Can I use a plugable device to use a 4K monitor on a laptop that runs 1080p?

1

I don’t know a lot about computer hardware so I apologize for the question. However, I would like to hook a 4k monitor to my laptop that has a 1080p display. Can one of the video adaptors from Plugable be used to accomplish this?

Thanks

2

Hi James,

Thanks for reaching out to us, I am happy to help!

A modern USB 3.0 capable laptop can use a 4K external monitor with one of our USB 3.0 4K Graphics Adapters. The display will work fine for most office/productivity software however may have noticeable choppiness playing back video and will not be compatible with gaming or some 3D software.

If you would like to let me know the manufacturer name and model number of the computer and monitor I would be happy to see which of our products would be best suited for use with your setup!

Thank you,

Pat
Plugable Technologies
www.plugable.com/support

3

Thanks so much for the help Pat. The information about the laptop and display are:

Laptop:
Dell XPS L702X 8Gig RAM i5-2450M cpu@2.5GHZ running WIndows 7 64bit

Monitor:
Dell 27" Ultra HD 4k Monitor model P2715Q

The laptop is a bit dated and has USB2.0

Will the Plugable graphics adapter work for several model numbers of 4k monitor or do they work for a specific monitor?

Thanks again for the help.

4

Hi James,

Thank you for providing the additional details.

From what I can find, the Dell XPS should have two USB 3.0 ports, HDMI 1.4 and miniDisplayPort 1.1. Unfortunately, the internal graphics may not be powerful enough to drive this monitor correctly while directly connected to the computer using HDMI or miniDisplayPort. A USB 3.0 4K DisplayPort Graphics Adapter ( https://plugable.com/products/uga-4kdp ) and a DisplayPort to DisplayPort cable ( not provided ) will be able to drive this monitor however the performance will most likely be limited by the internal graphics controller. To expand on this, our graphics adapters us DisplayLink USB graphics technology which relies on the internal graphics controller to render the screen and then it compresses and transmits the image to the USB adapter which decompresses the image and sends it to the monitor. This means the performance of the external display is dependent on the internal graphics card, the USB 3.0 controller, and the CPU. DisplayLink offers a compatibility check utility for Windows ( http://support.displaylink.com/knowle… ).

I recommend running the compatibility check before purchasing an adapter in case there is an out of date driver or problematic software conflict.

Please let me know if you have any additional questions, or if the compatibility check runs into any problems.

Thank you,

Pat
Plugable Technologies
www.plugable.com/support

5

Thank you Pat, have a great weekend

6

You are very welcome!

Pat
Plugable Technologies
www.plugable.com/support

7

Hello James,

We’re closing this thread as the problem has been resolved, but if you have any further questions please feel free to contact support@plugable.com and we’ll be happy to help.

Thanks,

Pat
Plugable Technologies
www.plugable.com/support