Can my netbook support 2 external displays?

[WalkerA WinTeam]

Hi folks, long time no see!

I'm looking to supplement my existing setup with an additional monitor - however, I'm not sure if what I want to do is possible. Hopefully someone can steer me in the right direction. My setup is as follows:

HP Pavilion dm3 netbook
- VGA Out, HDMI Out

LG Flatron W2053TX
- VGA In, DVI In

I currently have the Flatron hooked up via VGA at a lovely 1600x900 (16:9) running as my main desktop, with the laptop displaying a 1366x768 (16:9) extended desktop. I want to be able to close my netbook and use two external monitors instead.

Now, that second monitor will be a Dell LCD with VGA In only. Question #1: If I buy an HDMI-to-DVI cable (or converter + normal cable), will I be able to simultaneously use both the Dell LCD and the LG Flatron as my displays?

Before you tell me this won't work, let me propose an alternative:

I recently ordered this port replicator from HP. It features VGA Out, and will receive video (along with oodles of other signals) from my netbook via USB. Question #2: If the HDMI + VGA solution above won't work, will I be able to simultaneously use both VGA Outs (the netbook's + the port replicator's) to achieve the same desired result?

Thanks in advance!

Cheers,

Walker
Windows Outreach Team

 

[stormy13]

Walker I don't think what you want to do is possible. I do know that the HD 3200 does support up to 2 displays, but in your case one of them will be the laptop's own display with only one of either VGA or HDMI as an external. It only has 2 RAMDAC's on it and will have the same limitations as a desktop card (not counting the HD 5xxx series that support Eyefinity) in that you can only run 2 displays at a time. Guess that answers question $1.

For question #2 I don't see why it wouldn't work, as it is essentially an external video card with its own drivers and software.

 

[WalkerA WinTeam]

Thanks for the response, stormy13. Your answer to #1 sounds about right, I was just hoping there's a way to convince the netbook to ignore its own display when closing the lid. I'll update this thread when my port replicator arrives and I can test the setup described in #2.

Walker
Windows Outreach Team