Th strange thing is that although I got GTAIV from steam I had to download games for windows for it to run. At least this laptop has a HDMI port, something my old laptop was missing. I could connect my old laptop to the tv but had to use a VGA connection so it wasn't HD.
That's a rockstar thing, they decided to go with gfwl. Gfwl is still required if the game is bought over steam. There were countless complaints about it for many years. It is really quite annoying and one of the things killing PC gaming. Downloading/Logging into multiple services before being able to play a game is just retarded. Especially with Rockstar games as they also have their social club bugging you every start up also. I kind of doubt you played GTAIV on high tbh... did you turn up the view distance and set the resolution to the proper res of your monitor? I guess at 1366x768 (guessing your laptop is this res) or something it might be ok. It's really just the ENB mods that make it chug on most systems these days - but damn, can they make it look impressive.
Maybe it wasn't VGA then. It was some kind of antiquated device. I'm surprised we had the cable to be honest.
All modern laptops have VGA at the very least. You probably just didn't know how to set the resolution.
It was probably VGA.. I had problems where certain things wouldn't work due to copyright fuckary. I think "content manufacturers" are forcing HDMI -> TV standard.
VGA usually looks like arse on TV's though... the colour calibration is always way off and everything looks overly harsh with bleeding edges on everything. If it was actually properly blurry you probably didn't set it to the proper res like monkey said. VGA is ok if you spend some time making sure it is setup correctly, but HDMI is much easier and gives a better result, obviously. Just make sure you set the resolution to 1080p (if that's what your TV is).
Did it look like this? That's VGA. And it's perfectly capable of HD resolutions. You just have to configure it properly like Fusion said. Usually you have to go into the TV settings under VGA/D-sub and select something like "auto configure" which will adjust the picture and get rid of any blurriness. And yes, it's an old type of connector. PCs had HD resolutions ages before consoles.
How can 'I cannot believe its not butter' taste like butter too? These are questions we will never know.