Second Display Question

New Mac user, new to the idea of having a second display monitor

I bought a new 13 in. Macbook (upgraded RAM to 4Gb and hard drive to 320Gb). I'm looking into buying a widescreen monitor to expand my desktop space and make working / watching movies easier and better (first year college student). I want to buy a quality one that I'll be able to use for a few years, but I have a question. Would my new Macbook, which has a screen resolution of 1280x800, be able to support a full HD monitor with a screen resolution of 1980x1080p such as this one (Gateway FHX2300 bmid 23 Full HD Widescreen Monito at CircuitCity.com

I plan on buying a DVI or VGA adaptor for the Macbook, and the television comes with DVI and VGA cords along with an HDMI cord and input. I know how to connect the two, but I didn't know if it is an issue for the second display to have a much higher resolution than the main screen.

any help is appreciated, first post, thank you very much

everymac.com

It'll give you all the details about the specs of your machine.
Once you locate yours, scroll down to the '2nd display support' section.

Thank you, very helpful

2nd Display Support: Dual/Mirroring
2nd Max. Resolution: 2560x1600
Details: The maximum resolution supported on an external display is 2560x1600.

Am I correct in reading that this would allow me to use a 1080p widescreen 23" monitor through a DVI or VGA connection?

again, thank you

Would not use VGA when DVI is available.

A single link DVI (regular DVI-D) cable should do the trick.