Question Setup a dual monitor with an old monitor and a new one

tezarin

Distinguished
Feb 25, 2015
75
1
18,535
Hi all,

I have a Dell laptop that has only one hdmi input and a couple of USB ports. I have a new monitor that has a hdmi output and an older monitor that has a vga cable. I work on spreadsheets all day so need to setup a dual monitor and be able to extend my spreadsheet to the second screen and for example have my emails showing on the first monitor. Can you please advise how I can achieve that?

My guess was I should buy a vga to hdmi cable, also buy a hdmi splitter (2 input one out put) and just use those? like using these two together:
https://www.amazon.com/HDMI-Switch-...coding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=EEFT38DNQ8GES13FMZ71

https://www.amazon.com/Gold-Plated-...coding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=EEFT38DNQ8GES13FMZ71

Or instead of connecting both monitors to the laptop, can I just connect the monitors together?

Any help will be much appreciated.
 
The first device is a "Selector switch" - that is, selecting which device will get main HDMI, it is not for you (and therefore, second one is useless as well).

What you need is USB-to-VGA adapter where to plug your VGA monitor.

What is the exact model of your Dell laptop?
 
The first device is a "Selector switch" - that is, selecting which device will get main HDMI, it is not for you (and therefore, second one is useless as well).

What you need is USB-to-VGA adapter where to plug your VGA monitor.

What is the exact model of your Dell laptop?
Thanks much. My laptop is an older model: Dell Latitiude E5540 15.6" 4210U 1.70GHz
So based on what you said, I should connect the new monitor to my laptop using the hdmi to hdmi cable. Then connect the older monitor to my laptop using a vga to usb, did I understand you correctly? Will I then be able to have two different contents showing on the two screen? (Like one showing my excel sheet, one shows my emails. Thanks much
 
Since that is technically not the laptop I use myself, I didn't realize it actually comes with a VGA port. so now if I understand correctly, I should connect the new monitor to the laptop using the hdmi to hdmi cable. Then connect the older monitor to my laptop using the vga to vga cable. Will that work?