Dell Laptops have a keyboard short cut for switching between output display modes.

This is the FN key usually found at the bottom left of the keyboard. This key and the F8 together will cycle through the various modes.

By default the display is set to the laptop screen

Press FN+F8

This will now try and display the screen on both the laptop and the VGA connection (make sure you are connected to the projector).

Press FN+F8

This will now try and display the screen on the VGA connection only

You cycle through until you find the one you want.

Tip: Lower screen resolution is easier to read. A low resolution would be something like 800×600 or 1024×768.

If you are not happy with the quality of the image take the time to learn how to use your projector and find the optimum settings based on various conditions like light and distance etc.

Tip: Make sure you have the latest video driver for your laptop as some Dell laptops with factory installed drivers need to be updated to work correctly* with projectors. Get the updated drivers at www.support.dell.com

*Dell Latitude D620 with Onboard Intel Video for example.

If you have any tips about using laptops with projectors then please leave a comment.