spuds :
                
        
                
                    
                       was hoping to mirror what is on ipad onto my laptop
why does th laptop have a HDMI inlet..???  does it serve any purpose..???
                    
                 
             
         
It's an "outlet" actually, it's meant to hook your laptop to a bigger screen.
On both your ipad and laptop, the HDMI port is for output only (output towards a bigger screen). They don't take any input.