I haven’t actually purchased this product yet, I have learned my lesson from buying a DualHead2Go and having it not work. So here’s my situation:
1 Dell Inspiron 1535 (studio) with Intel 965 Chipset graphics card
2 Samsung SyncMaster P2250 Monitors
Running Visa Home Premium
I want to be able to close my laptop and run 2 external monitors. Can I do this?
I was told by Matrox (mfr of Dual Head) the following:
“The graphics card in your system (Intel 965) is supported by your Dualhead2go unit although to a maximum resolution of 2048 x 768 (1024 x 768 per monitor). The monitors you have are requiring a resolution of 1920 x 1080 (3840 x 1080) which our unit does not support when connected to this graphics card;;;;”
What I want to know is will this product Plugable UGA-2K-A USB 2.0 to VGA/DVI/HDMI Adapter for Multiple Displays up to 2048x1152 / 1920x1200 Each - DisplayLink DL-195 Chip work with my laptop graphic card? If so, do I need to buy 2 to display both monitors or can I plug one monitor into my laptop and the other into the above device? OR do I need some random docking station with display adapters to get this setup to work?
Any help or advice greatly appreciated. Seriously, I have paperweights here.
Thanks for your question! Our goal is certainly to de-paperweightize as many monitors as possible.
Looking at the specs for your laptop, I would expect no fundamental compatibility problems. The Intel 965 GPU is older, but does have WDDM driver support (which is what the DisplayLink driver relies on).
Unlike the Matrox solution, we’ll be able to use the full resolution of both monitors (1920x1080). [Technically, that’s because each DisplayLink USB device shows up as its own independent graphics output to Windows – able to have a mode and monitor position that’s completely separate from all the others. In contrast, the Matrox solution uses the strategy of telling Windows that there is a single very large monitor, and then splitting that output across all the monitors. So if the GPU or the OS can’t handle that width, it won’t work].
And closing the lid to only use the external monitors should be fine, we do that all the time. Power management can be tricky - just contact us if you have any trouble.
Now, the one caution is in the area of performance. That laptop was released right at the beginning of 2008. It has CPUs down to the older Celeron line. Plus, Vista is the slowest of the Windows family for graphics. So on 1920x1080 screens on this laptop, you will have to expect some lag that you wouldn’t see on today’s Core i class processors. And full-screen video will be right out.
But for web and business applications, most people find it good enough.
And you will get full use of both monitors at full resolution.
I hope that information helps. Thanks again for posting ahead!
Bernie
One USB adapter will drive one monitor. So if you’re able to drive one external monitor with the VGA port built into your laptop (and verify it works fine with closing lid how you’d like), then you’d only need one USB adapter to get that second external monitor. Or if you’re going to do both monitors over USB, then two adapters.
Okay I just ordered and received my new adapter. It is not working. The display settings show I have 3 monitors (2 external 1 laptop monitor). The software and drivers seemed to install fine but my monitor plugged into the plugable still displays “check signal cable - analog”. Thoughts?
Glad you got the adapter - No problem. We’ll get it figured out!
First a few things to ask/try:
What connection type are you using to the monitor? DVI (white), VGA (blue, using the included DVI->VGA adapter), or HDMI (using the included DVI->HDMI adapter)? Try double-checking that connection that it’s tight
When you click on that, you should get a menu of options, one of which is to extend the USB-attached display. When you select that, does it start using the USB display?
You can get a lot more detail in the user manual, available online here: http://www.displaylink.com/filestore/… Since you’re on Vista and already have installed the drivers, the information on configuring starts on page 14.
Let us know how these first steps go - we’ll get it running.
DVI from Monitor to plugable (green light on) using the USB link to computer
Yes there is a display icon. It shows 3 monitors (2 external - one plugged into VGA on my laptop the other plugged into the plugable, one laptop monitor) I can shuffle, turn off, extend etc. But If I “extend” or use the plugable as my main nothing happens.
I have read most of the user manual area you suggest. I will keep reading to see if there is something that will help. So far though, it is no go even if I turn off my laptop monitor in an attempt to only use the external.
Even if I unplug my working external monitor from the VGA and leave the adapter attached as explained above. It still doesn’t work. I can tell it to extend, etc but it still displays the check signal cable error. Is it possible that my graphics card doesn’t “like” dvi?
Ah hahahahaha! Must be smarter than the monitor!! It was saying check connection because I had a DVI connection and it needed VGA (analog). So in other words, my laptop graphic card does not accept DVI connection (digital). So the solution was to connect VGA then the VGA to DVI converter so that it would connect to the plugable. Sweetness. Awesome product.
What adapter did you get. I have a SIIG USB 2.0 to Video adapter, but when I try to install the driver it warns me that it has not been tested with Windows XP.
Does this adapter have accelerating function?
I mean, if I want to watch a Full HD movie (1920x1080) on one single external monitor, while the notebook monitor is switched off, will show a smooth running movie?
Thanks for posting your question here! We recommend playing motion video through a monitor connected to your main GPU because USB Graphics do not support acceleration.
If you need any additional information please do feel free to shoot us an email at support@plugable.com. We are here to help!
