Do computer monitors have a standard connection?

Question

I have a desktop computer from 2005 that I want to take home from Thanksgiving, but the only monitor at home is from a 1999 computer.

They are the same brand, but for some reason the color coding scheme is different: my computer port where the monitor connects and its monitor plug are both blue, but the monitor at home has an orange plug.

Will they still work together? It's really important that I have my computer at home, but I don't want to lug this huge monitor home if I don't have to.

Answer 1

Monitor connectors are standardized but with technology advances, the connectors are not necessarily the same. Typical connectors for home computers include:

VGA
DVI
HDMI

The color coding isn't always consistent unfortunately. The links below have a pretty decent picture of each connector type. For your 1999 system it is most likely the VGA connector unless you had a really high end system with DVI (which appears around mid 1999). For your system, verify the connector type and if it is DVI, consider picking up a DVI/VGA adapter if you need it.