How do I connect 4 LED monitors to 1 laptop over USB?

1

I recently purchased 4 Acer S230HL 23" LED monitors and I have a Toshiba Satellite A665-S6100x laptop running Windows 7 Ultimate. Can you please tell how I can connect all these monitors to my laptop? I would preferably like to use the best method possible to get the best resolution etc. within reason; no $1,000 high end video equipment.

Thanks in advance for any help! I’ve been searching the net and I can’t seem to figure this out.

Monitor Specs:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824009315&Tpk=N82E16824009315

Inputs:

  • 1 - HDMI

  • 1 - VGA

Laptop Specs:

http://us.toshiba.com/computers/laptops/satellite/A660/A665-S6100X/

Outputs:

  • 1 - HDMI

  • 1 - VGA

  • 3 - USB 2.0

  • 1 - USB 3.0

2

Hi CPHARRIS,

Thanks for asking ahead about options to connect your 4 new monitors to your laptop. First off, you can connect one external monitor via the VGA or HDMI port on the laptop. For the other three, we have two USB Graphics Adapters that will work with your monitors. One is the UGA-165 and is capable of resolutions up to 1920 x 1080. The other is the UGA-2K-A which is capable of resolutions up to 2048 x 11525. While the UGA-165 will work with the current configuration, the UGA-2K-A will provide higher resolution options in the event you change or upgrade a display.

The next choice to make is convenience vs. cost. If you plan to remove the laptop from the monitor setup very often or you want to avoid extra cables then a powered hub might be a good addition. We have a 4 port hub and a 7 port hub that will allow centralized cabling and one USB cable connecting to your computer, making it easy to connect and disconnect these three displays with just one plug. Also, a fourth USB Graphics Adapter could be used to further minimize cables is desired.

Let us know if you have any other questions we can help with!!
Hope this helps,
Regards,
Jerome.

3

Thanks for the quick reply Jerome. I think may already know the answer to this but would I have to connect each adapter to it’s own USB port on my laptop or could I somehow daisy-chain them through a USB hub or possibly a docking station? I’m trying to leave as many ports open as possible. It would be great if I could somehow have all these monitors connected to the computer via 1 cable.

4

Hi CPHARRIS,

I added some information about hubs above, I think your best bet would be the 7 port hub, as you would have a few left over on the hub as well. However, if you have lots of USB devices and really want to be sure you have room to grow, give some thought to our 10port hub. What ever your choice in hubs, be sure that it includes an external power supply, as each USB Graphics Adapter will need the full power available and an un-powered hub can’t supply enough.

Thanks again!
Jerome.

5

Hello Jerome,

Would you be able to tell me if we can add UGA-165 to UD 3900 docking in order to obtain 3 new monitors?

Regards,

6

or will it be possible to use the laptop’s hdmi port for the third screen?

7

Hi Carl,

Thanks for asking! Yes, you can use the inbuilt HDMI output port on the laptop or connect a unit of Plugable UGA-165 (or any of our USB Graphics adapters) to Plugable UD-3900 to connect a third external monitor.

Both mentioned setups will work without any issues.

Hope the above information helps! If you need any additional information, please do feel free to shoot us an email at support@plugable.com. We are here to help!

Regards,
Roze