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My laptop has VGA output port and no HDMI. If I buy a monitor which accepts both VGA input and HDMI input, what are the pros and cons of each of the following?

  1. connecting VGA output of laptop to VGA input of monitor using a VGA cable

  2. connecting VGA output of laptop to HDMI input of monitor using some kind of converter

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VGA is an analog protocol. Its signal degrades with longer cables and poor quality cables result in poor quality (e.g. in ghosting). Having said that a good quality VGA cable will work just fine for normal laptop-> monitor distances. VGA is old tech though. It should have been replaced a decade ago but it was kept around because its successor (DVI) required licensing fees and because there were so many old devices with a VGA/DB15 connector.

Still, if your laptop and your monitor support it, feel free to use it. It works. It is simple. It is cheap. (You just need a VGA to VGA cable)


Now HDMI is different.

HDMI is a digital signal. You can not just connect VGA and HDMI with a cable and expect it to work. You will need a device which actively translates between these two. That will be more expensive than just a simple cable. Signal quality will not improve unless you have really long and/or poor VGA cables which you now replace with a HDMI cable.


tldr; Just use a VGA cable.

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