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Adam Kalsey

This is the blog of Adam Kalsey. Unusual depth and complexity. Rich, full body with a hint of nutty earthiness.

User Experience

Laptop usability

Freshness Warning
This blog post is over 21 years old. It's possible that the information you read below isn't current and the links no longer work.

22 Jan 2003

I use my laptop with an external keyboard, mouse, and monitor when I’m at my desk. The monitor is a 21" beast, but the laptop screen is only about 15". When I’m using the monitor, I like to have my screen resolution set higher than when I’m using the laptop on its own.

The sequence I follow each time I connect or disconnect the laptop from the monitor is to hit a hotkey combination that tells the laptop to use the external monitor, then open up my display properties and set the resolution.

Why should I have to go through this? The laptop can obviously detect whether I have a monitor connected, because if I try and switch to external video and there’s nothing connected, the laptop screen stays on. I should be able to set the laptop up so that if I connect something to the VGA port, the system switches from LCD to monitor and changes my resolution for me.

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