How can I use a laptop as portable monitor?

[zymel]

Hey guys!
I have an old laptop that I don't use anymore, and I was thinking of using it as a travel machine to dump pictures I take on, but as I started to think about my idea, I realized that it would be nice to be able to use it as a monitor for my Nintendo Switch when I'm on the move (since the dock is so small anyway), but I found no ways to just get my HDMI signal to the laptop except for expensive capture cards.
Is there a better option? Is my idea worth it at all? Am I just better off buying a portable monitor for that kind of thing? I'm pretty much just curious at this point.
Solutions will probably be unpractical since I have a 720p panel on my laptop and an Intel core i3, but it's something I'd keep in my mind when I'll probably need to upgrade when going to college soon if there are any minimal requirements.
So hit me up with your best options, even if they wouldn't work on my laptop, I'm just really curious!

[kelvinhall05]

You may be able to buy an adpater on eBay, remove the actual monitor from the laptop, attach it to the adapter, and find a way to power it. That might work.

[Mira Yurizaki]

Laptops screens either use a protocol called FPD or embedded Display Port, using connectors meant to connect things inside the hardware. Plus they may not be standardized, with different manufacturers doing different things. So even if you were willing to crack open your laptop whenever you wanted to connect your switch to its display, finding a "converter" would be really hard unless you're willing to rig up your own.

 

Most portable monitors are USB based and require the CPU to render the screen before sending it to the monitor, which the Switch isn't going to do. There are USB powered, HDMI-input based portable monitors, but they're expensive, starting at $250 if you're lucky.

[Theguywhobea]

Unless it's an older Alienware 18 or 17, you can't use a laptop as a monitor.

[zymel]

1 minute ago, Theguywhobea said:

Unless it's an older Alienware 18 or 17, you can't use a laptop as a monitor.

I'm pretty sure you can with a capture card. Not the best way and there will be delay, but yeah

 

[Theguywhobea]

Just now, zymel said:

I'm pretty sure you can with a capture card. Not the best way and there will be delay, but yeah

 

I don't know if that really counts as using it as a monitor though lol

[zymel]

8 minutes ago, M.Yurizaki said:

Laptops screens either use a protocol called FPD or embedded Display Port, using connectors meant to connect things inside the hardware. Plus they may not be standardized, with different manufacturers doing different things. So even if you were willing to crack open your laptop whenever you wanted to connect your switch to its display, finding a "converter" would be really hard unless you're willing to rig up your own.

 

Most portable monitors are USB based and require the CPU to render the screen before sending it to the monitor, which the Switch isn't going to do. There are USB powered, HDMI-input based portable monitors, but they're expensive, starting at $250 if you're lucky.

I already looked for HDMI monitors online, and yeah, they are really expensive. But what I meant by using it as a monitor wasn't to use the display, but more to use the computer in itself and find a way to display the image within windows

[Mira Yurizaki]

Just now, zymel said:

I already looked for HDMI monitors online, and yeah, they are really expensive. But what I meant by using it as a monitor wasn't to use the display, but more to use the computer in itself and find a way to display the image within windows

You're going to have to use an HDMI capture card for that.

[zymel]

1 minute ago, Theguywhobea said:

I don't know if that really counts as using it as a monitor though lol

Well kinda? Not really but also a little bit in a sense

[zymel]

Just now, M.Yurizaki said:

You're going to have to use an HDMI capture card for that.

That's what I thought, but I have no ideas of how those work and which would be better for that task