Laptop Shopping - Suggestions?

[Cleo]

I have a PC laptop question about running an external monitor with one.

My friend has a Dell, don't remember which model. It has a VGA port for an external monitor and I was trying to get it to work the way it does on my Mac laptop but was unable. Not sure if it is just her model or if it is just the way PC laptops work.

The only way I was able to get it to recognize the external monitor was to completely shut done the laptop before plugging in the monitor and even then it only mirrored the internal display.

On my Mac laptop I just have to put the laptop to sleep before plugging in or unplugging the external monitor and I have a choice of mirroring the built in display or having two different displays which is what I normally do so that I can keep all my palettes on one screen and my work on another screen.

Is this how Windows normally works or is it just the limits of her laptop?