Bob the Unbeliever
Well-Known Member
Yes. It is possible, for I have done it.
My Alienware gaming laptop sports a real GPU: Nvidia GPX 1070. However, being inside a laptop? It does not have the usual 5 video connectors on the back panel*, rather it has but two. In theory, one of the USB-C's could also be tasked for this, but that's a whole 'nother pile of dead fish.
The two connectors I do have, on the back plane, are HDMI and mini-DP (display port). No Digital Video Interface (DVI) at all. Ironically? The HDMI is full sized ... I wonder why? I'd have thought that both would be mini, or both would be full sized -- there is certainly no lack of real-estate, as this is a 17" base... who knows what lurks in the minds of Laptop Designers? I know I don't.....
Anywho, today I decided to tackle 3 screens. Not an "eyefinity" type-- a virtual, single-panel expanded over 3 screens (or the Nvidia equivalent-- surround? I think, don't know, don't care at this juncture, the setup isn't gonna work for that).
Now, I had been planning on using my laptop's built-in 2HD, my dell 2HD just above it (physically) and a little 1HD LG monitor I had laying around, just to the left or right, as a kind of "useful info" screen. In gaming, only the native 2HD laptop screen would be utilized. Typically, I also run Hulu or Netflix on the other 2HD, and this would let me put gaming notes on the 3rd one.
Alas, it was Not To Be: The little LG only sports VGA and DVI inputs (it's pretty old, even though it is 1080p). A standard DVI-to-HDMI ought to have worked, with the Dell 2HD screen plugging up to the miniDP as per the usual. (It has DP in, so a standard DP to miniDP cable-- is wire-for-wire identical, works beautifully). But it just didn't. No matter what obscure Registry Spells I tried casting? I could not get the laptop to recognize the LG, if the big 2HD screen was in the DP. Hmmmm...
I still have that old Dell higher quality 1080p screen-- the one with a bleed-streak along the right side. It's just been sitting in the back, as I had intended on recycling it one day... but. It sports 3 inputs: VGI, DVI and native HDMI. I wonder....
Hokay: drag it out, dust it off, dig out a HDMI-to-HDMI cable and see.... DING!DING!DING!DING! it works! Windoze sees the 3rd screen. More importantly? NVIDIA sees it too...
Well, then. Plugging it up? The bleed has grown less obtrusive.... and since this is to be a utility, extraneous information screen? (likely in Portrait mode) why the hopkins not?
I had to dress up the Dell's VESA adapter plate, as it was messed up a bit-- nothing a power drill cannot fix. (seriously-- this thing was a case of "what the HECK was Dell thinking? No VESA holes? You use a flimsy 'adapter' thingy? For another $50? I don't think so! I found a 3rd party plate, for $10, but still had to put 2x4 wooden spacers between the plate and the back of the screen's plastic panel-- Gorilla utherane glue, and the plate was firmly affixed to the screen. Now, 8 years later, that gave me "meat" to run some strong drywall screws through a the VESA adapter, and I have it mounted... )
Once I rebooted (just to make sure), I went into NVIDIA and rotated the 3rd screen, dragged into position in the diagram, and Viola!
Three freaking screens. On a laptop.
Who'd a thunk it? I really expected I'd have to purchase the Video Accelerator box for this thing-- this has a proprietary PCI extension port in the back. You can buy a "black box" that plugs via a special, thick cable, which extends the machine's internal PCI bus to a 16x graphics PCI port. Allowing you to slap in any PCI video card you can afford. However, doing so, suppresses all the laptop's internal video, so the built-in screen is disabled when you do this. But the box also has extended the USB3.0 ports (several, in fact) and it's expected you'd fold the lid shut, plug it in, and use external keyboards, mice, etc, etc, etc. I'm pretty sure the audio is also extended... or you could just use HDMI/DP audio out instead. I know *that* would be extended, as that comes from the external graphics card. You may have to tell windoze which audio feed you wish to use-- simple enough in the little speaker icon on the task bar (right-click, as always in win).
I'm kinda delighted it was this easy, though...
Singing Pigs! Windows is Singing Pigs. Pigs. That are singing. And most of the words are even recognizable!
*(in a desktop 1070, there is typically one DVI, 3 display ports and one HDMI. You can have up to 4 monitors on these, in any combination-- however, internally, either the DVI or the HDMI will "switch" to one of the DPs if you connect to both the DVI and the HDMI ports, leaving just 2 DP's for the other two monitors)
My Alienware gaming laptop sports a real GPU: Nvidia GPX 1070. However, being inside a laptop? It does not have the usual 5 video connectors on the back panel*, rather it has but two. In theory, one of the USB-C's could also be tasked for this, but that's a whole 'nother pile of dead fish.
The two connectors I do have, on the back plane, are HDMI and mini-DP (display port). No Digital Video Interface (DVI) at all. Ironically? The HDMI is full sized ... I wonder why? I'd have thought that both would be mini, or both would be full sized -- there is certainly no lack of real-estate, as this is a 17" base... who knows what lurks in the minds of Laptop Designers? I know I don't.....
Anywho, today I decided to tackle 3 screens. Not an "eyefinity" type-- a virtual, single-panel expanded over 3 screens (or the Nvidia equivalent-- surround? I think, don't know, don't care at this juncture, the setup isn't gonna work for that).
Now, I had been planning on using my laptop's built-in 2HD, my dell 2HD just above it (physically) and a little 1HD LG monitor I had laying around, just to the left or right, as a kind of "useful info" screen. In gaming, only the native 2HD laptop screen would be utilized. Typically, I also run Hulu or Netflix on the other 2HD, and this would let me put gaming notes on the 3rd one.
Alas, it was Not To Be: The little LG only sports VGA and DVI inputs (it's pretty old, even though it is 1080p). A standard DVI-to-HDMI ought to have worked, with the Dell 2HD screen plugging up to the miniDP as per the usual. (It has DP in, so a standard DP to miniDP cable-- is wire-for-wire identical, works beautifully). But it just didn't. No matter what obscure Registry Spells I tried casting?
I could not get the laptop to recognize the LG, if the big 2HD screen was in the DP. Hmmmm... I still have that old Dell higher quality 1080p screen-- the one with a bleed-streak along the right side. It's just been sitting in the back, as I had intended on recycling it one day... but. It sports 3 inputs: VGI, DVI and native HDMI. I wonder....
Hokay: drag it out, dust it off, dig out a HDMI-to-HDMI cable and see.... DING!DING!DING!DING! it works! Windoze sees the 3rd screen. More importantly? NVIDIA sees it too...
Well, then. Plugging it up? The bleed has grown less obtrusive.... and since this is to be a utility, extraneous information screen? (likely in Portrait mode) why the hopkins not?
I had to dress up the Dell's VESA adapter plate, as it was messed up a bit-- nothing a power drill cannot fix. (seriously-- this thing was a case of "what the HECK was Dell thinking? No VESA holes? You use a flimsy 'adapter' thingy? For another $50? I don't think so! I found a 3rd party plate, for $10, but still had to put 2x4 wooden spacers between the plate and the back of the screen's plastic panel-- Gorilla utherane glue, and the plate was firmly affixed to the screen. Now, 8 years later, that gave me "meat" to run some strong drywall screws through a the VESA adapter, and I have it mounted... )
Once I rebooted (just to make sure), I went into NVIDIA and rotated the 3rd screen, dragged into position in the diagram, and Viola!
Three freaking screens. On a laptop.
Who'd a thunk it? I really expected I'd have to purchase the Video Accelerator box for this thing-- this has a proprietary PCI extension port in the back. You can buy a "black box" that plugs via a special, thick cable, which extends the machine's internal PCI bus to a 16x graphics PCI port. Allowing you to slap in any PCI video card you can afford. However, doing so, suppresses all the laptop's internal video, so the built-in screen is disabled when you do this. But the box also has extended the USB3.0 ports (several, in fact) and it's expected you'd fold the lid shut, plug it in, and use external keyboards, mice, etc, etc, etc. I'm pretty sure the audio is also extended... or you could just use HDMI/DP audio out instead. I know *that* would be extended, as that comes from the external graphics card. You may have to tell windoze which audio feed you wish to use-- simple enough in the little speaker icon on the task bar (right-click, as always in win).
I'm kinda delighted it was this easy, though...
Singing Pigs! Windows is Singing Pigs. Pigs. That are singing. And most of the words are even recognizable!
*(in a desktop 1070, there is typically one DVI, 3 display ports and one HDMI. You can have up to 4 monitors on these, in any combination-- however, internally, either the DVI or the HDMI will "switch" to one of the DPs if you connect to both the DVI and the HDMI ports, leaving just 2 DP's for the other two monitors)