External monitor won't display native resolution (LAPTOP)

Hi,

Firstly, this is my first post so apologies if this has been asked/addressed before (I have searched but to no avail)...

Some specs:
Dell Precision 7520 Laptop
Windows 10 Pro
Intel Core i7-7820HQ (4 Core), 2.9 GHz (3.9 GHz Max Turbo)
32 GB (2x 16 GB), DDR 4, 2400 MHz Ram
4 GB NVIDIA Quadro M1200 / Intel HD Graphics 630
512 GB Solid State Drive (M.2 SSD, Class 40)
15.6 inch FHD 1920 × 1080 Anti-Glare

The problem:
I recently bought an external monitor (ACER KG271G Full HD 27" IPS LED Monitor). When connected to my laptop, the only display resolution options I'm given under Windows Display Settings are that of my native laptop monitor (1920 × 1080) and below. I want my new external monitor to display its native resolution of 2560 × 1440, alongside my 1920 × 1080 laptop monitor.

What I have tried:
I understand the external monitor connects through one of my GPUs, and as such the setting required to fix this will be found in either my NVIDIA or Intel control panel.

I first attempted to set the desired resolution in the NVIDIA control panel, however it does not feature a 'display' tab along the left-hand edge. Some research leads me to believe that due to my machine being a laptop, display settings are handled by the Intel GPU, and so these NVIDIA settings aren't even visible to me.

I managed to find the setting in Intel's HD Graphics Control Panel, so tried to set my custom resolution (width - height - refresh rate). But the specified resolution (2560 × 1440) just causes an error message: "The custom resolution exceeds the maximum bandwidth capacity".

Besides this, I have tried uninstalling/reinstalling my NVIDIA drivers, attempted selecting NVIDIA Quadro as the default GPU in BIOS settings, restarted my machine many times, etc.

I do hope it's possible to use my external monitor at its intended resolution. It seems silly that I be limited, purely for using a laptop rather than desktop. Does anybody think the problem could be specific to this brand/ model of external monitor? If so I will return it. Any suggestion or workaround would be greatly appreciated!!

Many thanks

Dom

Windows OS Build 19042.985

ACER KG271G Full HD 27" IPS LED Monitor
The specs for that Monitor are 1920 x 1080, that is what full HD means.
The pixels are physical elements of the LCD screen nothing changes that.

domam said:

I want my new external monitor to display its native resolution of 2560 × 1440, alongside my 1920 × 1080 laptop monitor.

To operate the external monitor at its native resolution (assuming that the laptop graphics supports it), turn off the laptop monitor.

domam, welcome to 10 Forums.

As Helmut and Try3 both said that monitor is only 1920x1080 and not 2560x1440.

Model Name: KG271

Part Number: UM.HX1EE.027

68.6 cm (27") - 16:9 - Full HD - Maximum Resolution 1920 x 1080 - Contrast Ratio 100,000,000:1 - Brightness 300 cd/m²

KG271 - Tech Specs | Monitors | Acer United Kingdom

Anibor said:

To operate the external monitor at its native resolution (assuming that the laptop graphics supports it), turn off the laptop monitor.

Sorry but wrong. If the external is a different resolution you don't need to disable thee laptop display, just need to set the external to extended mode and not duplicate.

Indeed that is correct.

I use a 1920 x 1080 external monitor(IPS) to my Laptops 1366 x 768 screen(TN), HDMI connection.
You can use Extended with native resolutions, and Duplicate but this latter will scale up which may not look great depending on scaling ability of a particular monitor.