DVI-VGA splitter w/ independent outputs?

Post by **SpongeBuell** » Mon Nov 17, 2008 9:16 pm

Hi all,

I've been considering getting a second monitor like my current LCD, to be used with my laptop, to have a total of 3 monitors. My MacBook Pro (the last model to be made before the unibody series) has a DV-I output, and I thought I remember seeing some kind of splitter that has independent outputs. I could be on crack, but I might not be at the same time. Is there a splitter that would give 2 independent VGA outputs (or DV-I, those adaptors are cheap enough) from one DV-I source?

Now, if that does exist, it brings up the question of if my video card would be able to handle it. In this case, I'd be doing some less intense applications with it, with the native resolutions of the LCDs (in this case, 1440x900 in the laptop, and 2x 1280x1024 external LCDs). My graphics card is a GeForce 8600M GT, PCIe x16, 256MB.

Sorry if this is like asking about using a game gear screen for an xbox portable, but I'm less than familiar with this one, to say the least

Ben Cebhrem · Post by **Ben Cebhrem** » Mon Nov 17, 2008 9:45 pm

So... you're asking if a laptop can run three screens simultaneously?

I'd have to say that isn't possible, unless two of the screens are displaying the same screen. If that's true, I don't think there is a such thing as a DVI splitter, but I could be wrong.

sgtpepper · Post by **sgtpepper** » Mon Nov 17, 2008 10:04 pm

Your only hope is going to be finding an Expresscard 34 graphics card. I think I've seen one before, but I can't seem to find any right now... I'll report back if I find any! Good luck.

tom61 · Post by **tom61** » Mon Nov 17, 2008 10:53 pm

Actually, there is an adapter. You can drive 3 screens from the same source even using the TrippleHead2Go. Unfortunately, these seem to be very expensive still (first ones on Froogle were in the $300 range).

You probably couldn't pull off 3D gaming on your laptop at massive resolution on all screens, but you should have enough umph to use regular applications with only some degradation of performance.

hailrazer · Post by **hailrazer** » Tue Nov 18, 2008 7:13 am

tom61 wrote:Actually, there is an adapter. You can drive 3 screens from the same source even using the TrippleHead2Go. Unfortunately, these seem to be very expensive still (first ones on Froogle were in the $300 range).

You probably couldn't pull off 3D gaming on your laptop at massive resolution on all screens, but you should have enough umph to use regular applications with only some degradation of performance.

Where does it say that the TrippleHead2Go allows you t oset different resolutions per monitor?

It looks like that device just splits the image into three separate screens so you can have 3 screens side by side and have a single image across all 3.

Bibin · Post by **Bibin** » Tue Nov 18, 2008 4:06 pm

It might work if one monitor is DVI - wire up the DVI connections to the right pins and the VGA connections to the extra pins on the DVI that are made to pass through VGA.

tom61 · Post by **tom61** » Tue Nov 18, 2008 6:25 pm

hailrazer wrote:
tom61 wrote:Actually, there is an adapter. You can drive 3 screens from the same source even using the TrippleHead2Go. Unfortunately, these seem to be very expensive still (first ones on Froogle were in the $300 range).

You probably couldn't pull off 3D gaming on your laptop at massive resolution on all screens, but you should have enough umph to use regular applications with only some degradation of performance.
Where does it say that the TrippleHead2Go allows you t oset different resolutions per monitor?

It looks like that device just splits the image into three separate screens so you can have 3 screens side by side and have a single image across all 3.

Edit: Ah, I see what you mean now, I was talking the input resolution into the tripplehead2go, which would split into smaller resolution equally on each monitors.