You can even game this way. An HDMI cable is the best way to play games
locally, but Steam Link has proven surprisingly capable of streaming locally
networked gaming from your PC to your TV.
HDMI: CONNECTING WITH A CABLE
This is the most direct and reliable way to hook up your laptop to your TV. It’s
also the most limited by your home layout. It’s a simple solution: Run a physical
HDMI cable between your computer and your TV, and you’ll get the best
performance and reliability. A wired connection means the best picture quality
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environment around your home. It’s what I use in my apartment to play PC
games on my TV. In fact, the low lag of a wired connection makes this one of the
few acceptable ways to play PC games on your TV (though as mentioned, Steam
Link has certainly proven its worth on that front, especially if you can connect it
to your network over Ethernet). It also supports 4K resolution for laptops that
can handle it.
Then again, my apartment isn’t huge, so using an HDMI cable is easy. If you
keep your computer in a separate room, running a cable isn’t the most
convenient or realistic solution. You could build conduits between rooms and
keep a cable in-wall to avoid clutter, but that isn’t feasible for everyone
(especially renters). There’s also the limitation of range: At best, you can run 50
feet of HDMI cable before losing signal quality. Realistically, you might see
some hiccups in the picture if you go past 25 feet. HDMI amps can extend the
reach of your cables, but that adds more cost and complication to the setup.
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