our team, replacing the older Lenovo ThinkPads we were using. The old laptop, while certainly not as powerful, was better for my work situation because it used an actual dock. The dock had DVI and VGA outputs and when docked, the dual monitors at work and at home both looked great. The new laptops have some sort of USB-C port replicator instead of a docking station and they only allow us the one for work and nothing for home. It's less convenient, because I have to plug everything into the laptop (USB mouse, keyboard and display connections, plus power every time I come home). Not a huge problem, I can deal with it, but the display issue is harder to deal with. The text on the laptop looks slightly jagged and blurry. The Dell Inspiron Gaming laptop I'm typing this on (my home laptop) is also new and also Windows 10 and doesn't have this issue. The work laptop does and I'm not sure how to correct it. When hooked up to my work system, both monitors work, but the one connected VGA looks the worst, barely usable for me. The monitor I'm connecting from home via VGA looks just as bad. Both are even worse than the laptop built in display, which is pretty bad. I'm not sure if adjusting the cleartype settings will fix this or not, but that takes admin rights (ignorantly enough, thanks MS), which I don't have on the system. Any other thoughts as to what might clear up the text? I hope to be able to use a USB-C to Displayport to connect one of my monitors and VGA to display the other monitor, giving me my familiar and much needed dual displays for working. Hopefully I can figure out why the text looks so bad and this new system will end up being useful. Right now I miss my old laptop, which I never thought I would say... :):
     

    WanderingSol07

    Sharpshooter
    Rating - 0%
    0   0   0
    Aug 7, 2017
    413
    28
    North Central
    Converting from the digital output of the laptop, (Displayport, HDMI, USB-C, DVI) to analog VGA will always be an issue without an expensive ($200+) converter. Better to have a monitor that can use a digital output. Also if the screen is mirrored on the monitor I suspect either the laptop or the monitor is set to the wrong resolution.
     

    wtburnette

    WT(aF)
    Site Supporter
    Rating - 100%
    44   0   0
    Nov 11, 2013
    26,859
    113
    SW side of Indy
    Thanks for your response. I've checked the resolution and it's set correctly for all involved monitors. I was a helpdesk/desktop tech for a long time so that's the first thing I checked. I understand that VGA is not the preference for output, but I was using VGA for one monitor at home and work with my previous system without any problems, so I'm not understanding why the same monitors with the same resolutions are now having an issue. I think, because the text on the laptop panel itself is problematic, this is just being replicated to the external displays. At least that's the theory. That's why I wondered if cleartype might help... :dunno:
     

    WebSnyper

    Maximum Effort
    Rating - 100%
    56   0   0
    Jul 3, 2010
    15,417
    113
    127.0.0.1
    Not sure if this is pertinent to your issue or not. Win 10, high resolution laptops often have issues on external lower res monitors but some apps also have issues on the main high res monitor.
    Been a number of different fixes for different aspects of it since Win 10 came out, but this is the latest one I've been seeing:

    https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4091364/windows-10-fix-blurry-apps
     

    wtburnette

    WT(aF)
    Site Supporter
    Rating - 100%
    44   0   0
    Nov 11, 2013
    26,859
    113
    SW side of Indy
    Not sure if this is pertinent to your issue or not. Win 10, high resolution laptops often have issues on external lower res monitors but some apps also have issues on the main high res monitor.
    Been a number of different fixes for different aspects of it since Win 10 came out, but this is the latest one I've been seeing:

    https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4091364/windows-10-fix-blurry-apps

    The laptop screen itself displays text poorly, so it shouldn't be a scaling issue, but I'll have to test it to verify. The monitor at work that is connected VGA is 1280x1024 and the monitor at home is 1920x1200. The text looks horrid on both. Can't remember what the digitally connected monitor looks like. I'll have to check when I'm in the office again tomorrow. Can't test my second home monitor until Thursday after work when I have the new cable from Amazon.
     

    wtburnette

    WT(aF)
    Site Supporter
    Rating - 100%
    44   0   0
    Nov 11, 2013
    26,859
    113
    SW side of Indy
    And this is for all apps, including text within operating system features/settings itself? Or just certain apps?

    At least on the panel itself it looks like just MS Office Apps. Pulling up a browser and going to a couple of sites the text looked fine. BTW, looked for those advanced scaling options as per that article you linked and it's removed on my work laptop. My guess is that the feature is locked down for some reason. The scaling did help with the external display. It's still a little blurry, especially bolded text, but it was set to 100% scaling and changing that to 125% made a difference. I still think I need to run the ClearType wizard, but at least it's better than it was, thanks... :yesway:
     

    Hop

    Grandmaster
    Site Supporter
    Rating - 100%
    16   0   0
    Jan 21, 2008
    5,084
    83
    Indy
    I was going to say it's not just a USB-C but also a Thunderbolt but looking at that model on Dell's website it only says "Display port over USB-C". The model we buy has a Thunderbolt docking box model TB16. Thunderbolt is an enhanced USB-C.

    Native resolution for your built in display says: 1366 x 768. Anything other than that will interpolate and might look bad. Right click on your desktop and look for "Intel Graphics Settings". Hopefully your IT guys intalled the correct video drivers & allow you to change resolutions. That would be stupid if they didn't. There's all kinds of bad eyeballs out in the world that need large text and large monitors.

    You could try a USB-C to dual Display port adapter: https://www.amazon.com/s?url=search-alias=aps&field-keywords=usb-c+to+dual+displayport
     

    wtburnette

    WT(aF)
    Site Supporter
    Rating - 100%
    44   0   0
    Nov 11, 2013
    26,859
    113
    SW side of Indy
    I was going to say it's not just a USB-C but also a Thunderbolt but looking at that model on Dell's website it only says "Display port over USB-C". The model we buy has a Thunderbolt docking box model TB16. Thunderbolt is an enhanced USB-C.

    Native resolution for your built in display says: 1366 x 768. Anything other than that will interpolate and might look bad. Right click on your desktop and look for "Intel Graphics Settings". Hopefully your IT guys intalled the correct video drivers & allow you to change resolutions. That would be stupid if they didn't. There's all kinds of bad eyeballs out in the world that need large text and large monitors.

    You could try a USB-C to dual Display port adapter: https://www.amazon.com/s?url=search-alias=aps&field-keywords=usb-c+to+dual+displayport

    We have upgraded panels, so 1080p is the default resolution for the laptop. Switched it to 1366x768 for giggles and immediately received the optimal resolution notification popping up warning me the screen resolution was set to a non-native resolution (and I could tell the text looked even worse). I ordered a USB-C to displayport cable that will hook to one of my monitors, but was hoping to hook my second monitor via VGA. Guess I'll just have to wait and see how that goes when the cable I ordered arrives.
     

    Hop

    Grandmaster
    Site Supporter
    Rating - 100%
    16   0   0
    Jan 21, 2008
    5,084
    83
    Indy
    Be careful with that USB-C connector. It's soldered onto the motherboard. A ton of my users are breaking them due to the heavy, too short TB16 cable. Swapping a motherboard to fix the USB-C can be a PITA due to TPM chips and drive encryption.

    Is that enough techie acronyms for everyone? :):
     

    wtburnette

    WT(aF)
    Site Supporter
    Rating - 100%
    44   0   0
    Nov 11, 2013
    26,859
    113
    SW side of Indy
    Be careful with that USB-C connector. It's soldered onto the motherboard. A ton of my users are breaking them due to the heavy, too short TB16 cable. Swapping a motherboard to fix the USB-C can be a PITA due to TPM chips and drive encryption.

    Is that enough techie acronyms for everyone? :):

    I'm an old techie who is currently working InfoSec, so I understood... ;)
     

    wtburnette

    WT(aF)
    Site Supporter
    Rating - 100%
    44   0   0
    Nov 11, 2013
    26,859
    113
    SW side of Indy
    Well crud. I got the cable on Thursday and it works beautifully. The output is sharp and clear. Unfortunately, it seems that unless you use their port replicator, the laptop only puts out one video signal at a time. With the USB-C to Displayport cable hooked up, the VGA port doesn't seem to work. I did everything I could think of, but couldn't figure it out. I even booted up with the VGA hooked up and that monitor working fine and plugging in the USB-C cable immediately causes the display connected via VGA to turn off. What a crock. Thanks Dell :(

    Anyone know of any devices that are dependable that I could use to hook up to the USB-C port and provide two Displayport signals? I'd prefer to not have to spend $150 - $200 to buy one of the Dell port replicators if I don't have to.
     

    jkaetz

    Master
    Rating - 100%
    3   0   0
    Jan 20, 2009
    1,953
    83
    Indianapolis
    Well crud. I got the cable on Thursday and it works beautifully. The output is sharp and clear. Unfortunately, it seems that unless you use their port replicator, the laptop only puts out one video signal at a time. With the USB-C to Displayport cable hooked up, the VGA port doesn't seem to work. I did everything I could think of, but couldn't figure it out. I even booted up with the VGA hooked up and that monitor working fine and plugging in the USB-C cable immediately causes the display connected via VGA to turn off. What a crock. Thanks Dell :(

    Anyone know of any devices that are dependable that I could use to hook up to the USB-C port and provide two Displayport signals? I'd prefer to not have to spend $150 - $200 to buy one of the Dell port replicators if I don't have to.
    You have a few things going on when attempting to drive multiple monitors. Most laptops can only drive two displays, including the built in display, unless they have a dedicated GPU as well as the intel graphics included in the i5 and above CPUs. If you don't have the dedicated GPU, you must get a dock that can do the job. These usually use displaylink technology. Essentially a video card over USB. They can be USB 2, 3, or C.

    That said, you have a couple options. Just look for a dock that uses diplaylink and you'll be able to drive your two displays without issue. I use one of these at home and it works pretty well. I just have to connect power and a usb cable when I want to work. The TB16 isn't really a bad deal either when you consider that you already have a Dell laptop and it comes with a 180 watt power supply. The TB16 should also work with other USB C laptops even if they aren't Dell. I haven't tested but I suspect it would also work with a USB C to A adapter though without power.

    Regarding the TB16's cable, you can extend it, but it might cost some bandwidth. For most people this isn't likely to be a problem. I put a 90 degree adapter on mine to make it work with my desk layout. Dell really didn't lay the dock out well though physically.
     

    wtburnette

    WT(aF)
    Site Supporter
    Rating - 100%
    44   0   0
    Nov 11, 2013
    26,859
    113
    SW side of Indy
    You have a few things going on when attempting to drive multiple monitors. Most laptops can only drive two displays, including the built in display, unless they have a dedicated GPU as well as the intel graphics included in the i5 and above CPUs. If you don't have the dedicated GPU, you must get a dock that can do the job. These usually use displaylink technology. Essentially a video card over USB. They can be USB 2, 3, or C.

    That said, you have a couple options. Just look for a dock that uses diplaylink and you'll be able to drive your two displays without issue. I use one of these at home and it works pretty well. I just have to connect power and a usb cable when I want to work. The TB16 isn't really a bad deal either when you consider that you already have a Dell laptop and it comes with a 180 watt power supply. The TB16 should also work with other USB C laptops even if they aren't Dell. I haven't tested but I suspect it would also work with a USB C to A adapter though without power.

    Regarding the TB16's cable, you can extend it, but it might cost some bandwidth. For most people this isn't likely to be a problem. I put a 90 degree adapter on mine to make it work with my desk layout. Dell really didn't lay the dock out well though physically.

    I haven't kept up with USB technology since I move from support over to infosec, but USB-C and USB 3 is different, right? Looking at the ports on the device you linked I'd say the answer is definitely yes. I'm looking for something similar connecting via USB-C, but everything looks expensive enough it might make the most sense to pick up a TB16 or similar Dell dock after all.

    I hate spending the money, but I also hate not having both of my 24" monitors to work on.
     

    jkaetz

    Master
    Rating - 100%
    3   0   0
    Jan 20, 2009
    1,953
    83
    Indianapolis
    I haven't kept up with USB technology since I move from support over to infosec, but USB-C and USB 3 is different, right? Looking at the ports on the device you linked I'd say the answer is definitely yes. I'm looking for something similar connecting via USB-C, but everything looks expensive enough it might make the most sense to pick up a TB16 or similar Dell dock after all.

    I hate spending the money, but I also hate not having both of my 24" monitors to work on.
    Sooooooo, USB 1, 2, and 3.0 all use the same old USB A size connector that's been around for years. USB 3.0, while being the same form factor connector, has some more pins in the connector to take advantage of the higher spec. USB 3.1 and Thunderbolt 3 use the USB C connector. Clear as mud right? :rolleyes:

    The short answer is that if your laptop has USB 2 or 3.0 ports, it can certainly use a dock of that specification. It sounds like it also has a USB C port so it can use USB C docks as well. If it is a combination USB-C and Thunderbolt (An Intel spec, not to be confused with Lightning which is an Apple spec) port, then you can use Thunderbolt 3 style docks as well. I haven't looked up your laptop model but I believe Dell does make them combination ports. There are also several different style adapters that convert the USB C/Thunderbolt port into a Display port, HDMI port, VGA port, ethernet port, USB 3.0 port, etc... But those are usually just for one thing. The docks usually give you some display, network, and USB options such that you can simply plug in one cable and use all your accessories.
     

    Hop

    Grandmaster
    Site Supporter
    Rating - 100%
    16   0   0
    Jan 21, 2008
    5,084
    83
    Indy
    The TB16 only has one digital monitor output (Display port). The 2nd monitor connector is VGA. I wish I had one to toy around with. I have the old style dock with dual Display port connectors.
     

    wtburnette

    WT(aF)
    Site Supporter
    Rating - 100%
    44   0   0
    Nov 11, 2013
    26,859
    113
    SW side of Indy
    There is another dock that some of my coworkers use that has dual Displayport. I need to find out which model that is and see how cheap I can find one I guess. The USB 3.0 device linked above has DVI-D and HDMI, but I need a displayport instead of an HDMI port. I can look that up too, to see if I can find something that will work reliably without costing as much as an official Dell product.
     

    jkaetz

    Master
    Rating - 100%
    3   0   0
    Jan 20, 2009
    1,953
    83
    Indianapolis
    The TB16 only has one digital monitor output (Display port). The 2nd monitor connector is VGA. I wish I had one to toy around with. I have the old style dock with dual Display port connectors.
    The TB16 has three digital ports: HDMI, display port, and mini display port. In addition, DVI, Displayport, and HDMI can all be directly converted. Just need the proper ends on the cable. My setup takes advantage of the displayport MST specification so my two displays are chained together.

    https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/del...with-180w-adapter/apd/452-bcnp/pc-accessories
     

    wtburnette

    WT(aF)
    Site Supporter
    Rating - 100%
    44   0   0
    Nov 11, 2013
    26,859
    113
    SW side of Indy
    The TB16 has three digital ports: HDMI, display port, and mini display port. In addition, DVI, Displayport, and HDMI can all be directly converted. Just need the proper ends on the cable. My setup takes advantage of the displayport MST specification so my two displays are chained together.

    https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/del...with-180w-adapter/apd/452-bcnp/pc-accessories

    I looked at my system and I don't think it has the thunderbolt option, but I wasn't quite sure.
     

    jkaetz

    Master
    Rating - 100%
    3   0   0
    Jan 20, 2009
    1,953
    83
    Indianapolis
    I looked at my system and I don't think it has the thunderbolt option, but I wasn't quite sure.
    https://www.dell.com/support/articl...-port-lack-a-thunderbolt-3-controller?lang=en

    Looks like it depends on what options were selected when it was ordered. Seems like you'll need to look in the BIOS if you can or see if it has the thunderbolt logo next to the port. If not you'll definitely want to make sure the dock is a USB dock and not a Thunderbolt dock. I'd probably look into the Dell D6000 dock ($129 from Amazon) if you need a USB dock. Like the TB16 it comes with a power supply and should provide power + connections through the USB C cable instead of needing multiple connections. There is also the SIIG option I posted above if you want to save some $$.
     
    Last edited:
    Top Bottom