Maximum PC

Hi guys,
I'm trying to see whether it would be effective for me to use my current desktop's LCD as an external monitor for my laptop, and then get a bigger LCD for my desktop. However, one problem I have is that my laptop has only VGA out, and so the screen is just slightly *off* if you know what I mean. Text is just a little blurry, I feel like I notice a little flicker here and there on large blocks of solid color, and it just doesn't feel right, and is possibly giving me more eye strain than normal. My laptop has a Geforce Go 6150, pretty crappy and old, and the monitor is a 20" 1680x1050 resolution, which doesn't help matters.

I could probably learn to live with it after a few weeks of use, but is there a better way to do this, or is VGA just going to cause bad picture on LCDs? I'd be open to buying some sort of USB to DVI adapter if I could get a better picture for a reasonable price. Or is the resolution just too high for VGA? I think despite the fact that this GPU is old, it should be able to at least push 1680x1050 pixels in normal 2D operation since we had an old Radeon 9200 running a 1680x1050 monitor before and it was fine. But if a lower resolution would work better, I might just get a smaller monitor, but it might not be worth it then since I wouldn't be getting much more screen space. I would like to increase the resolution on my laptop because I often have multiple documents side by side that I need to look at, or code on one side and results on the other, so a higher resolution than 1280x800 is kind of necessary.

The native res is fine over VGA with your video card.

My suggestion would be to try another VGA and make sure all the connections are nice and snug. Also, get a vertical stand for your laptop to prevent over heating. Overheating can cause the distortion you are experiencing.

A couple of ideas:

1) Make sure the cable is good - try another cable if possible. I have had more strange and fuzzy screens at our office due to bad cables than not.

2) Update the drivers for your video card. Not sure which o/s you are running but the latest drivers might have a fix for your problems.

USB / DVI - never had any luck with quality.

Samsung makes usb monitors (Not available in box stores - contact a Samsung dealer) our office has 3 of them 21 inch wide screen, and they work great but no 3d. They run about $250 bucks each.