I teach online - well, where else can you teach? My laptop is okay for that - an HP I3, although from time to time the cursor seems to freeze for a few seconds. I decided to connect up a full-sized keyboard and it turned out to be a good decision once I had worked out how to place everything. Then the next stage, connecting a large screen Acer monitor proved to be not so trouble-free. I had used this high-resolution monitor with an Acer PC with NVIDIA graphics and it was great for all kinds of software - even the only game I have played, Super Mario.
I switched on the laptop, connected up the monitor and thought I was now ready to Zoom. I did my stuff with Windows settings but the screen quality was just not there. The auto settings on the monitor didn't improve the situation. I played around with the screen graphics software and thought I had mastered it - but no, too light, too dark, good for text - bad for graphics and the other way around. I put it back in the cupboard. It was not usable as I use a lot of PDF pages with graphics and text when I teach and it strained my eyes.
That was two months ago. It kept get worrying me, so I decided on one last try. I connected up the monitor to the PC and power supply, switched on the laptop and the large screen came to life with an incredibly clear image. Text - amazing, graphics - I could see fine detail in the images that I had not seen before. Was it a fluke? I switched off and on and I signed in - still everything is amazingly clear. Why? Then I work it out. Windows had set up the monitor for me. I wasted hours with the HP and Windows graphics software settings trying to do it. However, it is no use crying over spilt milk. Quite clearly, there is nothing worse than thinking you know better than Microsoft.
