Need to set up 3 displays 2 mirrored on extended

[jouros]

I did some work on a Laptop for my archery club. they are using it to run a tournament timer for shoots. we would like to set up 3 displays (including the laptops display). 2 displays will be mirrored and one will be extended. the laptop is a Dell Inspiron N7010 running windows 7. System Specs are as follows
Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i3 CPU M 350 @ 2.27GHz, 2266 Mhz, 2 Core(s), 4 Logical Processor(s)
Installed Physical Memory (RAM) 4.00 GB
Total Physical Memory 3.80 GB
Available Physical Memory 2.47 GB
Total Virtual Memory 7.60 GB
Available Virtual Memory 5.67 GB
It has 2 video outs an HDMI and a VGA. I'm 95% sure I cant use both of the outs at the same time. what we would like to do is run one of the outs and then passably a USB to VGA or USB to HDMI adaptor to run the other out. We want to have the monitor and the 27" inch display in the range mirrored and then a 49" Samsung plasma tv in the main area running as a score board/playing a dvd of club moments. Is this possible?
we may also add a 4th monitor with a splitter for the 49" tv so the person running the laptop doesn't need to turn around and look at the tv ever time they need to do something but that's not our main priority atm.

 

[Ralston18]

Not so sure about the premise:

"It has 2 video outs an HDMI and a VGA. I'm 95% sure I cant use both of the outs at the same time"

You should be able to do so. The laptop's video configuration should allow you to establish Monitor 1 and Monitor 2 as extended displays.

Then pick one or [edited to correct typo] the other to be duplicated via a splitter.

Here is a link to help you consider options and experiment:

https://www.dell.com/support/article/us/en/04/sln115952/how-to-configure-three-3-displays-on-a-dell-latitude-notebook-with-intel-hd-4x00-graphics?lang=en



For example: https://www.amazon.com/Yi-Ya-Spliter-Female-Splitter-adaptater/dp/B075FT5H2Y/ref=asc_df_B075FT5H2Y/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=228696667650&hvpos=1o1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=14205298665873808135&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9007743&hvtargid=pla-393871629017&psc=1

Try some testing

 

[jouros]

Theres a problem with your solution. I dont have an i5 or i7 if you checked mynsystem specs i have an i3 on the club laptop. The HD integrated graphics on this laptop only supports 1 extra out put at a time. The usb adaptor has its own software to "trick" the integrated gpu into thinking it can and the software actualy runs the 3rd monitor or so im told by dell and a few other friends of mine. In double checking just to be sure cause i dont wanna have the club spend money on an adaptor and then find out it wont work

 

[Ralston18]

Not sure about the "trickery" involved. Once downstream the video signal should be able to be split as needed.

My understanding:

Laptop:

Display 1 = laptop display

Display 2 = laptop HDMI output ---> 49"plasma

Display 3 = laptop VGA output ----? second monitor that mirrors laptop display

Please correct as necessary. Need to be sure about the end objectives.

Try to test and do what you can.

First objective is to get two displays.

Second objective is to use a splitter to send the signal going to one of those monitors to two monitors.

 

[jouros]

I know the splitter will work thats not the issue. The issue is the chipset on this laptop wont support 3 displays right from the laptop using both the vga and hdmi. Its not capable of doing that. Thats direct from dell and intel. Dell did say the usb adaptor will probly work to do another extention but they dont know if i can set a dispaly to mirror while using the adaptor (wheather the adaptor is used as mirror or extended) my question is will it lwt me do that.

 

[Ralston18]

What adapter are you considering?

Honestly do not know what else to suggest otherwise.

However, knowing more about the adapter per se may prompt additional comments and suggestions. No problem with that on my end.

 

[jouros]

Plugable USB 2.0 to VGA / DVI / HDMI Video Graphics Adapter for Multiple Monitors up to 1920x1080 (Supports Windows 10, 8.1, 7, XP & Chromebook) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004AIJE9G/ref=cm_sw_r_other_apa_i_09LwCb1M9TT69 thats a link to the adaptor.

 

[k1114]

The igpu only allows for 2 outputs and that includes the internal monitor. The 2 outputs this is referring to is 2 independent video signals. Splitters don't add more video outputs since they are duplicating a single signal. So the splitter is a non issue in any case. The pc/igpu does not even see a splitter. It won't even know it's there. It's all done externally separate from the pc. You can mirror an infinite amount of monitors and you are still only using a single video output. What you can't mirror is hdmi and usb displays (depending on how the adapter works) since this will be over different devices (but this isn't using a splitter). So the setup will be like this:

Output 1: Pc > internal monitor
Output 2: pc hdmi(or vga) > monitor/tv
Not an output from the igpu so still only using 2 outputs: Usb to hdmi(or vga) > splitter > 2 monitors/tvs

or

Output 1: Pc > internal monitor
Output 2: pc hdmi(or vga) > splitter > 2 monitors/tvs
Not an output from the igpu so still only using 2 outputs: Usb to hdmi(or vga) > monitor/tv

Just an extra tidbit; you could call it a trick but it's a hardware limitation to have more video outputs and you are literally adding hardware to add more video outputs. It's not tricking it to be able to do more than it's capable rather than circumventing a hardware limit. It can handle more video, it's just data processing and it's very light work. Some of these adapters do not actually use the igpu at all and just use the cpu.

I didn't look at the specifics of that adapter but be aware of the limits of usb 2.0 bandwidth and possible lag and video compression artifacting.

 

[jouros]

So your saying the adaptor will work? Although it might be leggy

 

[k1114]

A usb 3.0 adapter costs the same and the specs say you do have 3.0. Buy a 3.0 adapter. It will have less issues.