While watching a video on a laptop; have you ever felt that it would have been great; if you could watch it on the big screen? No matter the size of your Lenovo laptop display; using an external monitor along with it can add great productivity and provide a cinematic experience. Laptops and monitors both come with cables like USB, VGA and HDMI; designed to connect multiple displays simultaneously and double the fun. This feature usually makes people wonder: how to connect Lenovo laptop to monitor using HDMI.
HDMI refers to a high-definition media interface. This feature lets you transfer high-bandwidth audio/ videos to other devices via a single cable. You can share the data to a big or small screen up to your preference. We will discuss in detail the methods through which you can connect your Lenovo laptop to an external monitor.
How To Connect Lenovo Laptop To Monitor Using HDMI?
Almost every Lenovo laptop comes with an HDMI port. To connect your laptop to a monitor; you need to connect one end of the HDMI cable to the monitor and the other to the laptop HDMI port; then after that; you need to make some display configurations to either switch the display or mirror it. This is usually done either by using the monitor HDMI port or by using the laptop HDMI port. In both sceneries; the end result is the same.
Connecting Lenovo Laptop To External Monitor Using HDMI
For sharing display between laptop and monitor via HDMI; there are two stages:
- Preparation stage
- Configuration stage
Step1: Preparation Stage
In this stage; you need to set up the monitor. Unplug the monitor from the power source; then remove all the devices connected to it. Usually, a monitor would have either one or two HDMI cables with adapters included. All you have to do is connect one end of the HDMI cable to the HDMI port located on the monitor and the other end to the laptop HDMI port. It doesn’t matter which end you put in; both are the same. After that; power on the monitor by plugging it back into the power outlet.
Tip: While connecting a second screen to your laptop; it’s best that you use a wireless mouse and keyboard and easy to work with. When the video/audio is perfectly mirrored or extended on the screens; plugin the wireless peripherals into the laptop
Step 2: Configuration Stage
Now; you have to change the external monitor display. In this laptop configuration stage; you need to use the shortcut keys. Press either the Fn+F10 keys combo or use the Windowskey+ P; a list of options will
Appear. These include: whether you want images/ videos/audio to be displayed on the laptop screen only; whether you want the content to be displayed on the second screen; lastly you want to extend or duplicate the content on screens.
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Another way is via the Control Panel:
For this:
- Go to the search bar; type: ease of access display settings
- Click on the option available in the search list. From there; Click on Additional display settings
- This will pop up a new window; displaying two big boxes labelled 1 and 2. Usually; the laptop screen is labelled as one, and the external monitor screen is labelled as two; however; if you still want to clarify things; click on the identity icon; to find out which screens of the laptop and which one for the monitor.
- After that; you can change the screen resolution and even screen orientation to your needs.
Note: When changing the screen resolution; the display will become blurred or scrambled for a few seconds; if within 15 seconds; you don’t confirm the changes; then the display will revert back to its original resolution.
- Go to the multiple display section, and click on it.
- A drop-down list will appear; asking you
- Extend displays
- Duplicate displays
- By choosing to extend displays; you are actually agreeing to touse both screens as a big screen; whereas using the duplicate display option; will mirror the video into the monitor and laptop. The same video/audio will be displayed on both screens. In the end. It’s your choice.
3 Issues While Connecting Laptop To Monitor Via HDMI
In an ideal situation; you would be able to duplicate or extend both displays with zero problems; however, some common issues that people usually face while connecting include:
Issue#1: Faulty HDMI cable
Sometimes; it happens that the HDMI cable isn’t able to work with any HDMI-compatible devices. When this happens; it is evident that your HDMI cable is either damaged or broken.
Fix: To fix this issue; you need to replace the damaged cable with a new one. You can easily purchase an HDMI cable from local computer stores.
Tip: While storing the HDMI cable; don’t wrap it too tight; this causes breaks in the cable wire and hence damages it.
Issue#2 Images/Videos/Audios Not Displayed When Connected To HDMI
It sometimes happens that when you connect both laptop and monitor using HDMI; you can neither view images/ videos nor can you listen to any audio. This issue; usually happens when the software gets corrupted due to bugs; or when both the audio and graphics drivers are outdated.
Fix 1: Restart Your Laptop and Monitor
A simple yet effective method to deal with this major issue is to simply restart bot both devices. A simple restart can wash out the bugs from the system and the issue can get resolved.
Fix 2: Update Drivers
Even after rebooting the system; if the problem persists; then it means that your graphics and audio drivers are outdated. To update them;
- Go to Device Manager
- Select display adapters
- Click Update Driver
For Audios:
- Go To device Manager and select the sound, audio, and game controllers
- Click Update Driver
Issue#3: Video/Images Are Not Properly Displayed By Devices
Sometimes; the HDMI does display the content on the screens, but the content isn’t properly displayed.IT either hangs a lot; the system becomes slow, or the display becomes scrambled. This usually happens when the system gets corrupted with bugs or when there is too much load on the devices.
Fix: To fix this issue; you need to uninstall all the useless/ irrelevant software so that the system doesn’t hang.
- Go to the search bar and type: control panel
- A control panel window will pop up; click on programs and features
- A window will pop up displaying all the recently installed software
- Uninstall them all, and restart your device.
Conclusion:
We all desire more and using two displays for content means more fun. Hence, we have targeted the common query: how to connect Lenovo laptop to monitor using HDMI. It’s a simple 2-sage process. In one stage you need to set up the monitor and the laptop and in the second stage you need to change the display settings; so that the content displayed is in optimal form. Moreover; you have to decide whether you want to duplicate the content or you want to extend the content.
Apart from establishing connections; we have also targeted the common issues and the solutions for smooth working.