sorting out video graphics standards

I have a Toshiba Libretto W105 with two built-in displays and no video output ports, just USB. The Display adapters are “Intel® HD Graphics”. The Displays are WSVGA.

With a USB Graphics adapter, can I connect to any device with your VGA/HDMI/DVI USB graphics adapters, or does my Libretto limit me to only VGA (for that matter, does WSVGA = VGA?)

Hi - Thanks for asking ahead!

The Libretto W105 is an extremely interesting little PC with no keyboard, instead having two touchscreens on the inside.

Unfortunately, there are two potential red flags with this system:

  1. The 1.2Ghz processor is below our recommended minimum for running USB graphics on Win 7. Rendering will be sluggish at higher resolutions.

  2. The dual touchscreen requires custom touch drivers, and often those drivers will freak out when a third display is around (at the very least, it is problematic to move the pointer to the third display)

Other than those two problems, however, actually the USB graphics device will not be limited to any particular resolution - it can hit higher modes, completely independent of the main GPU’s limitations. But, again, the problem will be that rendering will be slow at those high modes, mostly because of the CPU.

So while your original concern isn’t a problem, I think these other two issues are important, and unfortunately wouldn’t recommend a USB graphics solution for the machine for this reason. I know that might leave you with no solution at all for getting to a 3rd monitor, but I’d rather save you the frustration of a solution that might get tantalizingly close, but have problems.

Sorry, but hope that background helps. Thanks again for asking ahead!
Bernie

Thank you for your reply. It’s disappointing because, though I love my tiny little computer, there are things that it’s just not comfortable viewing on the small displays. I do appreciate your warning of further disappointment with the solution I was investigating.
Sharon.

I tried the docking station with my Toshiba W105 before I found this topic. Re the 2 concerns Bernie had:

  1. It was not sluggish
  2. the drivers did get confused.

So I’m considering using the docking station only for the keyboard, mouse and network which seems to work fine though the external screen support was the main reason besides the external network support (I don’t like being microwaved by the wireless because it affects the body negatively over time - see Baubiology.com)

If you are in the same boat: to prevent Win 7 from automatically installing the video drivers for the dock, I had to go into printers and devices and disable the “DisplayLink USB Graphics Adapter” via Right-click on its Properties option, then click on Hardware tab, then Properties again. Then you’ll see a General tab where you can change the setting to disable the driver.