You’d think that connecting an LCD screen to your puter would be straightforward. You’d be wrong! It all gets pretty confusing.

There are several types of connectors and cables, and it’s difficult to know which one to use.

Often, you can even use an adapter cable to connect one type of connector to another, like HDMI → DVI.

This video is a summary of the various details of the most popular current cable types.

In short:

  1. Go for HDMI if at all possible, especially for newer hi-res screens (2K+)
  2. If you have DVI, then use a DVI-D digital cable
  3. If you have a FullHD screen and puter with DVI on one and HDMI on the other, use a DVI → HDMI cable
  4. If you have a VGA connector on your screen only, and a DVI-I port on your puter, use a VGA cable with VGA → DVI adapter
  5. DisplayPort is fine, but far less popular even though it’s as good (and even better in some ways) than HDMI

Buy cables on Amazon:

Phew! That was hairy…

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