Connect Lenovo X240/X230/X220 to LCD TV via HDMI? [SOLVED]
If you have a Lenovo X240, X230, or X220 laptop and would like to connect it to a display using HDMI, you will need an adapter. Thankfully the adapters are very easy to use and are quite inexpensive (<$15). Here are the appropriate adapters for each laptop:
Lenovo ThinkPad X240 and X230 Mini-DisplayPort to HDMI adapter:
Gold Plated Premium Mini DisplayPort (or Thunderbolt) to HDMI Male to Male Cable, Black 6 fthttp://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00APLJ58M?ie=UTF8&tag=pixensity-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00APLJ58MCable Matters Mini DisplayPort | ThunderboltTM to HDMI® cable Support both video as well as audio Supports full 1080p HD resolution Length: 6 ft Color: black
Lenovo ThinkPad X220 DisplayPort to HDMI adapter:
Premium DisplayPort to HDMI Male to Male Cable, Black 6 fthttp://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004C9P9TM?ie=UTF8&tag=pixensity-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B004C9P9TMUp to 1080p resolution support I/O: DisplayPort 1.2 & HDMI 1.3 Supports HDMI 225MHz/2.25Gbps per channel bandwidth Supports audio such as LPCM HDCP compliant
Both cables support simultaneous audio and video transmission, allowing for easy connection to a LCD HDTV or any other monitor/display that supports HDMI 🙂 These types of cables are particularly handy if you are traveling and would like to watch a movie from your ThinkPad on a hotel LCD TV or if you need to connect to a projector for a business meeting etc.
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The HDMI adapter you recommended worked perfectly for my X240. I love being able to watch movies on the ‘big screen’ TV’s now when I travel now. Thank you for your recommendation!
All the best,
-Mike W.
Hi Mike,
Thank you for your nice comment, I am very happy the adapter has been working well for you!
The X240 is an awesome laptop and I hope you get a lot more great use out of it 🙂
Best regards,
-JD
Hi! Problem: I want to see my computer stuff on my way-bigger TV screen than the smallish external 17″ inch VGA monitor I have my laptop plugged into. I just bought a Displayport-to-HDMI cable from B&H in New York, and plugged the displayport side in to my Lenovo X220 computer (lightweight laptop), and the HDMI end into my TV. With the TV remote, in its Source menu I selected “HDMI 1”, and the screen changed to a blue screen (from black). Can you tell me what I have to do on the Lenovo end to get the computer screen to show up on the TV? (I keep the Lenovo laptop closed up — it’s in a small space, just big enough for it & the desktop replicator, into which most everything is plugged in: VGA monitor, Ethernet cable, usb items, speaker, headset, etc.) Only the brand-y new cable is plugged into the computer itself (DisplayPort).
Thanks, J.D.!
Marge
Hi Marge,
Thank you for your good question!
It sounds like you are close, hopefully you will just need to do the following:
Go to -> Control Panel -> Appearance and Personalization -> Display -> Screen Resolution
and select your TV that is connected via displayport/hdmi, then select ‘Extended desktop to this display’
Hopefully that will help!
Let me know if it works or if you have any other issues Marge, thanks 🙂
-J.D.
hi
I have a thinkpad X230…bought a mini display port to HDMI adapter, does not work. Do i need a specific one?
regards
Sorry for the very late reply, Wayne! As the post covers, the X230 uses a Mini DisplayPort, so you do need a Mini DP to HDMI adapter (not a full-size DisplayPort one). The specific adapter I linked in the post worked well for me. If you already have a Mini DP adapter and it’s still not working, try pressing Windows+P to bring up the display projection menu and select ‘Duplicate’ or ‘Extend’ to force detection.
I purchased the Mini Display to HDMI cable from Amazon to use with my Lenovo X240. However, my TV does not recognize the input from the laptop at all. I’ve tried this on two different TVs – same result – nothing at all. Is it possible that the mini display port on my laptop is deactivated? How can I check that?
Sorry for the late reply, Chetan! If two different TVs aren’t detecting anything, the Mini DisplayPort is almost certainly not deactivated (that would be very unusual). More likely culprits: the cable itself is defective or the wrong type, the TV input isn’t switched to the right HDMI port, or Windows needs to be told to output to the second display. Try pressing Windows+P and selecting ‘Duplicate’ or ‘Extend’ while the cable is connected. If there’s still no signal on either TV, I’d try a different adapter/cable first before assuming a hardware problem with the port.
In Lenevo T450s is mini display port equivalent to standard HDMI that is found in other notebooks..i.e is there any loss in quality of video or sound compared to standard HDMI or any compatibility issues.
Hi James,
Thank you for your questions! In some respects (mini) DisplayPort is significantly more advanced than standard HDMI (i.e. displayport can support daisy chaining of monitors and higher resolutions). There are actually different revisions of each standard, but I digress…
To answer your question directly:
#1 No loss in quality for video
#2 No loss in quality for audio
I have also not encountered any compatibility issues when using mini display port -> HDMI adapters on Lenovo, Dell and Mac laptops/PCs. The cable linked above should work perfectly for your T450s. 🙂
Please let me know if you have any other questions and enjoy your nice laptop!
Best regards,
-J.D>
Do these adapters need a driver installed to work?
Hi David,
Great question!
Thankfully, no extra drivers are required 🙂 With the appropriate adapter you will be able to easily connect to HDMI displays with no extra software required.
Best regards,
-J.D.
Hi,
I got the “Gold Plated Premium Mini DisplayPort (or Thunderbolt) to HDMI Male to Male Cable, Black 6 ft” as suggested from Amazon for my Lenovo x230. Connected to my Sony Bravia HDMI port and laptop’s miniDisplay Port. But when I enabled the HDMI from the TV option and choose to project the laptop screen on the TV monitor, nothing happened. There is no signal detected in TV. The TV remains a black screen. Also in laptop there is no external display detected.
Pls help. I have updated the latest drivers for the display from lenovo site as well
Regards
Pawan
Sorry for the late reply, Pawan! A couple of things to check: first, make sure you’re pressing Windows+P and actively selecting ‘Duplicate’ or ‘Extend’ after connecting, since Windows doesn’t always auto-detect. Second, try the TV’s HDMI port detection with the cable already plugged in before powering up the TV. If neither works, the cable may be the issue. That particular cable had mixed reviews for certain chipsets. The adapter version (Mini DP to HDMI adapter, rather than a direct cable) tends to be more reliable.
Hi,
I had purchased “Gold Plated Premium Mini DisplayPort (or Thunderbolt) to HDMI Male to Male Cable, Black 6 ft” from Amazon as suggested for my Lenovo Thinkpad x230. However it not work. I connected the miniDisplay port to Lenovo x230 and HDMI to Sony Bravia LED TV, Chose HDMI option from LED TV, but there was no detection on any signal at all in the TV. I also did the “Go to -> Control Panel -> Appearance and Personalization -> Display -> Screen Resolution”. There is no TV detected there. Pls suggest what needs to be done. My LED TV HDMI ports are fine as I hooked up the DVD and it works well. I also have updated the Lenovo drivers for Intel HD Graphics Driver for Windows 7 (64-bit)
Sorry for the late reply, Pawan! Since you’ve already checked Screen Resolution and the TV isn’t showing as a detected display, the most likely culprit is the cable itself. That specific cable model had reliability issues with some Intel HD Graphics configurations. I’d suggest trying a different Mini DP to HDMI adapter (the dongle-style ones tend to work more reliably than the direct cable for the X230). Also worth checking: is the Mini DP port on the X230 the one closer to the back edge of the laptop? That’s the correct one to use.
I have lenovo x220. I buy a HDMI cable for my LED tv and laptop. But i can not connect. Is there any different cable for
Lenovo x220 ????
Hey Robin, the X220 doesn’t have a standard full-size HDMI port, so a regular HDMI cable won’t work directly. The X220 has a regular DisplayPort (not Mini DisplayPort), so you need a DisplayPort-to-HDMI adapter or cable. The post links to the correct Cable Matters DisplayPort to HDMI cable for the X220. Grab that and it should work.
Can you recommend a mini displayport to HDMI adapter as opposed to a cable? Thanks.
Hey Jeremy, any of the Cable Matters or Club3D Mini DP to HDMI adapters work well. The dongle-style adapters (short stub with a female HDMI port) are actually preferable to long cables for desk use since they put less stress on the Mini DP port. Search Amazon for ‘Mini DisplayPort to HDMI adapter’ and the top results from Cable Matters are reliable and inexpensive.
I have a Lenovo X230, running Windows 10. It has the latest driver available for the Intel 4000 graphics. I bought a displayport to HDMI adapter to connect my machine to a television, but it wouldn’t work on either of the two TVs I tried. I used windows-P to extend or duplicate the display, without success. The specs of the adapter I bought are:
Support Mini DisplayPort 1.1a input and HDMI1.3b output
Support HDMI highest video resolution 1080p.Support HDMI 225MHz/2.25Gbps per channel (6.75Gbps all channel) bandwidth
Support HDMI 12bit per channel (36bit all channel) deep color.Support compressed audio such as DTS Digital, Dolby Digital
Powered from Mini DisplayPort source.Connectors: Mini DisplayPort Male to HDMI Female.
This adapter will support audio only if your source device allows audio output through the Mini DisplayPorts interface
Any ideas why it won’t work?
Hey Ian, the specs on that adapter look fine for 1080p on an X230 (DisplayPort 1.1a and HDMI 1.3b are both sufficient). A few things worth trying: first, press Windows+P and manually select Extend or Duplicate, since auto-detection doesn’t always trigger. Second, try a different HDMI port on the TV (some ports are HDMI 1.4 and have negotiation quirks with older adapters). Third, with the cable connected, right-click the desktop, go to Display Settings, and click ‘Detect’ to force Windows to look for the second display. If none of that helps, the adapter itself may have a bad unit.
So… how about a 2.5K screen. Can the X220 do it?
Short answer: no, not reliably. The X220’s DisplayPort (version 1.1a) tops out at around 2560×1600 in theory, but in practice with the Intel HD 3000 graphics and the adapter chain, you’re likely to hit driver and bandwidth limitations before that. 1080p and 1440p are generally fine, but 2.5K (2560×1440) is hit or miss depending on the specific adapter and driver version. Worth trying if you already have the hardware, but I wouldn’t count on it.