Can I use VGA for 1080p? Because I think I am.

[Danoumas]

Hey everyone,

I just ordered a new 23" 1080p monitor and set it up last night. It came with VGA and DVI cords, but I don't have DVI on my laptop so I hooked it up over VGA. When I extended the desktop from my main display on a 1366x768 rocking 14" laptop, it showed up as a small box in the middle of the 23" monitor. When I duplicated my desktop from my main display, it filled the screen but was clearly blowing up the 1366x768 resolution. I shrugged, ordered a DVI-HDMI cable, and went to bed.

This morning I played with the settings and made my new monitor my "main" display... and lo and behold if it isn't displaying in all its 1080p goodness. Googling around has led to conflicting answers over whether this is possible. Assuming my eyes aren't deceiving me and that I am looking at full 1080p, are there any big drawbacks to using VGA, or should I be rushing to cancel my order of a DVI-HDMI cable before it ships?

Thanks in advance for any help!

(Since I had to specify a subsection, I chose AMD Radeon b/c I have a Radeon 5450 on my laptop... though the Intel HD graphics are handling the 1080p+720p dual set-up load fine for the moment.)

 

[nordlead]

yes, VGA cables are capable of 1080p and higher and the typical limiting factor is the graphics card or receiver. There are two drawbacks to VGA. First, it may be a tiny bit blurry since the signal has to be converted to analog and then back to digital (also the chance of interference). Secondly, it has no HDCP capabilities so you can't play HDCP content over a VGA cable.

Personally I always go with the digital cables over the analog cables. You can get HDMI/DVI cables from monoprice.com for really cheap and they are a good quality build.

 

[Danoumas]

Thanks for the reply! I actually looked at monoprice but got something similarly priced off Amazon. Seems like I will get a small gain for the small cost, so I may as well just let the order go through and use digital.

 

[Danoumas]

Best answer selected by Danoumas.