Multiple monitors on a laptop

[ShiftZZ]

I do a lot of Family tree stuff and I find it easier to run two screens at the same time, I do have one HDMI output on my laptop, but is there a way of running two external monitors, with just the one HDMI output?
USB?

 

[buttons]

I do a lot of Family tree stuff and I find it easier to run two screens at the same time, I do have one HDMI output on my laptop, but is there a way of running two external monitors, with just the one HDMI output?
USB?

Have you been watching the food delivery TV ad. One day you will be running this place ShiftZZ

 

[RowleyBirkinQC]

Could you get a cheap docking station to provide the 2 HDMI ports?

 

[Euphony]

You can certainly get an hdmi splitter but I’m not sure whether that would just give you duplicate screens rather than two separate screens. I use two on my PC and it’s much more useful than one.

 

[olsgreen]

No, you'd need an additional graphics card. Depending on your laptop, you may be able to get an external one. Do you know the model?

You can, however, use your laptop screen and a single external display but not two over one HDMI connection.

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[Jim]

On a Macbook you just attach another screen and its auto-configured as a second monitor or mirror. If its a Windoze machine I'm not sure, it used to be a pain with extra serial ports needed but I'm sure they must have caught up with this by now. Two monitors is common, I'm lost without three. (seriously).

 

[olsgreen]

On a Macbook you just attach another screen and its auto-configured as a second monitor or mirror. If its a Windoze machine I'm not sure, it used to be a pain with extra serial ports needed but I'm sure they must have caught up with this by now. Two monitors is common, I'm lost without three. (seriously).

Same here ? That's the bonus with newer Macs, they can support umpteen displays via their thunderbolt setup.

 

[grumps147]

Used this feature a lot in the past using VGA port. However newer laptops have different video,port outputs. If you have a look at this video if your on Windows then this outlines the options in a general way ... oops, just read you want more than oneextra monitor and only have one hdmi... but this may help someone who wants one extra while I ask someone more up to date than I am now...

 

[Jev88]

Most PC graphics cards used to have two outputs - so was easy. Laptop only usually has one graphical output.

 

[grumps147]

Just spoke to a friend, there are a few options which vary in cost. If being used for documents or not time critical then he says there are usb dongles that do it, however some suffer from lag/latency, not a problem if you can cope with this. Docking station is best, but cost rears it’s head. He dies not use laptops for this, so cannot confirm from actual experience. He suggested amazon search, plenty there apparently.

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[JohnT UK]

what make and model of laptop - that will allow people to check the tech specification on what ports are provided, I run for work the laptop screen and a 24inch desk top monitor which can be hooked up either straight to the laptop or to a docking station. If I wanted to be really real estate greedy the dock can drive 2 external monitors. But to start knowing the specification is the starting point.

 

[Gromett]

It depends on the age of the laptop and it's features.

Some laptops have lightening ports which can be used for display port output via a hub.

If you have a recent laptop with the latest display port it may support daisy chaining.

If you have USB 3 ports then acceptable video display can be done but there may be some latency.

Too many options to cover unfortunately. You will probably need to search for your laptop on google and lookup external display options.

However, if you are looking for multiple monitors then I would suggest a desktop system. A cheap Ryzen based ITX system can be had for not much money and you can connect as many monitors as you want.

 

[Gromett]

I just checked for my dell laptop and tripped over this;

How to Daisy Chain Multiple Monitors Using DisplayPort Multi-Stream Transport (MST) | Dell UK

 

[Gromett]

Went to find a good intro video for you and this appears to cover it.