I recently had an unfortunate mishap where my cat managed to rip off the screen of my HP laptop. While the laptop still functions, I currently can't use its built-in display. Previously, I was extending my screen to my monitor using HDMI, but now I'm trying to figure out how to use both this monitor and an older monitor that only has VGA, DisplayPort, and DVI. My laptop only has USB 2.0 and HDMI outputs. Is there a way to connect both monitors for an extended display?
1 Answer
Honestly, your laptop can't natively handle more than one video output without something like Thunderbolt 3 or 4. However, you can still achieve what you're looking for. You should consider getting a USB 2.0 to VGA adapter, like the StarTech USB2VGAE3. This lets you connect a USB 2.0 adapter to your laptop, which will then create a virtual display that's sent to your VGA monitor. Just keep in mind the quality might not be as sharp as a direct video output, but it can work.
So if I do that, I could connect my main monitor via HDMI and have the extended display with the other one?