Need to change LED to higher resolution screen

[yemo1]

Hi,

I recently bought this fairly used laptop. Unfortunately this laptop has a resolution of 1600 X 900 which isn't good for my eyes (shortsighted). Please is there anyway I can upgrade to higher resolution screen?

Thanks.

[SDH · Accepted solution]

That is a tricky issue... to get the small size of laptops it is expensive, and there also is the need for very fine-detail control over upgrades.  Plus they start out small.

Easy option:  Virtually all laptops now have a video-out port such as a Display Port port or a HDMI port.  Driving a larger nice monitor straight off the laptop usually is not much of an issue.

Bit more complex:  Many laptops have the option of a "docking station" that you essentially slide the laptop into and that then gives you more normal size and function for a detached keyboard/mouse/monitor.  Nice to have one of those at home and at work.  HP ones are generally excellent.

Quite a bit more complex:

Your "HP ZBOOK 17 G4 IDS" is associated with this detailed document,  HERE .

GetDocument.aspx (hp.com)

Under the display section near the top is this listing of the 4 screen options it was available with... you happen to have the lowest resolution currently:

17.3" diagonal HD+ anti-glare (1600 x 900)
17.3" diagonal FHD IPS anti-glare (1920 x 1080)
17.3" diagonal FHD IPS touch screen (1920 x 1080)
17.3" diagonal UHD DreamColor IPS anti-glare (3840 X 2160)

You might like that bottom version with the highest resolution.... but that does not make the screen any larger than 17.3" diagonal.

You can go onto YouTube and see videos on upgrading/replacing screens for HP laptops.  Here is a link from eBay that claims to have brand new screens at that highest resolution:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/142906699357

I'm pretty handy, but not that good at microsurgery, and would personally not try that transplant... I'd start with option 1 above.  

[SDH]

Your laptop has a HDMI 2.0 port on the right side.  Take a look at this nice HP HDMI to DVI cable adapter... I just got one:

HP HDMI to DVI Cable Adapter F5A28AA 888182172506 | eBay

Or, depending on what ports your external monitor has you would be able to do pretty much anything you wanted from a HDMI 2.0 port and the right cable.

[DGroves]

first you need to determine if your issue is with a high resolution or a low resolution screen

while a high resolution screen is sharper, the icons and text can be very small and hard for some people to read

second, windows screen scaling is still not that good even after years of OS revisions

if you can run your software on a mac that might be a better choice as it's screen resolutions and scaling is superior to windows

while some laptops can have their screen panel swapped out with a different resolution one this is not available for many models and is not cheap in most cases as the replacement panel/labor can be 60-70-% of the purchase price of the laptop!!

[yemo1]

Thanks so much.

[SDH]

Yemo,

Here's an update:  There is a lot of information out there on the web about how to make use of a laptop as the equivalent of a desktop for you to get higher resolution from an added external monitor driven from your laptop.  The laptop's internal video hardware/driver can do significantly better than just drive the smaller/lower resolution monitor built in to your laptop.

It is easy to to hook up your laptop to a much higher resolution monitor, and current laptops (most are higher quality than the one I currently have to test with) can drive an external monitor attached by a HDMI or Display Port cable from the side of the laptop.  Sound can still come from the laptop's speakers in this configuration.  My laptop has a HDMI side port, and the monitor I'm using is a NEC MultiSync 24" WUXGA monitor driven by a HDMI to DVI-D single link cable.

Then, there are details on how to not have your external attached monitor not go to sleep when you close down the laptop's lid fully.  That turns out to be very easy.

Then, how to have the laptop launch from sleep to fully normally activated when an externally attached HP USB key board or HP wireless mouse is worked with.... I'm using the same ones I use on our workstations so the look and feel is familiar.

Overall, things are working very well at much higher resolution here driven by this HP laptop, attached to an external independent monitor,   With a better laptop like you have I'd expect an even better experience.  Good luck to you...