[ToasterMax]

I have a dilema, I have two 19in lcd monitors that i have and I want to use them on my laptop. But the problem is that the laptop only has one vga output. Is this possible and how can i make it happen? The monitors have vga and dvi inputs. I really done want to use the small monitor screen any longer.

Please, any help?

[ringfinger]

Can you use a VGA splitter? Does your laptop video card have enough memory to support 2 external monitors?

[ToasterMax]

You mean like this?
http://www.pacificca...DataNAme=A15MFF

I am not sure about the card. Will the other image be identical or can i make it spanning?

[ringfinger]

Yeah I mean like that. It depends on your video card if you can span it or not I would think. How old is the laptop, make, model? Once they're installed you can goto your display properties and click on the monitor #2 and check extend my desktop to this monitor to span it.

[Zxian]

I doubt that you're going to get this working. Having two monitors is usually the most that any one video card can handle. I know that my laptop runs a bit slower when I use an external monitor (32MB ATI Radeon 9200 Mobility), so I wouldn't even want to think about using a third monitor.

Is the rest of the laptop's hardware really worth it to use two 19" monitors? What kind of stuff are you looking to do with the computer?

[ringfinger]

I thought he said he was done using the built-in laptop screen and just wanted to use the two 19s... maybe he was talking about another external monitor that was smaller than the 19s.. hmmm

[Zxian]

You can't really completely disable the laptop screen (at least on any laptop I've seen). The video cards are usually hardwired to the laptop screen and have extra settings built in for them (for display switching and such).

[ToasterMax]

do you think an external video card might help?

[Zxian]

You'd probably take a big performance hit with an external video card. PCMCIA and USB simply don't provide the same bandwidth as a built in AGP connection (yes, even USB 2.0 isn't fast enough).

How big is your screen by the way?

[ToasterMax]

laptop screen is about 12in. the lcd monitors are both 19in each.

[Zxian]

Eep... now I understand why you'd want to use an external monitor.

I'd say just use one of the monitors as your primary. Most laptop video cards can barely handle two independent displays well anyways.