multiple monitors - Can this port be used to connect an external display to laptop?

06
2014-04
  • user73076

    I have a monitor attached to my laptop via HDMI and want to attach a second monitor.

    In attached screenshot what type of port is below, the one to left of USB ports ?

    Can it be used to connect a monitor ?

    enter image description here

    • Answers
  • Journeyman Geek

    No, its an ethernet port - presumably off an ultrabook (Maybe a Zenbook?). Its however got a little extendable bit so its slimmer. You can't plug a monitor into it.

    You seem to have it confused with a displayport

    enter image description here

    or maybe even a mini display port

    enter image description here

    (both from displayport/wikipedia)

    or maybe even HDMI - which amusingly is sometimes used for switch to switch networking

    enter image description here

    (also via wikipedia)

  • MariusMatutiae

    You can however attach another HDMI monitor to your pc, if this is the reason behind your question. In order to do this, you may use a USB to HDMI Converter (also known as Adapter), a component which is available just about everywhere on the Internet. An example of such a converter is this:

    enter image description here

    There are even USB 3.0 models, which will give you better performance.


    • Related Question

    multiple monitors - How can you connect three external displays to a laptop with only one vga or dvi port and plenty of usb ports?
  • Byron

    I have had some success with usb docks like this Universal Docking Station by Kensington to connect one external display to my laptop while using the onboard vga port for another display. But that's only two displays and I'm shooting for three. All I do is develop software and work in Photoshop... no games. For the sake of discussion, we can assume a Thinkpad or equivalent laptop with Windows 7 (I'm hoping for a platform-agnostic solution). How could I do this?

    UPDATE: Question #128311 talks about almost the same thing, but the only solution was a Matrox TripleHeadToGo. I don't like that solution because the matrol box merely makes windows think that it has one desktop that is x*3 pixels wide (where x is single desktop width). One problem with this is that the taskbar stretches across all monitors and always starts on the left-most display. Also, try telling a video to go full-screen... As far as the OS knows, full-screen is x*3 pixels wide (e.g. your video spans three monitors).

    UPDATE: I should be able to use my existing displays, asuming my displays can run on VGA and/or DVI.


    • Related Answers
  • Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams

    USB port, meet video adapter.

  • Marnix A. van Ammers

    Maybe you could use USB-based monitors such as the one at:

    http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/usb-gadgets/bfa3/