How To Set Up Second Screen On Laptop

Laptops are the perfect choice for working on the go, simply their relatively small displays can often leave a scrap of a hindrance. Hooking upwardly a second, third, or even 4th screen can help give you a little bit of breathing room and make your workload feel much more than manageable.

How to Connect One, Two, or More Monitors to Your Windows Laptop, Including USB Type-C

Essentially, having multiple displays means you don't need to flip between applications on one screen anymore. For example, yous can brandish your email customer on your laptop'south native screen and run Photoshop on a bigger external monitor. Possibly yous have one monitor defended to Slack and another for browsing.

This commodity explains how to claw upwards your laptop to your external monitor and configure the display to work the way you desire. There are also details on resolution limitations for various connections and advice on finding the correct adapter if your video inputs don't lucifer.

How to Connect and Use Multiple Monitors on a Windows Laptop

ane. Cheque the Cable Connections

If you own a Windows laptop, connecting external displays should be very easy to do. The outset footstep is to determine which blazon of cable you lot demand. About modernistic laptops have an HDMI, DisplayPort, mini-DisplayPort, or USB Type-C port.

If the inputs and outputs on the monitor and laptop friction match, you tin can purchase a cable, such every bit this elementary HDMI cable on Amazon, and hook the two together. If the inputs don't match, or yous've tried connecting your PC to your monitor and take no picture, scroll down for more than data on adapters and converters.

2. Choose to Extend or Duplicate the Desktop in Windows

Extending/Duplicating the Desktop in Windows viii, 8.1, and 10

Once yous've got your cable, plug it into the monitor and laptop, the Windows side of things is straightforward.

On Windows 8, 8.1, or ten, hit WIN + P to open the Project options, which pops out in a carte on the correct-paw side.
Use the Duplicate or Second screen but options to display a presentation through a projector or to play a movie. For piece of work or gaming, however, the option y'all need is Extend. This setting allows you to spread your whole desktop over both screens and drag windows and other items from 1 to the other.

Extending/Duplicating the Desktop in Windows vii

Users of Windows vii need to follow a different procedure than Windows viii, 8.1, or 10 to duplicate or extend their brandish.

Right-click anywhere on the desktop and select Screen resolution.
Choose Extend these displays or Duplicate these displays from the Multiple displays drib-downwards menu and click OK or Utilize.

Note: If your monitor doesn't brandish your laptop output automatically after all this, it may be necessary to use the monitor'due south controls to switch to the correct input manually.

3. Adjust Multi-Monitor Positions in Windows

Past default, Windows positions the laptop'southward congenital-in screen to the left and the external monitor to the right, meaning you accept to motion the cursor off the internal screen'due south right-manus side when navigating to the monitor. If you lot take things the other way around, yous'll need to slightly suit the position since the monitor appears stationed on the left side.

Irresolute Multi-Monitor Screen Positions in Windows 10

Click on the Start Carte du jour and so select Settings, the cog icon at the lesser left.
Click on System.
In the preselected Display Menu, click on a monitor and slide it around into position. If it sits to the left of your main screen, position information technology to the left of the main ane, or move it wherever it is positioned around the principal monitor.
No other activity is necessary. Only shut the Settings Card and you're practiced to go.

Changing Multi-Monitor Screen Positions in Windows seven

On the Windows 7 desktop, right-click and select Screen resolution.
Then, in the dialog box that appears next, click and drag the screen icons (screens numbered every bit 1, ii, etc.) until they're in the correct order/position as they appear in your workspace. Use Identify if needed.
Select OK or Apply when finished.

How to connect a second screen to your laptop

Y'all'll notice that Windows doesn't restrict you to merely left and right configurations; you can too arrange the monitor so that information technology sits above your laptop or below it. You tin as well fine-melody the screens' position then that diverse windows and other items span the two screens and match upwardly.

iv. Solve Video Adapters and USB-C Problems

Don't fear if you have DVI and HDMI, HDMI and DisplayPort, or fifty-fifty VGA and any of the above connections. You can still connect multiple screens using a dual-purpose cable, such equally DVI-to-VGA, HDMI-to-DVI, or another adapter or converter.

An increasing number of laptops employ a USB Type-C socket to complicate matters farther, carrying data, video, and charging capabilities. USB Type-C is vivid, but information technology's not always obvious what the port on your laptop can and cannot do. Indeed, some devices but support USB two.0 connectivity and ability transfer and won't carry a video signal at all. In dissimilarity, others offering USB iii.0 but won't let y'all plug the connection into a monitor. Alas, there's no way of telling beyond trying it out or checking the specifications for the USB controller hardware your laptop uses.

If you attempt to use that aforementioned cable to connect your laptop to your monitor, y'all'll be out of luck. Again, there's no manner of telling beyond trial and error or buying a specifically video-compatible cable.

Fortunately, cables are pretty cheap, even though USB Type-C is a relatively newer standard. If you need an HDMI to USB Type-C adaptor, for instance, you can get a low-cost converter on Amazon if you don't listen attaching a modest USB Blazon-C to HDMI adapter to the end of your Type-C cablevision.

Notwithstanding, information technology'due south best to purchase a multi-adapter instead, which gives you much more flexibility. These connectors are a fleck more expensive than one-to-one adapters, but they won't suspension the bank, and they volition provide you lot with connections for your monitor, your standard USB accessories, and power input all in one.

5. Adjust Brandish Quality

At that place is some other factor to your selection of cable or adapter, yet. Depending on your secondary monitor'due south specifications, some video connections may not be capable of displaying images at the monitor'south native resolution.

Although you lot tin however connect the monitor every bit a secondary brandish, y'all may observe that the screen gets stretched or appears more blurry than it should be. With many affordable consumer monitors offering WQHD (2,560 x 1,440 pixel) or 4K (3,840 x 2,160 pixel) resolutions, it's worth making the right choice to go the best quality on your particular device.

Although there's no difficult limit to the maximum resolution of a VGA connexion, laptop graphics cards often top out around 2,048 x 1,536. Information technology's worth knowing that images can wait softer and less precipitous via a VGA cable as it's an analog signal rather than a digital connectedness.

A DVI connection is a better choice, partly because it'southward a digital connection, but you nevertheless have to be careful. If you want to utilise resolutions higher up 1,920 x 1,200, you'll need both a dual-link DVI cable and a dual-link compatible connector on your laptop. Accept a await at the prototype below to see the difference between a dual-link (left) and a single-link cablevision (right).

Similarly, although the HDMI one.3 standard added support for monitors and displays that stretch beyond the pop Full HD resolution (1,920 x 1,080 pixels), and HDMI one.4 and HDMI ii.0 now back up upwardly to 4K resolutions, both your laptop and monitor will need to support the standard for the connexion to work. If yous take a portable figurer with an HDMI ane.two or earlier port, you won't exist able to push the secondary monitor resolution higher than 1,920 10 1,200.

DisplayPort is the near flexible connection of the bunch (every bit is USB Type-C, since information technology'southward merely a carrier for a DisplayPort or HDMI connection). Fifty-fifty the older DisplayPort 1.i standard supports up to 4K resolutions at 30Hz. That specification limits the onscreen framerate to a jerky 30fps. So, while movies look fine, it isn't suitable for 4K gaming. DisplayPort 1.2 adds support for 4K at a smooth 60Hz refresh rate.

The virtually recent standard, DisplayPort one.3, supports 8K (7,680 x 4,320 pixels). With some laptops and graphics cards, unlike outputs volition support different resolutions and refresh rates. Therefore, information technology's worth checking to come across which connection is most capable before ownership any cables or adapters. If you don't get the correct one, yous may end upward with a lower resolution and refresh rate produced by a monitor capable of delivering better quality.

If yous've got a recent Apple laptop or desktop with a Thunderbolt connexion, then behave in heed that you lot tin can utilize a 'mini DisplayPort-to-DisplayPort' cable (or a DisplayPort adapter) to connect to whatever compatible monitor—the monitor doesn't need to take a Thunderbolt input. You lot tin selection upward a 'mini DisplayPort-to-DisplayPort' cablevision for a few dollars on Amazon.

6. Connect Two or More Monitors

In many cases, connecting two (or more than) monitors to your laptop is equally simple as plugging them into several video outputs. Depending on your portable PC's age and the graphics chipset inside, there may be hardware limitations that preclude you from doing then. Older laptops may simply back up two displays: the laptop display and a secondary monitor. Newer models may allow every bit many as iii external displays. Other devices, such as Ultrabooks, hybrids, and tablets, may be limited past simply having one display output or possibly none.

However, there are ways to add an extra monitor even if you've already used all the connections or your laptop doesn't have a working video output.

For devices with a DisplayPort one.ii connexion, at that place are a couple of options. Firstly, you can buy a DisplayPort hub that splits your unmarried connexion into multiple outputs. These splitters aren't inexpensive, but they allow an available DisplayPort connection to power ii two,560 10 1,600 monitors and a third 1,920 x 1,200 display simultaneously. Some other option is buying a monitor with daisy-chain functionality: compatible monitors use a DisplayPort output at the rear to allow you to connect multiple monitors via a single DisplayPort connection.

Even if yous've got an older laptop or a device without any working video connections, all you need is a spare USB port to add some other brandish. There is a variety of reasonably priced USB to DVI, VGA, or HDMI converters on the market, which will allow you to add an actress monitor. Yous may need drivers for Windows vii and earlier, only Windows 8 devices should pick them up automatically.

Whatever you decide to do, make sure to call back most the resolution outcome we mentioned earlier when connecting multiple monitors. For case, if y'all want to run a 4K monitor and a 1,920 10 one,080 monitor simultaneously, brand certain to link the 4K monitor to the video connection, which volition allow the highest, and ideally native, resolution to become used. Go them the incorrect way, and you lot won't get the best out of your display.

The More Monitors, the Merrier

In endmost, whether you're connecting multiple monitors to your laptop for work or streaming movies to a bigger monitor, there are several ways to accomplish the task. Connecting diverse monitors directly to a laptop has never been easier. Just follow the instructions above, and you'll be up and running in no fourth dimension.

Were you able to connect your monitors? Did you encounter issues? Share your experience in the comments below.