2 Monitors - 1 Pc

Jonny303

Im just after getting a laptop, which has freed up the computer i usually use in work. I was wondering the possibilities of using the monitor on another pc in work (so the pc has two monitors). i presume this can be done and i need an adaptor cable. Where could I get one of these cables and is there much more to be done after?

cheers

Ruu_Old

Something like this will probably work.

samhail

If your lucky you have two monitor sockets on your computer ?

I bought a cable from ebay saying it was a splitter but it just duplicated the output rather than split the output

samhail

Ruu wrote: »

Something like this will probably work.

That looks like what i got from ebay ruu
u sure that works ? mine doesnt have that little transformer box on it.
id buy one tomorrow if it worked.


Can anyone confirm ?

Jonny303

only hav the one socket im afraid. if that is the case, ill be ordering 1 straight away. what about set up, is there much involved? and how will it work? is it just a case of moving the mouse pointer between screens?

GerardKeating

Ruu wrote: »

Something like this will probably work.

That will only allow you to duplicate the display over the two screen, the OP seems to want dual monitor, which would need an extra graphic card in the pc, unless it does not already support it.

smemon

GerardKeating wrote: »

That will only allow you to duplicate the display over the two screen, the OP seems to want dual monitor, which would need an extra graphic card in the pc, unless it does not already support it.

+1

You'll need a graphics card that can support two monitors in order to fool the PC in to thinking the two monitors are just one big monitor (which i think is what you're talking about).

I've a dual monitor set up and use a great little tool called ultramon to help manage things.

Once you go for a dual setup, you'll never go back - trust me

samhail

looks like an interesting program smemon, might try it out. though got dual monitor setup here, getting a 24in screen... very tempted to get 2 17in to put beside them (since one would look silly) but that would be a bit much. dont know what im gonna do with myself with just 1 monitor ! hopefully 24in will be enough !!!

Orion

Ultramon is good but Windows supports dual screen natively. What Ultramon does it allow spreading the taskbar across both screens (native is the taskbar on one), maximising a program across both screens, and a couple of other less used utilities.

You don't necessarily need an adaptor cable. You do need a video card that supports dual screen (with two outputs or with a single dvi output that will allow splitting) or else you need a second video card.

What make and model is the PC if it uses onboard video or what make is the video card if it's not onboard?

Archytas

You can also get external usb powered devices that will split your monitor signal. We use them from time to time (only on special machines though)mostly we just get a dual graphics card with DVI-59 output. They're pretty cheap - we get ours for 69 or 79 euro.

If your looking for the external ones they're made by matrox.

Buzz Lightyear

As other posters have said, windows supports multiple monitors natively. I've built pc's with over 4 monitors, the trick is to get the right cards. For what your looking for you'll need a PCI or a PCIe video card (depending on the age of the PC) to work with your secondary monitor. The AGP slot will not work as it will regard it as a main video/graphics card and take out the one built into the motherboard. YOu should be able to pick up a PCI/e card for about 65 plus the VAT.