Yup, if you connect your cables, then go into your display properties, you'll see a choice of three displays. A CRT, your laptop display, and a TV. When you connect the cable, you will have the option to turn on that device output. OR, you can turn off your laptop, powerup with the cable you want hooked up to your TV and it will default to use that output and not your laptop screen. Doing the later will solve AVI playback issues as well.
Good luck!