How to Turn Off a Laptop Display When Plugged Into an External Monitor
With only a few exceptions, virtually all laptops have a port that lets you add an external monitor for increased viewing space. While many people add an external display to their laptop to increase the amount of viewable real estate, a second display is also a great way to save wear and tear on your notebook screen. Generally speaking, inverter boards and LCD lamps in desktop monitor far outlast those found in laptops. Therefore, connecting an external monitor to your laptop not only provides a larger display, it could help you avoid an expensive laptop replacement.
Other People Are Reading
Instructions
-
-
1
Power off your laptop. Plug the video cable into the laptop and the corresponding port on the external monitor. VGA ports are usually blue; DVI connections are white. HDMI ports look similar to USB ports except they are a bit larger. For digital video connections, use a DVI or HDMI cable if your laptop has a compatible port. For older laptops, you must use a VGA video cable.
-
2
Power on the monitor first, then your laptop. Wait for the notebook to boot into Windows.
-
-
3
Locate display toggle keys on your laptop's keyboard. In many cases, you must press the "Fn" key and a second key that has an icon or symbol of a small monitor. With most laptops, the second key is "F5," "F6," "F7" or "F8." If you do not see the monitor symbol on one of the "F" keys, refer to the user guide or manual to determine which key you need to use to toggle the display.
-
4
Press the "Fn" and display toggle key at the same time. On some laptops, pressing the key combination once shuts off the laptop screen and displays the computer's contents on the external monitor. Press the "Fn" and toggle key a few times to cycle through displaying the computer screen on the laptop, the external monitor and both displays at once. Once you can see, the display only on the external monitor, stop press the keys.
-
5
Use the external monitor just as you would with a desktop computer.
-
1
