Being over here rather than over there, can't help you take advantage of the best CyberMonday deals (we don't have no such thing). Cords will be contingent on what you buy; if possible try to get a display with HDMI input, with DVI as a distant second choice. VGA is unacceptable for a digital display worthy of a Mac. If you have a Retina, the HDMI is built in and you'll only need the cord. Else you will have to buy a Thunderbolt to whatever converter plus the cord; here again, you can buy Thunderbolt to HDMI cords that do away with the intermediate dongle. As for clamshell mode, you'll need to get an external keyboard and mouse too: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3131