Using my new TV as my monitor?

If it has a DVI or VGA input it should be painless.

 

I could MAIL you one of the hundred spare ones that I have.

Does it have DVI or just VGA?

 

Yeah, VGA is analog.. DVI is digital, and is better quality.

 

DVI is digital and works best for LCD's.

If it's just VGA then you're fine. It's just a nitpick.

 

A VGA cable.

Seriously, you can get them from nearly any computer store. Just avoid Best Buy, etc. They REALLY over charge on cables.

 

Just a heads up, there are actually a few types of VGA cables. I have a 40" Sony Bravia and it required an HD15 VGA cable, a DB15 VGA cable would display the incorrect resolution. Check your manual to see if it mentions anything, otherwise I would go for the HD15 cables.

 

Unless im missing something here doesn't the OP need one of these, which nobody seems to have mentioned? http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APP...hJec52YkQtNOWDJ8Swpl/3.0.21.1.0.8.25.7.11.3.3 . Just a standard VGA cable wount work, theres nowhere to plug it in to the iMac

 

I agree...I'm now slightly confused...

 

Standard VGA cables use HD15 connectors; the DB15 connector usually refers to the shape used by older PC gamepad/MIDI ports and Apple monitors back in the beige days. They both have 15 pins, but the connector is a different shape (HD15 has 3 rows of pins, DB15 has 2). It gets a little confusing because some places refer to HD15 connectors as DB15, which can get very annoying.

 

I just wanted to mention that you might be dissatisfied with the quality of your TV as a computer monitor. I haven't seen any TV that made a good computer monitor, mostly because of super low resolution (given how huge the display is). A 42" wide screen display with a proper dot-per-inch ratio (to be around the average of a real computer dispaly) would have a resolution like 3500 x 2200. Your TV will certainly not.

So in summary, you're going to have the same resolution of a 17" display, but blown up to 42", rather than a an actual higher resolution.

That's why when the 30" Apple display first came out, everyone made a big fuss about, not because of how big it was, but because of the incredible resolution (2560 x 1600).

 

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