How to use a tablet as a monitor. DIY. Making a monitor from a laptop matrix. Tablet display as a monitor.
The tablet is, of course, a good invention. Its use is convenient on the road, in a cafe, and it is indispensable for students at the institute. It is usually used to play movies and chat on social networks. However, typing text, creating tables or working in graphic editors on it is no longer so comfortable. Designers, IT specialists and editors are missing one screen. Therefore, it would be great to attach the tablet as a monitor to your computer. ,
How to connect a tablet to a computer, and is it possible?
So how can you use your tablet as a monitor? Nowadays, any tablet has a miniHDMI connector, and PCs have a standard HDMI connector. Using a cable, you can connect the gadget to your computer’s video card. But on tablets, this connector only allows you to output information to any other connected monitor, for example, a TV. In the opposite direction, that is, it cannot receive an image or video.
Technically, in 2017 it is impossible to make an external monitor from a tablet to a PC. We won’t manually solder the HDMI transmitter. On the other hand, you can wait until tablet manufacturers upgrade the product and equip it with an HDMI connector that works for input and output. Nevertheless, there are no hopeless situations. There is a program that, by downloading and installing it on your computer, you can trick it, and it will begin to display information on the tablet.
3 options for how a tablet monitor can be used
If your regular large PC monitor is broken and shows no signs of life, then the screen of the connected tablet will become the monitor for the main PC.
The monitors will be synchronized and simultaneously duplicate each other's information.
The tablet screen can increase the size of your monitor. Images or videos from the main screen will go to the right or left and seem to stretch out. The tablet can be controlled using a mouse and keyboard from the main PC. You can move your calendar, correspondence, or alerts to it.
How to do it step by step: instructions
First, decide how you will connect the computer and the gadget: via a USB cable or a WI-FI network. Both options are possible, only in the first case you will need an adapter cable, and in the second, the wireless Internet signal must be distributed from one router.
Download the iDisplay program to your computer for free from the official website. It is available for all operating systems: windows, android, iOs. Of course, this program is not the only one of its kind. It is possible to find analogues on the World Wide Web, but the choice of their function is significant.
Install the program and restart the computer - at this stage there should be no difficulties.
Now take your tablet. You must install the same application on your iPad or other device. The free version can be found on 4pda.ru. If you are a fan of licensed software, you can buy it on Google Play for $5. ,
Run programs on both devices at the same time.
On the tablet, click on the plus and add your computer’s data depending on the type of connection discussed above. The computer is our server.
All data is in the tray (small triangle next to the clock). When choosing a name, rely on your imagination; it does not play a significant role.
Click the “Add and connect” button and agree to connect the tablet in the window.
During the connection process, the monitor will go dark, blink several times, and finally display its desktop on the tablet screen.
Why do you need an additional screen?
In principle, everything is already installed. The next steps depend on how you want to use the gadget. There are several options:
- Screen mirroring - right-click on the desktop and select “Screen Resolution”. In the window that opens, in the “Multiple screens” column, select “Duplicate”.
- One large screen consisting of several monitors.
- Instead of duplicating, click on Expand. Then you will have, as it were, one desktop on both devices, but long and rectangular in shape. One information will be displayed on the PC monitor, and another on the tablet. Applications can be dragged across displays.
- Tablet as your main monitor - if you don’t want to turn on a bulky computer monitor at all. In the same column, select “Display the desktop only on the second one.” Then look for the iDisplay program on the track, click settings (in English settings) and check the box “Run Windows startup”. Again, restart the computer, turn off the large monitor, and let the program start automatically. On the tablet, turn on this program, and the desktop of your operating system will already be on the small screen.
Let's weigh the pros and cons
Advantages: ,
- The tablet allows touch input.
- A tablet is a portable device, with it you can have access to your main computer as long as the WI-FI signal is sufficient. But for powerful routers it is good.
- In this way you can connect your smartphone to your laptop.
- Note, another type of connection is possible: a tablet as a second, additional smartphone monitor. A small smartphone is not always convenient to use, but a tablet will provide a decent display that is easy to read.
Flaws:
- Communication between devices will be faster via USB. ,
- If the monitor is already broken, you will not be able to install the program and establish a connection. It's better to take care of this in advance.
- Outputting data from a computer to a tablet can be done automatically when connected. However, on a tablet you will have to re-establish a connection with the laptop every time through numerous windows.
- An additional monitor will be beneficial if it has a good resolution and a large diagonal. Otherwise, few applications can be transferred to it from the main PC. A 10-inch screen is perfect.
As a result, connecting an external display in the form of a tablet to a computer is easy. Any user can handle this, even those who are familiar with technology. Calling a computer technician and paying money for it is uneconomical. After installation, you decide for yourself how exactly you will work with the two gadgets. For example, gamers can connect a tablet to play PC games through the accelerometer option.
It can be a shame to throw away a broken laptop or tablet, especially if its motherboard/video card/processor is burned out, but the display is in perfect order. In this case, there is a way out: you can connect the LCD display from a mobile device as a second/third screen to a personal computer. The LCD display from the latest iPad models with a size of 9.7" and a side resolution of 2048x1536 is best suited for this. Warsaw University student Andrzej Surowiec managed to connect the retina display from the iPad to a PC via DisplayPort at maximum resolution. You can buy a broken iPad with a working display for ridiculous money. Moreover, you can directly order this part from China, it will cost about $55. So this trick is even cost-effective: you cannot buy a PC display with this resolution even cheaper...
A Polish student bought an LP097QX1-SPA1 panel from LG for his concept project (this is not an Apple exclusive part). In addition to iPad tablets, it is also installed in some other Chinese-made tablets. The LCD panel is equipped with an eDisplayPort interface, which replaced LVDS, and the essence of this experiment is to connect eDisplayPort to the standard DisplayPort on the video card of a personal computer.
The cheapest adapter for the iPad LCD panel is the Molex 502250-5191, which costs about $7. Then the wires on each side are simply soldered to the corresponding contacts on the homemade board. The diagram can be found on github.
The LCD panel electronics themselves can be powered directly through the interface board, requiring only 3.3V at 500mA. But some kind of external power source is required to backlight the screen because the backlight consumes up to 4.4W. Having rummaged through the iPad 3 circuits, the author managed to find information that the screen backlight consists of 12 rows of white LEDs, 6 pieces each, and together they require a 20 V power supply. In the experimental model, the author did not bother with a beautiful circuit, but simply installed a 68R resistor for each cathode, so each row of LEDs drew 17 mA. A voltage of 20 V can be obtained from a five-volt source through a TPS61175 boost converter.
Oddly enough, this whole design worked without glitches like a regular computer display. In total, about $70 was spent.
A tablet is, of course, a powerful and advanced gadget that has managed to replace a computer and TV for many, but you won’t get together with a tablet to watch some new movie and you won’t work with the same comfort as in front of an HD monitor of a powerful computer or laptop. No matter how offensive it may be, the tablet did not advance old technologies primarily because of its compactness.
Well, in this case, old and new technologies need to be made friends, and many people are already wondering how to connect a monitor to a tablet, a tablet to a TV, and so on. In fact, all this is quite feasible and does not require much effort. In this material we will find out how to do this.
How to connect a monitor to a tablet via USB?
Let's consider the first connection method via a USB cable. It’s worth noting right away that there are two options for connecting the tablet:
- As a USB storage device (like a flash drive).
- As an additional display (like a computer via HDMI).
In the first case, you need a TV that supports USB drives. If there is one, then just connect the tablet to the TV using the standard cable that comes with any smartphone, tablet, etc. Then on the TV you need to select the connected device as the source, find the file to play and press Play.
In the second case, a TV with USB support is not needed, but you will need an adapter for the tablet. The simplest and most convenient option is an MHL adapter (micro-USB on one side and HDMI on the other). Most TVs support this technology, which allows you to stream data from your tablet on a screen or monitor. Thus, you can “stream” games, movies and music to the big screen and fully enjoy the content. Old monitors and TVs work either via USB to VGA or through composite adapters. This method is only suitable for tablets running Android version 4.0 and higher.
How to connect a monitor to a tablet via WiFi?
The method presented above is perfect for those who own an old monitor or TV without support for SMART functions. If you still have a SMART-TV or “monitor with brains,” then you should think about connecting your tablet via Wi-Fi. You can use Miracast wireless data technology. This method only works with devices running Android version 4.2. So, to duplicate an image from a tablet to a SMART TV, you need to:
- Go to the TV settings and select “Image duplication” there.
- Go to the tablet settings, open the “Screen” submenu and enable the Miracast option in it.
- Select the one you need from the list of external monitors and click on it.
Once the connection is established, all content from the tablet will be mirrored on the connected monitor or TV.
You can also set up file sharing between your tablet and TV using the DLNA standard. To do this you need:
- Connect your TV and tablet to the same WiFi network.
- Activate the UPnP protocol on the router.
- Download the server application to manage devices on the same local network.
- Send the file in the tablet’s memory to the desired TV (a corresponding request will appear on the TV, which will allow you to play the sent file).
Using Chromecast
How to connect a monitor to a tablet wirelessly and Miracast? Let's make it a SMART-TV. You can turn any modern monitor into something like a SMART TV by connecting Chromecast to it - an inexpensive repeater that connects to an HDMI port and receives video and audio signals from mobile gadgets (in the case of Android, you can send a mirror image from the device). This stuff costs only $35 and works with any monitor that supports HDMI. A more advanced version with support for 4K video will cost $60, which is in any case cheaper than buying a SMART TV and more convenient than connecting a monitor via an MHL adapter.
How to connect a monitor to an iPad via AirPlay?
As for iPad owners, things are a little more complicated. Due to the closed nature of the iOS operating system, it is not possible to connect the iPad to the monitor directly. To stream videos from YouTube or music from Google Play, you can use the same Chromecast, but to fully work with an additional monitor and display a mirror image, you will have to purchase an Apple TV 3rd generation or later.
The monitor is connected via an HDMI cable, and the iPad is connected to the Apple TV using Bluetooth or WiFi. The user only needs to open the “iOS Control Center”, click on “AirPlay Video Replay” and select the desired set-top box. The mirror image will automatically transfer to the monitor connected to Apple TV.
Almost any IT professional, and in principle some ordinary owners of a tablet, dream of putting it to good use - connecting it to the system unit so that information is displayed on the tablet as on a regular monitor. The first thing that comes to mind is to connect the tablet to the video card using an HDMI - miniHDMI cable, provided that the tablet and graphics card have these connectors.
After all, using an HDMI cable, a digital signal with multimedia data must be transmitted - video, sound, etc. But the problem is that the HDMI connector on the tablet is an output, not an input. Those. It can transmit an image to another device (for example, a monitor or TV), but cannot receive it.
For a very long time I was looking for a way to make a replacement monitor out of a tablet, and believe me, at least as of 2014, technically (at the hardware level) this will not be possible to implement, unless someone tries to solder an HDMI input into a tablet that receives a signal from a video card, or tablet manufacturers will come up with the idea themselves and start making tablets with universal HDMI, capable of both receiving and transmitting signals.
However, there is no need to be upset, because there is good news. You can turn your tablet into a main monitor at the software level. A special program will help the computer recognize the tablet as a monitor. There are three options for how you can use such a “tablet monitor”:
- Complete replacement for a standard monitor. Can be used in emergency cases, for example, if a regular monitor is broken.
- The tablet can easily turn into an additional monitor to the main one. Everything that happens on the monitor can be duplicated on the tablet display.
- The tablet screen can become a “continuation” of the main monitor, i.e. for example, on a big screen you can watch a movie, and on a tablet screen you can read correspondence, control any computer program with a mouse and keyboard, read mail, and in general, do absolutely everything that you usually do on a computer.
Installation
We will need a USB cable to connect the tablet to the PC (or you can connect via Wi-Fi), install the program on the computer and on the tablet.
- We install iDisplay on your computer - you can download it for free for your version of the operating system from the official website. Be sure to restart the computer, otherwise the connection will not take place.
- Install the application on your tablet from Google Play. It is paid and costs 5 bucks (but if you really want to try the application for free, use 4pda.ru.
- Launch iDisplay on your computer.
- Launch the iDisplay application on the tablet. Click on the plus sign to add a “server”, i.e. your PC data (for connecting via Wi-Fi). To connect via USB, connect the USB cable to your computer and tablet, and click the “Connect via USB” button.
- We are asked to enter the IP, port, and name. The IP address and port number can be viewed in the tray by hovering the mouse over the iDisplay. We copy the data onto the tablet. For the name, enter anything.
- When everything is ready, click “Add and connect”.
- Next, if the IP and port are entered correctly, the “iDisplay authorization” window will appear on the computer screen asking whether you want to reject the tablet connection, connect once, or connect automatically every time a request is received from the tablet. I recommend clicking “Always allow”, this way this question will no longer pop up, and the connection will happen automatically.
- The monitor will go dark for a couple of seconds, blink a little, and calm down. The computer OS desktop will then appear on the tablet.
Settings
This completes the installation, but we need to choose whether the tablet will be used as a main, backup or additional monitor. To do this, in Windows OS, go to the display resolution settings (to open the menu, right-click on the desktop).
Next to the words “Multiple screens”, click on the small triangle. If “Duplicate screens” is selected, the tablet will repeat all the contents of the main monitor, almost like a parrot. The “Extend screens” option will allow you to display different information on two monitors. They will use the same desktop, but can work independently, complementing each other.
Now comes the fun part. If you want the tablet to act as the main monitor, select “Display desktop on only 2”, and then click the Apply button. Then you should open the tray, right-click on the iDisplay icon, select “Settings”, and click on “launch at Windows startup” so that a checkmark appears there.
Now, when you restart the computer and turn off the regular monitor, when the system boots, the program will automatically start, and you just need to connect to this program through your tablet, and the desktop of your OS will appear on the screen of your tablet.
In order not to be unfounded, I conducted an experiment to see whether the tablet would work as a monitor when I turned off the regular monitor, and recorded the result on video. I went into a text editor, opened a browser, watched a video on YouTube, and went to the site where you are reading this article. I connected to the tablet via Wi-Fi, plus a program was turned on to capture video from the screen, so slight delays in the video may be visible. If you connect via USB, the connection will be more stable and the picture will be faster. I apologize in advance for the video quality (maximum 480p).
This monitor has a couple of disadvantages. First, in order to use the tablet screen as a monitor, you need to first install the program, and for this you need to see what you are doing. Those. If the monitor is broken, you need to connect another working one to your computer, install and configure the program, and only then turn off the monitor and use the tablet screen instead. The second drawback is that when you start the system, you need to manually start establishing a connection with the PC each time on the tablet. And thirdly, and most importantly, you need a tablet with a good resolution and a fairly large display. The tablet in the video is a 7-inch, the cheapest Chinese device on the planet with cracked glass. There is very little comfort from using such a “monitor,” but a 9-10-inch tablet is much better suited for such purposes.
Advantages: Touch input from the tablet remains possible; with the “monitor” you can lie down on the sofa, or go to the kitchen, if the Wi-Fi signal is sufficient, and use your computer.
