Use Plugable UGA-2K-A USB To Replace Laptop Display With Failed Video Card

Background - I have a Dell XPS M1530 that is ~4 years old. The video card (nVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS) is flaky, some times it works, but most of the time it doesn’t. Seams to be a common issue related to heating problems on the video card.

The laptop works great so I want to continue using it. It sounds like replacing the internal video card is nearly impossible.

Question - Can I use the Plugable UGA-2K-A USB as the primary monitor on a laptop with a bad video card and Windows 7 64 bit? It sounds like the Plugable device video driver uses the laptop GPU, and therefore this wouldn’t work, but I wanted to confirm before giving up on the idea.

Hi Dan,

Thanks for posting your question here! The DisplayLink drivers used by all our USB Graphics Adapter do use the laptop GPU .

So you would not be able to use the Plugable UGA-2K-A as the primary monitor on a laptop with a bad video card. Sorry about that!

If you ever need any help or information regarding any of our products, feel free to post back here or shoot us an email at support@plugable.com. We are here to help!

Regards,
Roze