What kind of laptop do you have? If it is a name brand, made within the last 3-5 years, and all you want to do is plug a monitor in to view what you have on your laptop screen, you should not have to buy anything to do so.
So basically we need some sort of hardware in order to have dual display. It's not just a matter of increasing the resolution for example, or downloading some software to "stretch" the desktop...
I remember seeing a thread concerning the ability to have a second monitor with a laptop. You can set it up in the newer Microsoft windows. Try this link, it might help: http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=16247&highlight=laptop+monitor
Kernan is right. Between work and home, I have used probably 10+ laptops over the past three years. I have never once had an issue plugging a monitor into the port on the laptop, booting up, and being able to have the laptop image appear on the monitor. If this is what you are trying to do, you DO NOT need to purchase anything additional. Follow the instructions given in the numerous posts here. If you are trying to do something different, then I and several other people misunderstood the question.
Actually, I just made it work. It was just a matter of downloading and installing the right driver for the video card. So now I have dual display, ie. I can display one thing on my screen and another thing on the extra monitor! I'm a happy camper here! Thanks all for your help! Loukas
Loukas, I have an older laptop. It's a HP Pavilion with a P3. How do I go about connecting the second monitor. What do I have to do? Whenever I try it, I just get a mirror image of what's on my laptop. Thanks.
Hey gotta_trade, although I'm not an expert on this (just figured it out today), I'll give you my two cents worth... Well, all I just did was to install the appropriate drivers for my video card. Then I went to Display Properties, and voila!, there was a whole menu regarding the dual display properties. What Windows do you have? Do a search in the help file of your windows for "dual display" and see if you can follow the steps. I have WinXP PRO, I'm not sure if that makes a difference. Loukas