My laptop is failing so I posted a few days ago that I was in the market for a new one. My partner picked up an HP 2133, which appears to be a slightly stripped-down version of the HP Mini 1000.
Let me start by praising it. Though still plenty small, it has an almost-normally sized keyboard with crisp key depression, a screen large enough to open my grading software, and so far seems to be working well. It runs XP, which I need. I’ve added Avast! and Open Office and may load the MS 2003 suite if I really need it. The processing speed is certainly fast enough for my non-gaming needs.
One thing it doesn’t have is a VGA port, and a lot of why I need a laptop is for making PowerPoint presentations. It’s still useful and a good compromise between the Asus and a full-sized laptop, but if I can’t project from it, its utility is quite decreased.
My question: Is there a way to add a VGA port to a machine that doesn’t have one? It does have an “expansion port” but I can’t find what that is used for for this model (which, as I say, appears to be a stripped-down 1000). This expansion port has a tiny little icon which appears to my aging eyes to show an external monitor. The computer also has 2 USB ports.
Consolation question: Please recommend peripheral CD/CD-R/W/DVD plug-and-play components (I don’t need to write DVDs).
CD/CD-R/W/DVD-R/DVD-RW drives are so common and cheap, I’d just go with a DVD writer. In fact, I think you’d be hard-pressed to find a CD-RW that isn’t DVD-RW these days.
Okay, the earnest young man at Office Max insists that “you can’t get VGA output from a USB post.” I told him that there are a number of devices on the market that say that they do, but he was adamant. Comments? (Of the GQ kind, not aspersions upon the gentleman’s character.)
Perhaps you can’t get anything from Office Max, but there certainly are products for getting video from a USB port. As a matter of fact, the ad between the OP & the rest of the thread was for an Iogear wireless usb-to-vga setup, a-la this
He’s a little misinformed, I’d say, and it’s not surprising. Nothing against him, of course, as this is a rather special adapter that he’ll likely never see on the shelves at OfficeMax.
I’d suggest getting the USB-to-VGA adapter on-line from a reputable dealer. Here’s one. I don’t know if you know, but this company, NewEgg, is one of the best on-line gadget retailers. Their customer service is top notch and their shipping is lightning quick. This way, if it doesn’t work to your satisfaction, you can ship it back and be out a couple bucks for shipping.
FYI, it’s better to just not trust the people at Best Buy, Circuit City, Office Max, Staples, etc. Nothing against them personally, but they’re typically ill-informed and poorly-trained. Unlike most professions, most tech retail store employees have no idea what they’re talking about. It’s the exception rather than the rule when you do find an informed employee, and they typically won’t be there long because they can find much better positions with their knowledge.
<rant>
In fact, 90% of the ones I’ve encountered were absolute idiots. Your average geek or gamer will know far more than these people (which is surprising, because you’d think that they’d come from the same age group or technophile demographic… but apparently not).
</rant>
So here’s my communique from HP. I’m sharing it because it so enjoyably obscures about as much as it reveals.
My note to HP:
HP’s reply:
So, friends, do it or don’t it have VGA connection from expansion port that is still not well-described and which is not the port for which HP elves are busily crafting USB-VGA mini-cables?
“The expansion port is used to connect other ports like VGA” (but “It is not possible to add a port using an expansion port”)–Does this mean it is similar to, but is not, a VGA port, or that VGA ports may be connected to the expansion port (“like VGA” being an example)?
Meanwhile, “you may connect [an external monitor] to the USB port using an HP Mini VGA cable”.
Since HP still has no information about the VGA adapter, I went ahead and ordered a USB 2.0 to VGA adapter from newegg. I’ll let you know how it works.