One benefit of a gaming PC over a gaming laptop? All those extra ports that let you connect all kinds of peripherals and devices. Even the best gaming laptops fall short in this area, which is a shame because all those ports can be useful for gaming and streaming.

And if your gaming laptop doubles as a workstation? Those extra ports can boost productivity and make your life easier.

That’s where a docking station comes into play. A docking station is a small device with lots of extra ports—as soon as you plug your laptop into the docking station, anything connected to the docking station becomes available to the laptop you just plugged in, as if those peripherals were connected to the laptop itself.

Here are eight reasons why you need a docking station for your laptop and the various ways your workstation can benefit.

1. Expanded connectivity

Mark Hachman / IDG

Mark Hachman / IDG

Mark Hachman / IDG

As modern laptops have grown thinner and lighter, they’ve had to sacrifice some of the connectivity of their older, chunkier siblings. It isn’t uncommon for portable laptops to have a single pair of USB-C ports.

Docking stations often include a range of USB-A and USB-C ports for data transfers and charging, and the modern ones even support cutting-edge connections like USB4 and Thunderbolt 3 and 4.

They may also come with video outputs like HDMI and DisplayPort, and some have DisplayLink compression. Some docks even have Ethernet connectivity, SD card readers, and audio jacks (a much-missed feature on some modern laptop designs).

Gaming and streaming can require lots of additional accessories, from microphones to webcams to stream deck button boxes. Is your laptop lacking in ports? A docking station can help.

You probably don’t need a docking station with 10+ ports of all different types. Pick one that has the connections you need. It’s that simple!

2. Multiple monitor support

Your laptop may not have a video output—and even if it does, it probably only has one. Is it even the right type? Maybe you have an external monitor that doesn’t fit your laptop.

A docking station makes your laptop monitor situation far more flexible. With the right ports, you could hook up one or two (or more!) monitors to your laptop through the dock, and you may be able to choose between HDMI, DisplayPort, etc.

Connecting multiple monitors can be a massive boon for laptop productivity, so a docking station could be a serious game changer for your work output. Plus, you may also benefit from the extra ports that can hook up printers, external drives, and other accessories.

3. Faster, more secure networking

The Ethernet port is, unfortunately, one of the largest ports. That’s why it’s often one of the first to go in slim laptop designs.

The good news is, many docking stations come with a Gigabit Ethernet port (or, in some cases, even faster). As long as your laptop can support that sort of bandwidth, then you can add faster, more stable networking to your laptop with a docking station that has an Ethernet port.

Modern Wi-Fi is extremely fast, but it needs the right hardware to take full advantage of it. Not only that, Wi-Fi can face congestion issues in busy areas and be vulnerable to man-in-the-middle attacks.

A docking station with an Ethernet port can increase network security, increase speeds, and reduce Wi-Fi congestion. The lower latency and improved connection stability can also be good for gaming.

4. Easier BYOD for remote work

Tim van der Kuip / Unsplash

Tim van der Kuip / Unsplash

Tim van der Kuip / Unsplash

BYOD (or bring your own device) is a useful system for remote workers who occasionally need to come in for work. BYOD allows you to use your own personal device for work in the office.

But bringing your own hardware to work can be a hassle: logging into different Wi-Fi networks, reconnecting to printers, hooking up monitors and peripherals, etc.

With a docking station, all of that is eliminated. The docking station can stay at the office and remain connected to everything, and it’ll all be ready as soon as you plug in your BYOD device.

Instead of plugging and unplugging everything whenever you head in or head out, you can just plug your laptop into the docking station and start working straight way, connected to everything you need.

This also applies to working between different offices or departments! Docking stations help your laptop integrate with an environment quicker and more simply than without.

5. Faster charging for multiple devices

Anker

Anker

Anker

How often do you charge your phone, camera, or earbuds using your laptop? It can be really convenient, but it also means that you’re sacrificing your laptop’s own precious battery life.

Plus, if your laptop itself is plugged in to keep itself charged, then your already-limited selection of ports is further limited for any of those other accessories and peripherals you might want to charge.

With a docking station, that’s no longer a problem. The dock itself is connected to mains power, so you can charge your laptop and your other devices when plugged into the dock’s charge-capable ports.

6. KVM switches

If you work across multiple laptops and/or desktop PCs, then a docking station with a built-in KVM switch can make a massive difference to your workstation comfort and productivity.

A KVM switch (“keyboard, video, mouse switch”) allows you to use the same exact set of keyboard, mouse, and external monitors with multiple systems—all you do is press the KVM button and every docked peripheral switches over to another connected system.

Let’s say you have both a desktop PC and a laptop, and you work on both simultaneously. With a KVM docking station, one set of keyboard/mouse/monitors can be docked, and a single button press can swap between laptop and desktop. (You can also do the same with two laptops, switching between personal and work laptop, for example.)

7. Better ergonomics and cable management

Andreas Palmer / Unsplash

Andreas Palmer / Unsplash

Andreas Palmer / Unsplash

If you route lots of accessories and peripherals through a docking station, you can cut back on a lot of cable clutter and make your desk space more ergonomically friendly and pleasing to the eye.

Most wired devices—from gaming mice to office printers—come with unwieldy cables that need to be plugged into your laptop and routed somewhere before they can do anything.

By having them permanently plugged into a docking station, it keeps everything simplified. Instead of constantly plugging and unplugging and getting cables crossed, you just plug in your laptop. The messy cables behind the docking station can remain tucked away and hidden.

8. Better security and stability

Some docking stations can actually lock down laptops, making it impossible to disconnect without the physical key.

This can prevent unauthorized visitors from snatching an unattended laptop, and can even prevent employees from “accidentally” taking the laptop. The laptop and dock will need a compatible locking interface, such as the Kensington Lock.

And with a docking station that can be permanently affixed, with peripherals and accessories plugged in at all times, you can further increase security by routing cables through somewhere inaccessible or just making it so that the docking station ports can’t be adjusted.

Not only does this improve hardware security, but it also helps stability by guaranteeing that peripherals, networked devices, and drives remain connected and preventing interruptions.

Gaming laptops are some of the most exquisite in their class, combining fast processors with speedy storage and ultra-powerful graphics chips for serious visual performance.

Even so, no gamer has ever said they don’t need even more performance, that they’re perfectly content with their frame rate and visuals. Nope. More is almost always better!

But what can you do? Upgrading a gaming laptop isn’t as straightforward as upgrading a gaming PC. Unless you’re gaming on a Framework Laptop, you can’t just slot a new graphics chip in there and call it a day. You have to be a little more creative.

Here are several features and settings you can tweak to make your gaming laptop run even faster and make your games look better.

See also: The best gaming laptops worth getting

Use dynamic upscaling

One of the biggest advances in PC gaming in recent years has been in dynamic upscaling, where AI is used to enhance picture quality without demanding more resources, thereby improving performance while making the game look better, too.

This feature is available via Nvidia’s DLSS (Deep Learning Super Sampling), AMD’s FSR (FidelityFX Super Resolution), and Intel’s XeSS (Xe Super Sampling), and you can use dynamic upscaling in a range of games across various hardware.

More on this: AMD FSR 3 vs. Nvidia DLSS 3, compared

Whatever upscaling solution you have available, consider using it. DLSS in particular makes games look almost indistinguishable from higher native resolutions, and all of them deliver a big uplift in frame rates.

Enable frame generation

AMD

AMD

AMD

The most advanced graphics performance boosting technology in 2024 is, without a doubt, frame generation. This is an AI-powered technique that takes two rendered frames and AI-generates an in-between frame, making a smooth transition and boosting frame rates.

Frame generation is available via AMD’s Fluid Motion Frames feature and Nvidia’s DLSS 3 Frame Generation feature.

There are some concerns with frame generation—it isn’t ideal for latency and the image quality isn’t always the best—but there’s no denying that frame generation can take a sedate frame rate and make it much, much higher with no real effort.

The list of supporting games for each technology is still in the low double digits, but it’s growing! The feature is well worth enabling if you need a frame rate boost and your hardware and game support it.

Enable ReBAR/SAM

This is a feature that everyone should have enabled—especially if you have an Intel graphics card, as it’s almost mandatory to make Intel’s latest GPUs competitive with AMD and Nvidia.

It’s generally called ReBAR (Resizeable BAR), but AMD calls theirs SAM (Smart Access Memory) even though it’s essentially the same thing. Either way, the technology allows your CPU to access much more of your GPU’s video memory at a time, making it much more efficient.

Further reading: What is Resizeable BAR and how does it work?

ReBAR/SAM doesn’t tend to boost performance dramatically, but for a simple toggle in your driver suite or BIOS, it’s a great feature that’ll net a few more frames per second for near-zero effort. It’s even possible to get with a BIOS update on particularly old gaming PCs.

You already have ReBAR support if you have an Nvidia or Intel GPU, but you’ll need both an AMD CPU and GPU to enable SAM. Enable whichever one you can for a notable performance bump in most games.

Enable Windows Game Mode

Jon Martindale / IDG

Jon Martindale / IDG

Jon Martindale / IDG

Windows Game Mode is a special PC state that tells Windows you’re gaming so it should de-prioritize background applications.

Game Mode won’t stop those background apps entirely, though, so you might actually get better results by manually closing any apps that are particularly resource intensive. However, Game Mode only takes a second to turn on and it’s way more convenient.

Navigate to Settings > Gaming, then toggle Game Mode to On.

Want to tweak Game Mode a little more to make it even better? Check out our guide on fine-tuning Windows Game Mode.

Enable XMP/EXPO

Most RAM is capable of running far faster than stock settings, so manufacturers include a factory overclock setting known as XMP (Extreme Memory Profile) or EXPO (Extended Profiles for Overclocking).

This setting can be enabled in the BIOS to give your memory a real boost, improving overall system performance.

Not all laptops support XMP/EXPO, however, so if you find that your BIOS has no option for enabling this, you may be out of luck. Check the manufacturer’s website as it’s possible a firmware update will give it to you, but there’s no guarantee.

See also: The best gaming laptops under $1,000

Plug in before playing

Gaming on a laptop is often a tale of two experiences: gaming while plugged in and gaming on battery.

When your laptop is plugged in, it can bypass the battery entirely and draw all the power it needs right from the mains power. That doesn’t mean it’s going to suddenly become more powerful than it was before, but it does mean performing at full potential.

In other words, there’s no compromise made to save power or optimize efficiency—it’s pure, as-good-as-it-gets gaming performance. If you’re going to be gaming in one spot for an extended period of time, make sure to plug the laptop in. The difference can be dramatic.

Set the right power plan

Jon Martindale / IDG

Jon Martindale / IDG

Jon Martindale / IDG

What if you’re gaming on the go and can’t plug in? In that case, you must consider how long your battery is going to last. To help you manage that, Windows has several power plans to pick from, allowing you to prioritize performance or battery life as needed.

The efficiency-oriented power plans tend to put the CPU and GPU into lower power states, though, potentially locking you out of greater performance in an effort to keep the battery going for longer.

If you don’t care about that, or feel you can manage your battery life yourself, then switching to either Balanced or High Performance power plan (instead of Power Saver) can make a real difference.

When gaming while the laptop is plugged in, these power plans are unlikely to have as dramatic an effect—Windows may even switch to the High Performance plan automatically—but it’s still worth checking to make sure.

Note: Higher performance power plans can also affect other areas of operation, such as preventing your USB ports from sleeping, so your laptop may feel less responsive in lower performance power plans.

Adjust driver settings

Jon Martindale / IDG

Jon Martindale / IDG

Jon Martindale / IDG

Nvidia, Intel, and AMD graphics cards all have a number of settings in their driver suites worth tweaking. Often that’s where you’ll find ReBAR/SAM, but that’s far from the only tweak worth making.

For AMD gamers, you have AMD Chill, which can dynamically lower frame rates when there’s no motion on screen (e.g., in menu screens or when listening to dialogue). This keeps your laptop’s temperature down, allowing it to boost harder for longer when you actually need it.

AMD also has Radeon Boost, which can dynamically adjust resolution and other in-game factors for improved performance.

For Nvidia gamers, it can be a good idea to set the Power Management Mode to Prefer maximum performance and G-Sync to On (if your laptop supports it) to maximize performance and avoid screen tearing.

Both AMD and Nvidia have their own anti-lag technologies, too. If you’re playing competitive games or want to reduce input lag as much as possible, enable them to improve your reaction times.

Overclock CPU/GPU

Overclocking is when you manually increase the clock speed of a component—in this case, CPU and/or GPU—so that it runs even faster, unlocking greater performance.

Overclocking is typically better suited to desktop PCs because they’re better equipped for cooling and they don’t have as much concern for battery life or fan noise. But if your laptop’s components support overclocking, it can be a great way to boost performance.

Overclocking your CPU and/or GPU will produce more heat, leading to greater fan noise, and it’ll drain your battery faster. It may also reduce system stability, causing it to crash more often. So make sure to take your time and overclock your components safely.

Learn more in our guides to fine-tuning AMD Radeon graphics cards and fine-tuning Nvidia GeForce graphics cards.

Still not enough? More performance!

With all the above features and settings tweaks, your gaming laptop should be running faster than ever. That’s not all you can do to fully min/max performance, though!

See our guide to boosting laptop performance for a few extra tips on making your laptop as performant as possible.

Modern laptop designs are a far cry from their predecessors, but only because it’s been a long, iterative process with many major milestones along the way.

The first laptop, the first thin-and-light design, the first 2-in-1 laptop, the first business laptop—they all made their marks on the industry and helped bring us to where we are today.

More like this: The best laptops to get right now

Let’s take a look back at some of the most important, innovative, and iconic laptops in history and how they got us to our current state of high speeds, high connectivity, and incredible battery life.

1981 — Osborne 1

Bilby / Wikimedia

Bilby / Wikimedia

Bilby / Wikimedia

There’s some debate as to what constitutes the “first laptop” or “first portable computer,” but for many it’s the Osborne 1.

Sure, it required a mains power connection and lacked an internal battery, but it was designed to be transported around for computing in different locations, even if it couldn’t be used on the go.

The Osborne 1 was advertised as the only computer that could fit under an airline seat. It weighed close to 25 pounds—so you wouldn’t have wanted to use it on your lap—but that was “portable” for its time.

It included a 4MHz Zilog Z80 processor, 64KB of RAM, and used 5.25-inch floppy disks for storage. Its display was a 5-inch monochrome CRT that could support 52×24 characters of text.

Priced at $1,795 at its launch (about $4,960 in today’s money), the Osborne 1 made waves for bundling around $1,500 worth of software—including a word processor—making the whole package tremendously valuable for early adopters.

1988 — NEC UltraLite

DigitalIceAge / Wikimedia

DigitalIceAge / Wikimedia

DigitalIceAge / Wikimedia

Close to a decade after the Osborne 1 debuted, the NEC UltraLite revolutionized the industry with a design that doesn’t look all that distinct from modern laptops.

The NEC UltraLite is credited as the first true “notebook” laptop with its clamshell design that had its screen on the top half of the system and its keyboard on the bottom half.

Built around MS-DOS 3.3, the UltraLite was powered by an NEC V30 processor that could operate at up to 8.14MHz. Storage was handled by an internal non-volatile RAM drive (an early example of solid state storage) and optionally 3.5-inch floppy disks. The RAM drive required its own battery (with a suggested weekly recharge) to hold its data.

This iconic laptop also featured an LCD display, which came with a resolution of 320×200 or 640×200, depending on the model.

1991 — Apple PowerBook 100

Apple

Apple

Apple

While Apple’s Macintosh Portable from 1989 was bigger and more powerful, its high price and bulky design made it less of an iconic design than its leaner, more affordable sibling: the PowerBook 100.

The Apple PowerBook 100 struck a great balance between performance, portability, and price, all while introducing some unique features that are still common in modern laptops today.

The PowerBook 100 came with a palm rest and trackball navigation, much-more akin to the touchpad designs now used by almost all laptops. It featured a Motorola 68000 processor operating at up to 16MHz, up to 8MB of RAM, and a 20-40MB SCSI hard drive.

It had a 9-inch monochrome LCD display with a 640×400 resolution, and it weighed 5.1 pounds all-in. That would be heavy today, but it was slight for its time, making it a real hit among professionals.

1992 — IBM ThinkPad 700C

IBM

IBM

IBM

The ThinkPad range might be associated with Lenovo today, but it had its humble beginnings in the engineering labs at IBM.

The original IBM ThinkPad 700C was launched in 1992 and became an instant hit. It was designed to look like a cigar box, with a squared-off chassis and professional, utilitarian design. While it might not be the most exciting design today, it was revolutionary for the time.

The ThinkPad drew praise for its active matrix color display that delivered rich colors and crisp text. Built around the Intel 486SLC 25MHz processor, the ThinkPad 700C came with up to 16MB of RAM, had a Western Digital WD90C26 graphics processor, and 20MB of solid state storage.

It wasn’t as svelte as some other designs of the time, but at 7.6 pounds, it was hardly the heaviest laptop on the market.

2007 — Asus Eee PC

Red / Wikimedia

Red / Wikimedia

Red / Wikimedia

The Asus Eee PC was the first ultra-small netbook computer, ushering in a new form factor that surged in popularity during the late 2000s (up until tablets eventually took over).

It weighed less than two pounds and had a compact 7-inch screen. It wasn’t particularly powerful, but its lightweight Linux operating system kept it relatively lean and functional, making it a big hit with students and traveling professionals.

Although the netbook form factor was only popular for a few years, models like the Eee PC informed future laptops and helped them trend towards thinner, lighter designs that prioritized functional portability.

2012 — Dell XPS 13

Dell

Dell

Dell

The Dell XPS 13 is an iconic design today, and it made a big splash with its very first iteration as the world’s first official Ultrabook (a term Intel had recently coined).

When it debuted, the XPS 13 set a new standard for sleek aesthetics with strong performance and its “InfinityEdge” display that all but eliminated bezels, giving the display a uniquely clean look.

It also came with strong battery life and used unique materials like carbon fiber and silicon to provide a lightweight but comfortable laptop design.

The XPS 13 would go on to influence laptop designs for many generations to come, and the XPS series remains one of the premier laptop lines for compact professionalism today.

2012 — Apple MacBook Pro with Retina display

Apple

Apple

Apple

Modern MacBooks are known for their high-resolution “Retina” displays, and that’s all thanks to the 2012 MacBook Pro.

Apple had several popular generations of powerful laptops in earlier MacBook Pros, but it was the 2012 version that introduced the idea of Retina displays: a display with a higher-than-average pixel density so as to make for a much sharper image.

The increased visual clarity not only helped these MacBook Pros stand out from similarly priced peers, but also raised the expectations of laptop buyers in the future. The result? Higher-resolution screens became a must-have in premium laptop designs.

2013 — Razer Blade

Razer

Razer

Razer

Even the best gaming laptops are typically heavy and cumbersome with questionable battery life, but the 2013 Razer Blade proved that they didn’t have to be.

At just four pounds, this 14-inch gaming laptop offered strong gaming performance, an attractive design, and impressive battery life for a gaming machine—up to six hours with some configurations.

The Razer Blade ticked most other boxes, too, with a strong selection of contemporary ports (though notably dropping the Ethernet jack) and fast wireless connectivity.

The backlit keyboard was responsive and comfortable for both typing and gaming, and the overall design was sleek and looked cool without going overboard with the gamer aesthetic.

Further reading: The best gaming laptops right now

2013 — Microsoft Surface Pro

Microsoft

Microsoft

Microsoft

Microsoft had been trying to get its Surface line of products off the ground for years with dedicated tablets, but it was the Surface Pro and its capable 2-in-1 design that helped it find its footing.

The Surface Pro worked well as both a laptop and tablet, and with its kickstand could be a versatile do-it-all device in ways that previous 2-in-1s just couldn’t. It also helped invigorate the 2-in-1 scene, which is today one of the most popular types of modern laptops.

To be fair, the first-generation Surface Pro wasn’t an ideal device, with concerns about its weight, battery life, price, and need for a keyboard as an additional accessory. But it still left a major impact on the industry and helped shape the future of laptop designs like few others.

2020 — MacBook Air M1

Apple

Apple

Apple

When Apple moved its MacBooks away from Intel chips to its own Arm-based chip designs, it was a real game changer for the industry. Not only was it a titanic shift of major corporations, but it also showed that Intel and AMD had serious new competition to consider.

This was highlighted more than ever with the launch of the MacBook Air M1 in 2020, which brought MacBook Pro-like power to Apple’s most affordable and most portable laptops, offering a compelling alternative to mid-range Windows designs.

It wasn’t just that these new chips were powerful, though—they were also incredibly efficient. Apple’s M1 MacBooks could boast up to 20 hours of battery life while competing on performance in a thin and light design.

All of this helped to light fires under both Intel and AMD to seek greater laptop efficiency in recent years, and it led to much-longer battery life metrics in modern laptop designs.

The future of laptops is still exciting

Honestly, there were many other iconic laptop designs that we had to leave out of this list, plus several recent-generation laptops that were too early to put on this list but could end up on it in the future.

Will it be Framework laptops, with their modular, upgradeable components? Foldable 3-in-1 designs? Or something else altogether? We’ll have to wait and see, but one thing is clear: laptops are still evolving and we’re excited about it.

Read next: Meet Spacetop, a radical new laptop with no screen

Modern gaming laptops have come a long way. They might be slim, powerful, and long-lasting, but they still can’t compete with desktop monitors in screen real estate. Even the largest gaming laptops with gorgeous 18-inch screens are still dramatically smaller than even the most modest of external gaming monitors.

But you can have the best of both worlds—by connecting an external monitor to your gaming laptop!

The way you connect a given monitor to your laptop will depend on your specific monitor and laptop combination, though. You can’t connect if you don’t have the right cables, and you’ll want to make sure your laptop is powerful enough for the monitor’s size and resolution.

Ready to jump in? Here’s what you need to know about using an external monitor with your gaming laptop (and tweaking its settings).

Further reading: The best gaming monitors to get this year

Which ports should you use to connect?

To use an external monitor with your gaming laptop, you really just need to plug it in. But which connector should you use? These days, you’ll want to use one of these two popular candidates:

• HDMI
• USB-C

Most modern gaming laptops come with one or both as connector options, so you have the flexibility to use whatever’s compatible with your monitor. HDMI support is more common than USB-C in monitors, but if yours supports USB-C, it’s worth considering.

Ritupon Baishya/Unsplash

Ritupon Baishya/Unsplash

Ritupon Baishya/Unsplash

Generation and cable choice are also important to consider. For example, an HDMI 1.4 connector is perfectly capable of running a 1080p external monitor but isn’t enough to deliver 4K at 120Hz. Likewise, some older USB-C connections may not support higher resolution external displays.

Be sure to check the specifications for your particular laptop—look in the manual or the manufacturer’s website for details—to see what generations of HDMI and/or USB-C ports your laptop has.

Then, make sure the cable you use matches the port generation. For example, if you plug an HDMI 2.0 cable into an HDMI 2.1 port, it can only operate at HDMI 2.0 speeds. Similarly, a USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 cable can’t handle the same bandwidth as a Thunderbolt 4 or USB4 cable.

Further reading: Why getting true USB4 speed is still a headache

Plugged in but it doesn’t work?

Generally, once you plug an external monitor into your gaming laptop, it should start working without having to do anything else.

Make sure the external monitor’s power cable is also plugged, then turn it on, then plug its HDMI or USB-C cable into your laptop. Turn on the monitor and it should automatically be detected as a secondary display.

If it still doesn’t work, here’s what you can do:

Joel Lee/PCWorld

Joel Lee/PCWorld

Joel Lee/PCWorld

Open the Windows Settings menu and navigate to System > Display, then open the Multiple displays section (if it isn’t already), then click on Detect to find your additional display.

If your external monitor still isn’t detected, try unplugging the connecting cable on both ends and plugging both ends back in again.

Also, confirm that you have power to both the laptop and the monitor, and make sure that the monitor is set to the correct video input. (If the monitor has multiple HDMI ports, they’ll be labeled “HDMI 1,” “HDMI 2,” and so on. Make sure the monitor’s video input is set to the correct one. See your monitor’s manual if you don’t know how to do that.)

If that still doesn’t work, try plugging your cable into a different port on the monitor and/or a different port on your laptop. Sometimes the port itself might be the problem.

Still not working? You might just have an old, faulty, or improper cable that’s preventing your external monitor from being detected.

Further reading: The best HDMI cables

Once it’s connected and detected, you’re done! You can start gaming now. However, if you want to take full advantage of your external monitor, you should tweak some of it settings.

Configuring your external monitor

By default, your external monitor will likely show a duplicate of your laptop screen. If that’s what you want, no problem.

But chances are you plugged in an external monitor because you want more screen space, in which case you’ll need to set that secondary display to “extend” your screen rather than “duplicate” it.

Jon Martindale/PCWorld

Jon Martindale/PCWorld

Jon Martindale/PCWorld

To do that, open the Windows Settings menu and navigate to System > Display, then look for the drop-down box that’s currently set to Duplicate these displays. Change it to Extend these displays.

Then, click whichever display you want to be your “main” display. Open the Multiple displays section below (if it isn’t already) and mark the Make this my main display checkbox. Then click Apply.

Note that extending your screen across multiple displays may give you more screen space, but is more taxing on your graphics chip.

After you’ve configured that, you may also want to double-check your monitor’s refresh rate and resolution while you’re here:

Jon Martindale/PCWorld

Jon Martindale/PCWorld

Jon Martindale/PCWorld

To make sure your external gaming monitor is running at peak performance, click on the respective display and scroll down to the Display resolution drop-down box, then select its native resolution.

If your monitor supports HDR, you may also want to toggle that on. Scroll to the HDR section and click for the associated settings.

To adjust your monitor’s refresh rate for gaming, scroll down and click on Advanced display. Next to Choose a refresh rate, use the drop-down box to select the highest (or your preferred) refresh rate.

Want more monitor configuration tips? Check out our guide to how to calibrate your monitor to make it look its best.

Further reading: The best gaming laptops under $1,000

A good laptop is only as good as its ports. That’s a saying I just made up but there’s some truth to it. While there are some ultraportable laptops that can make do with just a couple of USB-C connections, trusting you to use adapters for everything else, most people will prefer to have a wider selection on-board. The odd legacy connection, a video output for using external monitors, and that ever-useful headphone jack are handy to have.

Fortunately, most manufacturers appear to have moved beyond the trend of leaning-out laptops to the point of limited connectivity. Many of the best laptops in 2024 come with a solid selection of port options — and, yes, you can always use a hub or docking station to get more.

If you’re buying a new laptop and want to make sure it has all the connections you need, though, what are the ports you should really look out for? While some of these may be more important to you than others, these are the ports you should definitely consider for your next laptop upgrade.

USB-C

IDG / Josh Hendrickson

IDG / Josh Hendrickson

IDG / Josh Hendrickson

USB-C has the dubious honor of being the most successful and confusing USB standard in quite some time. Coming off the back of the mess that was USB 3.0 naming, that’s saying something. Where USB-C has made USB technology far more simple — it’s reversible and just about any USB-C device will work with just about any USB-C port — there are a number of caveats to this recommendation.

You want a USB-C port on your laptop for its pure simplicity. Even the weakest of USB-C ports can handle power delivery and basic data transfer speeds up to 5Gbps. And, since just about every new electronic device with USB connectivity is also now using USB-C, you want USB-C on your laptop. But which type of USB-C?

For the absolute best, fastest, most capable USB-C connection, you want Thunderbolt 4. It has the strongest mandated minimum specifications of any USB-C connection and ensures that you get a 40Gbps bidirectional data transfer rate, a minimum of 15W USB power delivery for device charging, and support for up to two 4K displays. You can get up to 100W charging speed on some devices, too, making them great for charging up your laptop.

USB 4 is worth looking for as an alternative, and can in some cases offer even faster data transfers and charging speeds, but it’s not guaranteed in the same way as Thunderbolt 4, so you’ll have to read the fine print. The same goes for Thunderbolt 3, which can be as good as its newer sibling, but typically isn’t.

Ultimately, though? Just make sure a laptop has USB-C at a minimum. It’s the only real “must-have” on this list.

Further reading: Best USB-C cables for charging and data transfer

USB-A

Mattias Inghe

Mattias Inghe

Mattias Inghe

While not essential, because you can just plug an adapter, hub, or dock into your laptop’s USB-C port, it’s nice not to have an additional expense. Why bother with extra adapters and cables when you can just have a couple of native USB-A ports?

These ports can only offer up to USB 3.2 Gen 2 speeds, which works out to 10Gbps, but often you’ll have the slower USB 3.0 5Gbps speed. USB-A can also offer power delivery to connected devices, though it’s usually limited to 12W.

While those specs might sound a little paltry compared to the newer USB-C standards, it’s not a massive concern. These ports are perfect for plugging in external keyboards and mice, the majority of which are still built around USB-A cabling. Unless you’re transferring massive files regularly, too, then a USB-A connection is just fine for most external drives, as well.

3.5mm headphone jack

This is the one that has its firm fans and detractors, but if my 2023 smartphone can come with a headphone jack, my new laptop should have space for it too. As convenient as Bluetooth and wireless headphones and headsets can be, they don’t offer the same low latency or high bit-rate of a wired connection. If you consider yourself any kind of audiophile, then a wired headphone connection is a must.

It’s also great as a backup solution when your battery-powered headset is out of juice and you just want to get into a game with your friends right now. Sure, it’s a little bulky in 2024, but it’s no Ethernet jack. Bonus points if your laptop comes with two 3.5mm jacks for the microphone and headphone separately, too.

HDMI

Foundry

Foundry

Foundry

Arguably the least “essential” of the ports we’ve discussed here, an HDMI port is still one of the easiest ways to address the biggest limitation of most laptops: Their screens are just too small compared to a desktop PC. If you want to use your laptop for regular office work, a bigger screen can make a massive difference, and there’s just no substitute for a big gaming monitor when you really want to enjoy your favorite games.

While USB-C certainly has the specifications to handle this task itself, most monitors are designed around HDMI or DisplayPort connections, and unless your laptop has a new DisplayPort 2.0 connection, HDMI 2.1 is the fastest display connector out there. If your laptop comes with one of those, it can easily output to a 4K 120Hz display and enjoy it in its full glory. Even HDMI 2.0 is fine for 4K 60Hz, or higher refresh rates at lower resolutions.

For the sheer convenience of it all, an HDMI port lets you plug in any HDMI cable you have lying around and get a big screen picture on any big display you have. No adapters, no dongles, no finagling required. Grandma wants to see your holiday photos on a bigger screen and the Chromecast is acting up? Connect your laptop to your TV and away you go.

Honorable mention: Ethernet

IDG / Matthew Smith

IDG / Matthew Smith

IDG / Matthew Smith

Ethernet is more of a personal favorite, and certainly not something that most would consider essential, since it’s just not that common on modern ultrabook designs. It’s too big, too bulky, and for most people, completely unnecessary thanks to modern Wi-Fi standards.

But. And it’s a big but. Wi-Fi is temperamental. Wi-Fi can be insecure. Wi-Fi can be congested. When wireless lets you down, or you just want to get online quickly, there’s no real substitute for just plugging in an Ethernet cable and enjoying the consistent quality connection of wired networking, especially if you’re gaming.

Although, like all the ports on this list, you can get excellent Ethernet performance with a USB-C adapter, that’s one more piece of equipment you need to carry with you for if and when you might need it. To avoid that, a built-in Ethernet port is a must-have for some of us. You can even get a 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet connection if you want to make your Wi-Fi jealous.

With how expensive new laptops can be, especially some of the best laptops, it’s easy to be tempted by the low-low prices of second hand models on classified and auction sites. But buying anything second hand has risks, right? And that’s true of laptops too, right? Well, sort of. While buying new will always give you more protections, more rights, and likely a better overall product, buying a used laptop can be a great way to make some big savings, get a better laptop than you could otherwise afford, and help cut back on e-waste.

That’s not to say there aren’t some caveats and potential problems worth considering, though. Here are a few of the ways buying a used laptop isn’t entirely safe, and what you can do about it.

Further reading: The best laptops under $500

Check the battery

Panos Sakalakis / Unsplash

Panos Sakalakis / Unsplash

Panos Sakalakis / Unsplash

Most components in even a well-used laptop should still work almost like new, but not all of them. The biggest concern with buying a used laptop is the battery. A swollen battery or one that has received any kind of obvious physical damage has the potential to leak harmful gasses, catch fire, or even explode. If you can check the battery itself before buying by prying open the lpatop, do so, and if the is any suggestion that the battery is damaged, steer well clear.

If the battery looks okay from the outside, it’s also important to check what its battery life and overall health is like. If it’s run through a lot of recharge cycles, it may not last anywhere near as long as it originally could. You can ask for a battery health report from the seller, or run one yourself if you have some hands-on time.

Here’s our run down on how to check your laptop’s battery health, for detailed information on how to run the exhaustive (but fast) report.

Is it pixel perfect?

IDG / Mark Knapp

IDG / Mark Knapp

IDG / Mark Knapp

Displays can degrade over time, too, so if the laptop is being resold quickly after its original sale, or if it’s been used a lot over a year or more, it’s important to check whether the display looks as good as it should. That means checking for individual pixels that don’t work correctly and bands of color running down the screen. These can sometimes be fixed, but it’s better to avoid them altogether if you can.

If the laptop has an OLED panel, you should make sure there isn’t any obvious burn-in, too. This can appear as a ghostly effect on the screen, no matter what you’re watching, and there aren’t many solutions for it.

Consider the warranty

One of the best ways to protect yourself against problematic purchases is ensuring whatever used laptop you buy has some form of guarantee. If there’s a warranty left, that’s doubly good. If if the seller has it along with all the original documentation (including Windows key and purchase receipt), it can make life a lot easier for you when it comes to getting support from the manufacturer of the used laptop.

That said, you shouldn’t assume it’ll be applicable to a second-hand purchase. Having a valid returns period for your used laptop, from wherever you’re buying it from, can give you additional peace of mind.

Make sure to clean the drive

Dreamstime: Peter Gudella

Dreamstime: Peter Gudella

Dreamstime: Peter Gudella

Used laptops also have the potential to come riddled with malware. That may not be intentional – the original owner may not have realized it was getting slow because it was infected. But the last thing you want to do is start inputting your personal information into a laptop that can steal it.

To prevent that potential problem, whenever you buy a used laptop, be sure to give it a complete format. Ideally, securely erase it by following our guide, here. This will remove absolutely everything on the internal drive and ensure no matter what was on there before, it won’t be able to do you or your newly formatted laptop any harm.

Just be aware you’ll need to re-install Windows and all necessary drivers afterward, so be sure to have your Windows key to hand before starting.

Watch for bad deals

One other way that buying a used laptop is fraught with peril, is that there are lot of bad deals out there. From nefarious scammers selling old laptops with phony specifications, to the clueless and hopeful trying to get more for their old laptop than its worth.

You need to make sure that what you’re buying offers the value for money it claims to.

To ward off buying something outdated and not as fast or as well-equipped as you want, make sure to look up laptop reviews of the model you’re considering. If it’s more than a couple of years old, it’s probably not worth buying unless the price is exceedingly good and it’s been very well looked after.

our favorite low-cost laptop

Acer Aspire 3

Read our review

Best Prices Today: $299.99 at Amazon

You can give yourself some additional protection buying through a reputable website, too. While Amazon, Walmart, and Newegg all work with third-party sellers who can can sell used models, they will give you some protection in the form of money back on your purchase or a managed return.

If you can, consider making the purchase with a credit card, as your provider will often help you recoup the costs if you find yourself with a laptop that doesn’t match what you paid for it.

Another good way to avoid any potential pitfalls is to buy a manufacturer refurbished or renewed model. These are likely to be more expensive than models which are simply second-hand, but they will have been fixed up to a near-new standard, complete with additional warranty support. In some cases, with common problems fixed, refurbished laptops can even be more durable than their new counterparts.

Finally, you can bypass the pitfalls of buying a used laptop while still saving serious scratch by hunting for timely laptop sales instead. PCWorld keeps a running list of the best laptop deals around, updated every weekday, that can help you find some brand new bargains.