can i hook up my laptop to a television?

Yes, you can.....

BUT

First issue

Laptops use SOFTWARE decoding NOT hardware decoding Even a 30 dollar dvd player or a cheappo $100 bluray player (if you are doing bluray) will give you a both a richer, deeper and sharper picture than even a $1,800 alienware could.

Second issue

You CAN use your HDMI (or your vga out, svhs, dvi out, composite out, component out) and audio out (either SPIDF or rca) to your tv

Third issue IF you have multipe outputs from your laptop, use dvi. dvi is JUST AS GOOD as HDMI up to version 1.3 is. LAPTOPS ARE ONLY 1.2 compliant. Engineers like DVI better than hdmi because it is a much more robust connection. HDMI WAS ONLY DESIGNED FOR PERMANENT APPLICATIONS. It is VERY dangerous to use hdmi in a situation where the cord might be kicked. A motherboard can be easily damaged by yanking on the port. Look at a dvi or vga cable, There i a reson for those screws being there. ALL "videophiles" prefer DVI over HDMI but we are being forced into HDMI as v1.4 becomes more important.

I work corporate so I don't see it, but my friends that have shops report ALOT of motherboard replacements because the hdmi has damaged the motherboard. They also report ALOT of repairs to laptop screens when someone kicks the cord and the laptop goes crashing to the ground.

Fourth issue

A TV is NOT a monitor

Fifth issue

Depending on who made your mobo, and who made your video subsystem, it's not a good idea. Laptop video outputs are made for making presentations and TEMPORARY connections to projectors and monitors. design engineers make mobos and vid cards with that duty cycle in mind. If you use it all the time, you will blow your video subsystem or your motherboard in a relative short time. If you have an alienware, hp envy, toshiba quosimo, xps, dell latitude, you can certainly do it safely for ALOT longer than if you have an acer or a gateway. If you have a descrete vid card, you can do it safer than if you have "integrated graphics.

A laptop is NOT a good choice to use to watch bluray movies on a TV LONG TERM, You certainly CAN use it. I'm making a presentation Friday over hdmi. Nothing wrong, but NOT optimal and I will have it so no one can walk hear the cabling.

Modern television with multiple connection ports? yes if you get the right connector. Any television 10 years or more? no unless you buy a 50 dollar adapter at Radio Shack.

There are also converters for USB to HDMI, generally over $100.00 that can allow a laptop to connect to the television.

If your computer is newer it has an HDMI port on the side and you can plug this in to your HD TV using a HDMI cable.