Hey guys, noobish question here,

I'm getting a 22'' HD LCD that I'd like to connect to my laptop as an external display, and I'm wondering what cable I should buy to get the best resolution. My laptop's got VGA and S-video (yuck), and the monitor can take VGA or HDMI. Will I be ok with a straight VGA-VGA cable, or would it be better to use the HDMI (if it's even possible)?
Some specs:

Graphics Card: ATI Mobility Radeon X1400 (VGA and S-Vid output)
Monitor: Visio 22'' 720p LCD HDTV (VGA, HDMI, Component, S-Vid input)
Native Resolution:1680×1050

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!

In the end you can only utilize the best output your source has. In this case that output is VGA. Since your TV also has a VGA input, it seems like an easy solution to get the best you can expect. Even if you bought a VGA to DVI/HDMI converter, you still can't have an image that will look any better then the original VGA signal your laptop is putting out (and it possibly might look worse). Also on the plus side is that most VGA inputs are 1:1 pixel mapped to the screen.

So the internets seem to be telling me that VGA has a max resolution of 640x800, but that there are also other formats such as SVGA, SXGA, UXGA and whatnot that can give you more megapixels. Are these **GA formats dependent on the cable you use or on your video card's capabilities? So would buying a **GA cable get me a better resolution, or is a standard VGA more powerful than I think?

P.S. -- Thanks sperron!

SVGA (15pin HD) which is what you have on your laptop is capable of carrying resolution's far beyond the rated 1680x1050 of your 22" LCD display's native resolution, the limiting factor being the laptops graphics card and your 22" Display. So you will not have any problems with A standard VGA cable running at 1680x1050 @ 60hz....

So the internets seem to be telling me that VGA has a max resolution of 640x800, but that there are also other formats such as SVGA, SXGA, UXGA and whatnot that can give you more megapixels. Are these **GA formats dependent on the cable you use or on your video card's capabilities? So would buying a **GA cable get me a better resolution, or is a standard VGA more powerful than I think?

P.S. -- Thanks sperron!

This is because the term "VGA" is usely used also to describe the HD-15 connector that is used for all of the above. It doesn't mean that you are limited to VGA resolution at all, people just call the connector a VGA plug. You don't need anything different or special for any of the higher resolutions, it just depends on what resolution your video card supports, and what the display accepts.

Awesome. Thanks for your help guys!