# Laptop as a desktop monitor

**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laptop-as-a-desktop-monitor/396470
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [March 18, 2007, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laptop-as-a-desktop-monitor/396470 "2007-03-18T18:37:26Z")
**Posts on this page:** 2
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![Yumblie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/76d3ee/32.png) [@Yumblie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yumblie)
#### Post date: [March 18, 2007, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laptop-as-a-desktop-monitor/396470/1 "2007-03-18T18:37:26Z")

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I have a laptop, and a desktop with a broken monitor. Would it be possible to hook up my laptop to my desktop tower and use the laptop screen as the monitor for the desktop?

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### Author: ![MannyL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@MannyL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MannyL)
#### Post date: [March 18, 2007, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laptop-as-a-desktop-monitor/396470/2 "2007-03-18T19:54:18Z")

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Not right away. You can install a program like VNC on both systems but you need to be able to see the output of the desktop system to install VNC