Monitor driven by laptop through HDMI

[katabatik]

I was about to buy a new monitor but now I will also have to replace my dying desktop pc. I've decided to replace it with a laptop. But now I'm wondering: what resolutions will it be able to support, given the fact that it has only a VGA and an HDMI port?

The laptop I'm about to buy is a Clevo W170HR. According to the manufacturer's website, the specs pertaining to graphics are:

Video Controler:

nVIDIA® GeForce® GT 555M
- 2GB DDR3 Video RAM
- Support PCIe x16
- Microsoft® DirectX® 11 compatible
- HDMI 1.4
- nVIDIA® PhysX™
- GeForce® CUDA™ technology

I/O Ports;

- External VGA
- HDMI output port

What is the max resolution that will it be able to support?

Will it be able to take advantage of a 10 bit monitor?

 

[XoR]

no 10bit and to be on safer side it's best to limit yourself to 1920x1200 monitor max

 

[katabatik]

Isn't HDMI 1.4 capable of more than 1920x1200? I thought it was, but searching though the web, I've found contradictory information.

 

[evilsofa]

HDMI 1.4 supports resolutions higher than 1920x1080. Getting your monitor and video card to support those higher resolutions over HDMI may be challenging and poorly supported.

For example, it was thought for quite some time that getting the 2560x1440 Dell U2711 to display more than 1920x1080 over HDMI was impossible, until this walkthrough was posted. The solution seems far from perfect, at least to me.

Trying to do that AND 10 bit over HDMI might be too difficult. I've seen threads here about 10 bit support that made it seem like you needed to successfully pass a number of stringent requirements.

 

[katabatik]

After doing a bit more research, I've dropped teh 10 bit idea altogether. I doubt I'd see any real world difference.

However, the 1920x1080 is bugging me. I'd like to plug it to a 24" 1920x1200 monitor. I don't understand why, if the video card supports 2560x1600 and HDMI supports more than 1920x1080, I won't be able to go beyond 1920x1080.

 

[evilsofa]

I don't understand why, if the video card supports 2560x1600 and HDMI supports more than 1920x1080, I won't be able to go beyond 1920x1080.

It seems to be really bad assumptions by monitor manufacturers when writing the EDID file (where the display keeps its data about how it works with video sources). The bad assumption is that if you're using HDMI, you want the display to behave like an HDTV with 1920x1080 resolution, even if it could do a higher resolution. Yes, it's stupid.

 

[katabatik]

That is beyond stupid!

Anyway, thanks everyone for all the info. I gess I'll have to choose the heavier, more expensive Clevo P170HM that has DVI out, if I want 1920x1200 support.

 

[XoR]

HDMI was created to be nicer version of single-link DVI + audio and it's limit is around 1920x1200 60Hz. It's possible to convert HDMI <=> single-link DVI with cheap adapters (I have bunch of those from various graphics card)

Monitors with higher resolutions just use dual link DVI that uses twice more signal cables/pins and it cannot be easily converted to HDMI because newer HDMI version don't use more cables but different signaling methods. Converters probably do exist but are bound to be expensive...

Also mind that HDMI on monitors with higher resolutions are there to be able to accept YUV 480i/480p/576i/576p/720p/1080i/1080p signal from eg. Playstation3, X360, TV tuner, etc. and expose itself as HDTV and some times use stupid ugly looking post-processing like mandatory sharpening, red push, ugly looking scalers, 16-235 range, etc. Those problems won't arise when using RGB colorspace (may be necessary to switch it in graphics card control panel) and with RGB it probably will be possible to use 1920x1200 but its not certain as such display may not expose this resolution in it's EDID (even then it may be possible to use custom mode but it's annoyance...)

Simplest solution is to use HDMI-DVI cable or simple cheap converter and connect cable to DVI input. Those will always expose native 1920x1200 and probably won't even expose YUV capability and that's good thing.

Higher resolution over HDMI is possible on some monitors though you should search for user feedback as even studying manuals wont tell you much. Most state that HDMI is 1080p limited even when it's not. On other hand HDMI 1.4 support doesn't mean it will don't have issues with eg. 2560x1440... That's why it's best to just buy good 1920x1200 24" monitor

 

[katabatik]

Thanks XoR. If I understood correctly, the laptop will be able to drive a 24"@1920x1200 monitor through an HDMI-DVI cable?

The monitors I am considering don't even have a HDMI port, so I always had a HDMI-DVI cable in mind. 24"@1920x1200 is all that I need. Everything above that has PPI too high for my liking.