5 Ways You Can Connect Two Monitors to One Laptop

Since the pandemic has hit the world, the working population got stuck in the home with remote working and operating business from indoors. Though with the advancements of information technology, it is easy to stay virtually connected with the workplace as well as loved ones, often we need more to execute a task properly. A developer or designer can feel this deeply as they need to stay active in front of the screen for hours. As a result, sometimes people choose to upgrade their system with faster processor, larger hard drive, SSD installation and other specifications, which is much costlier and take much time to adjust with the system. However, we have an easy way which can increase the efficiency of your working laptop and let you use it like your workplace desktop. All you need to do is set up a dual monitor without investing extra pennies on specification upgradation of your system or system re-furnishment. This is an easy way through which you can operate two screens from a single computer with a feeling like working in a virtual workplace. Also, from a technical point of view, you will get a most dedicated video card when it is a dual monitor system. But how to connect two monitors to one laptop? Well, we are here to tell you that. In this blog post, we will discuss that part. But before getting to that, you need to check if your laptop has all the required settings to convert it as a dual or multi monitor system.

Things to Check Before Converting Your Single-screen Laptop into a Dual-monitor Laptop:

Usually, most of the modern-day Windows 10 laptops support the dual-monitor settings, still, you need to make sure that your machine is capable to add two external monitors without causing any internal issues. So, in this part of the write-up we will find out if you can enjoy the dual-monitor set up on your laptop or not. And for that, we have to focus on the following specifications.

A. Graphics Card or GPU:

GPU or the Graphics Processing Unit is one of the essential things of a laptop regardless of its purposes. And, this also comes at the first and foremost factor that you need to check before converting your laptop into a multi-screen or dual-screen system. You need to know if the GPU of your laptop can support multiple screens or not. Normally, any modern-day graphics card offers at least two outputs, still you need to make sure about it from the manufacturer’s website. All you need to do is find your graphics card and check the specification to see if it supports adding two external monitors. And if it doesn’t, then you might need to buy a graphics card that supports this feature and install it to your machine.

B. Availability of Correct Ports:

Once you know that your graphics card is perfect for dual-monitor set-up, check your connectivity ports. They play an essential role in this whole setting-up thing. Usually, maximum of the modern-day laptops comes with all the required ports, still you should consider checking for the following ports beforehand.

• Display Port – Provides an interface to optional high-definition audio content protection.
• Digital Video Interface (DVI) – A colour coded port with white plastic and labels.
• Video Graphics Array (VGA) – A colour coded port with blue plastic and labels.
• High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) – Connects all kinds of video devices by providing sound through the cable.

Check all these ports at the back and side of your laptop and make sure that you have all of these. Otherwise, you might have to purchase separate adapter to set up the dual-monitor things. You will find the required adapters anywhere near you in case any of these are found to be missing on your machine.

Two Modes of Setting up Two or More Monitors into a Single Laptop:

Before we start with the steps of connecting two monitors to a single screen laptop, you should know that there are two modes you can set-up your dual-monitor system: Mirror Mode and Multi-Monitoring Mode. Both these are set up in a similar way but they are a way different than each other.

Mirror mode is a way where you can see the exact same thing visible on your laptop screen. Even though there are some modern laptops providing an in-built second monitor port allowing project a large screen for working or streaming media files, it can hamper your viewing if the quality of the screen you are sending the mirror image to is lower than your laptop screen quality.

But in case of Multi-Monitoring, the size of your laptop screen can be double, triple, or even quadruple. Therefore, each monitor will show you different visuals of a particular image at the real time by extending your viewing experience. This is why the multi-mirror mode is more preferred while playing videogames or presenting business applications in front of a large team.

Step by Step Processes to Connect Two Monitors to One Laptop:

Maximum of the modern-day Windows laptop supports a two-monitor setup. And if you r laptop has all the required requirements on it, then you can easily set the things up without any issues. All you need to do is follow the below-mentioned steps,

1. Plug in the cable of your first external monitor to your laptop’s appropriate video port. This can be the HDMI-HDMI or VGA-VGA port.
2. In the similar way, plug in the cable of your second external monitor with the appropriate video port of your laptop.
3. Once both the monitors are plugged in, right click on any of the empty area in your laptop screen and open the Display Settings.
4. In this setting, you can find all the three displays of your setup. They will be shown as Display 1, Display2, and Display 3, among which the Display 1 will be your laptop display.
5. From all these three displays, choose Display 2. This is the display of your first external monitor.
6. Find the Multiple Display Box and choose “Extend display to this display”. Now apply the changes.
7. Do the similar things to the Display 3 as well. It is the display of your second external monitor and apply the changes in a similar way.

8 Once done, click OK to save the whole display settings, and enjoy your multi-monitored viewing.

Though the above-mentioned points are sounding too easy for executing, you should know that there are some laptops who doesn’t feature all the required features to set up a dual monitor setting. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t enable dual monitor there. All you need to do is get the appropriate adapter and set it up with the laptop for the further process. So, if your laptop lacks the required ports and leaves you wondering about how to connect two monitors to one laptop, we have four step-by-step process that can help you.

#1. Adding Monitors Using an External USB External Display Adapter:

You will find this adapter to any of the gadget shops or online. Usually, the USB external display adapters are used to connect an HDMI, VGA, DisplayPort, and DVI to the laptop. By getting connected your laptops, this adapter can turn your laptop’s USB port into a one or two display ports. Following are the ways of using it correctly,

• Before starting install the adapter to your laptop, you have to install the driver software of the adapter that comes with it for ensuring it works correctly. But if your adapter doesn’t come with a software, download and install it from the manufacturer’s website. It allows your laptop to communicate with the adapter through your USB port to make it multiple display port.
• After completing the installation process of the driver software, shut down your laptop.
• At this time, plug the USB of the end of your adapter to the appropriate USB port in your laptop.
• Now power on your system and let it fully boot before performing anything on the laptop.
• Now you need to adjust the monitor, so that your mouse cursor can smoothly flow between the displays of your laptop and external monitors. For that, you need to go to START and search for Display.
• Select the Display Settings and now you will be able to see the second and third display.
• Adjust the display appropriately so that they are positioned in a way that features them next to your laptop display.
• Click on Apply after making the necessary changes regarding monitor positions.

#2. Adding Monitors Using a Thunderbolt Port:

Usually, the latest series laptops come with a special port. They are called the Thunderbolt port. These are available on both latest launched Mac OS and Windows 10 based laptops. Check near the power adapter port on your laptop to check if your machine has it or not. This is generally a USB type-C connector, a small and oval port. Its older version was more rectangular in shape, packed with the latest technology developed by both Apple and Intel. So how can use this to connect two monitors to your laptop? Well, this port will allow you plug a Thunderbolt docking station with a single cable.

A thunderbolt docking station is usually a station that provides audio, video, power, and even a data connection through its single cable. Besides that, they are widely popular for providing access to two external monitors from one single thunderbolt connection. However, this docking station is quite expensive. In that case, there is an alternate object, named Thunderbolt Adapter. It is less expensive and can add two external monitors using the single Thunderbolt port on your machine. apart from that, if your laptop has additional HDMI or Display Port, you can even add up to three monitors.

The process of using the Thunderbolt Docking Station or the Thunderbolt Adapter is much easier. All you have to do is plug the Thunderbolt cable of the port or the station into the Thunderbolt port on your laptop. Then follow the monitor position adjusting steps from the previous process and adjust the monitors’ positions beside your laptop screen in the Display Settings in the device.

#3. Adding Monitors Using a Display Port Splitter Adapter:

The previous process is indeed a very easy point for adding two or more monitors to one laptop, but it is not available in the slight older laptops. If you have an older version of these days laptop, you might not be able to find a Thunderbolt port or USB-C connection in your system. At this moment, you can see there are lots of other ports there, one of them is the DisplayPort Port. Just like the Thunderbolt port, this can also add an external monitor to your laptop. But, if you want to connect two monitors, it will get complex.

But well, you can easily get a Display Port splitter Adapter with which, you can take out a single HDMI or the Display port of your laptop and extend the video display output across two monitors. But before that, all your need to do is focus on the adapter you are willing to purchase. Because most display splitters provide only mirror mode displays. This is why you need to look closely at the specifications before making the purchase. Once purchase, follow the below steps,

1. Plug-in the single Display Port cable of the adapter into your laptop’s Display Port.
2. Now connect each port of the adapter to each monitors’ display ports using appropriate cables. Though most of the adapters come with a plug and play installation without any software installation, there are some requiring a driver software. Sometimes, they even require an external power adapter.
3. Once you connect all the cables successfully and the splitters are powered up, adjust the monitor settings following the previous ways in your system’s Display Settings.

#4. Adding Monitors Using a Docking Station (Preferable for Gaming and Business Laptops):

Though we have previously mentioned it in the Thunderbolt port section, it is a widely popular alternative among the power users in replace the multiple adapters. The docking stations is a cool gadget, not made for any specific laptop or tablet unless they are exclusively created for high-intense tasks, i.e., for gaming or business use. all you need to do is make sure that the docking station is compatible with your laptop. Even though they are compatible, they will never support two monitors with different resolution. Therefore, you need to check if the monitor displays are matching the resolutions and refresh rate of your laptop before setting up.

Once your laptop, its power cable, docking station, its power cable, the monitors, and their power cables and connectors are ready, follow the below mentioned points.

1. Connect your laptop to a power resource and turn it on.
2. If you are suing an external keyboard or mouse on your laptop’s docks, connect them to the docking station now.
3. Now connect the monitors to your docking station and power them on. Check if they are working fine or not.
4. If you are using any ethernet cable or wired internet, then connect that to your docking station as well.
5. Now connect the power cable of your docking station and power it on.
6. Now connect your docking station to your laptop. The connection of your machine with the external monitors will be depending on the specific model of the laptop and your docking station.
7. Once done, download and install the drivers. Usually, Windows automatically detect your docking station and start the downloading and installing process of its drivers, depending on your set up. However, sometimes you may have to do it manually.
8. Once everything is connected and all the necessary drivers are installed, your connected monitors will start working.
9. But if you see that they are not working correctly, open the Display Settings on your laptop and configure accordingly.

Why Do You Need a Dual-monitor Setup?

So now you know how you can connect two monitors to your laptop in the easiest 5 ways. In the following section, we will discuss some of the advantages that you can enjoy with your dual-monitor setup.

• With two monitors connected to your laptop, you can easily run and view multiple applications at the same time with ease.
• It can also allow you to view critical information on one screen for reference purposes.
• Dual-monitors make computing easier to use without requiring any extra applications.
• It increases the collaboration and communication.
• Dual-monitors make your laptop more efficient than a desktop without investing huge money on the configuration part.

Overall, it can be said that,

A laptop is one of the most portable and commutable computers we can use in these days than the tablets or other PCs. But sometimes it needs more power to execute some tasks, which force us invest more money to upgrade its specs. Which can be skipped with a dual-monitor set up. All the 5 process we mentioned earlier are for that. We hope it will help you understand how to connect two monitors to one laptop.