I have an older (‘06) Dell laptop & wish to connect it to 2 monitors;
an Acer 18" desktop flat screen + a DYNEX 40" TV. what is the easiest configuration between the CPU & the two monitors. I wish to use only 1 monitor at any time’ but be able to switch back & forth
without fussing around changing resolution settings each time.
Can this simply be done w/a VGA “Y” splitter adaptor + an extra VGA cable?
Hi John,
Thanks for asking. I wouldn’t recommend our adapters for that setup. There are a number of things that will or could go wrong:
- A laptop from 2006 (10 years old) will not run USB graphics software well, even on Windows XP. This system is below our recommended specs
- VGA splitters don’t work well, because if the monitors have different native resolutions, the PC will get confused when switching from one to the other
- USB graphics adapters don’t work “both ways”. Rather they only connect from an open USB port on your PC to a monitor, allowing Windows to see that monitor and extend the Windows desktop to it.
Unfortunately, I don’t think any of our products will help for what you’re trying to do. You might want to look at what accessories Dell offered back in the 2000s for that laptop, and see if there’s anything among those.
Sorry for the bad news, but hope that background helps,
Bernie