Question Help with Laptop to two monitors

Phil Rockliffe

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May 12, 2015
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Hi
My wife has a work laptop HP Elite Book 830 G8 and would like to use it at home occasionally. She uses 2 monitors at work to extend a single desktop across both.
What would I need to buy that's a reasonable price to do this please?
I have 2 Illiayam ProLite E240 7HDS-B1 monitors that I picked up cheaply that have HDMI and DVI-24 pin, D-Sub mini connections.
Looking at the laptop manual it says it has HDMI 2.0 as a connection. 2 x Thunderbolt 4 Type C
It's certainly not graphic heavy so the native 1080p from the monitors is more than adequate. We tried a cheap advertised type c dock that claimed to split to two monitors but nothing worked. Her windows is set up already for extending her desktop as that's her norm at work.
What little understanding I have seems to think usb c will carry the picture fine and I would think it just comes out of the hub on two HDMI cables one to each monitor?
What am I missing and does anyone have a pocket happy solution please?
Many thanks
Phil
 
What little understanding I have seems to think usb c will carry the picture fine
It will not.
For USB-C output to support video, it has to support HDMI alt mode or DP alt mode.
Read specs of your laptop. If those alt modes are not mentioned, then they are not supported.

Specs of your laptop do not mention any alt mode support.
https://support.hp.com/th-en/document/c06978057

You can connect a single monitor with HDMI cable.
For another monitor you could use usb to hdmi adapter.

DA70841_4016032390718_Front_1_RGB.jpg
 
It will not.
For USB-C output to support video, it has to support HDMI alt mode or DP alt mode.
Read specs of your laptop. If those alt modes are not mentioned, then they are not supported.

Specs of your laptop do not mention any alt mode support.
https://support.hp.com/th-en/document/c06978057

You can connect a single monitor with HDMI cable.
For another monitor you could use usb to hdmi adapter.

DA70841_4016032390718_Front_1_RGB.jpg
Many thanks.
If I went HDMI to HDMI and the other monitor usb to hdmi would they both share and extend the desktop?
 
USB C to Dual HDMI Adapter, USB Type C to Dual Monitor HDMI Adapter, USB C Hub with 2 HDMI Docking Station 4K @60hz for Laptop HP/Dell/Surface/Lenovo/Thinkpad/Chromebook/MacBook https://amzn.eu/d/aL5CqIE
That adapter requires USB-C DP alt mode support.
Will not work without it.

Make sure your laptop or PC supports ” Thunderbolt 3” or “display output mode(DP ALT mode).
 
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We tried a cheap advertised type c dock that claimed to split to two monitors but nothing worked. Her windows is set up already for extending her desktop as that's her norm at work.
What happens when you use this dock?
If I went HDMI to HDMI and the other monitor usb to hdmi would they both share and extend the desktop?
I'm curious why you didn't just do this in the first place? It shouldn't matter how the screens are connected to the laptop they should be usable.

One thing of note is that if she uses a proper docking station at work it may behave differently than just plugging screens into the laptop.
That adapter requires USB-C DP alt mode support.
Will not work without it.
The laptop has TB4.