Start a Conversation

Unsolved

This post is more than 5 years old

1661

December 30th, 2017 05:00

Multiple Displays - will this work?

I’m not sure if this is the correct forum for this issue, but I’ll give it a shot.  If someone knows of a better forum, please let me know. I’m trying to figure out if my current PC can handle the following requirements – and if not, what should I be looking for in terms of a new PC (laptop):

 I need to be able to show the same photos (or videos) on 3 displays simultaneously:

  • Display on my laptop
  • Projector with HDMI connection (EPSON Powerlite Cinema 2045, “Full HD, 1080p”)
  • External monitor, HDMI or VGA connection, full HD, 1920x1080

My current PC is a Dell Inspiron N5110 with an i5 processor.  It’s about 6 years old.  It has the following ports:

3 USB, 1 HDMI, 1 VGA, 1 eSATA

System info is:

Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit

Processor: Intel Core i5-2410 cpu@2.3 GHz (4 CPUs) ~2.3 GHz

Memory: 6144MB RAM

Page File: 2056MB used, 10044MB available

Direct X Version:  DirectX 11

Display 

Device

Name: Intel(R) HD Graphics Family

Manufacturer:  ATI Technologies

Chip Type:  Intel HD Graphics Family

DAC Type: Internal

Approx Total Memory: 3329

Current Display Mode: 1366x768 (32 bit)(60Hz)

Monitor: Generic PnP Monitor

Direct X Features

Direct Draw Acceleration: Enabled

Direct 3D Acceleration: Enabled

AGP Texture Acceleration: Enabled

Drivers

Main Driver: igdumd64.dll,igd10umd64.dll, igd10um

Version: 8.840.7.3000

Date: 4/10/2011 2:51:02 PM

WHQL Logo’d: Yes

DDI Version: 11

Driver Model: WDDM 1.1

So can the current display capabilities handle my requirement, or do I need to buy a new PC (and what should I be looking for if that is the only option)?

Thanks

9 Legend

 • 

14K Posts

December 30th, 2017 17:00

You should probably just try it out to see what happens.  I think it will, but I'm not certain.  The first reason is that I've never actually tried to mirror the same content across 3 displays rather than just 2.  The second is that the Intel HD Graphics 3000 GPU in that system doesn't support 3 independent displays, but in your case they wouldn't actually be independent since you'd be using mirror mode rather than extend, which is why I think this may actually work.

If it doesn't work, to be on the safe side, look for a system that comes with an Intel GPU that supports 3 displays (Intel's documentation will help you here), and if you can find a laptop with either DisplayPort or USB-C/Thunderbolt output, that would be a nice-to-have as well since those ports can drive multiple independent displays out of a single built-in connector, whereas VGA and HDMI only allow a single display to be attached to each port.

December 31st, 2017 08:00

Thanks, that's very helpful

No Events found!

Top