$119.95
$99.95

Adding multiple displays to your PC with the USB to DVI High Res External Video Card

12/17/07 Update: The newest version of the driver (available here) now supports Windows Vista Aero effects. You do not need to do anything with your hardware - simply download and install this newest driver and you’ll be running Vista Aero on your additional displays in no time.

Note: We got a very interesting and informative comment from a representative of DisplayLink, which makes the chip in the USB to DVI external video card, explaining some crucial points of the USB to DVI’s capabilities:

- this page mentions a limit of displays up to 20″ - that’s not really true - it will support any display up to 1600×1200 or 1680×1050 (wide), regardless of the panel size. For instance, most 22″ panels these days are 1680×1050 and this resolution is compatible with this adapter.

- The big thing about our technology is its low-latency; that’s what DisplayLink does best. The USB connected display will feel like a DVI connected display in almost every respect, and it will get better quality than VGA especially at high resolutions. This isn’t anything like previous generations of USB to video products.

- Support for Vista Aero is coming soon - we have demonstrated this at WinHEC this year:

http://www.displaylink.com/news/news150507.htm

Special thanks to Jason at DisplayLink for the update. Hey Jason: any word on Mac compatibility?

So, we love our new-found USB to DVI External Video Card. Well, the news just gets better and better and we’ve come to really appreciate her older sister (yes, design this brilliant deserves a feminine pronoun in personifying a PC adapter….), the USB to DVI High Res version.

The new addition boasts two big time features that the low-end model simply doesn’t have. First off, it obviously (by its name) supports a higher resolution, up to 1600×1200. This means you get a clear picture on any display up to 20 inches.

The second major difference between the low and high res versions is that the high resolution USB to DVI video card will let you use MULTIPLE adapters on a single computer. That’s right - you can add up to 5 additional displays from a computer with available USB ports. Sounds too cool to be true, right? It’s not. I tested it just this afternoon. And I even have photo-proof (you’ll have to trust me on this since I recognize it would be pretty easy to duplicate this scenario without actually driving displays via USB). Want to see?

Neat stuff, right? It’s a beautiful thing, too, since the USB to DVI high res is a pretty affordable solution at about $150/unit. (Compare that to the VTBook which retails at $230 and maxes out at 2 additional displays)

I was quite the skeptic regarding what it would actually be able to do when using multiple displays, but I was very impressed when I actually tested the adapters. I was able to do my regular work stuff, navigating between FireFox, Outlook, etc. while running (on the 3 monitors in the distance) an instance of Windows Media Player full screen at 1600×1200, a video in FLV player at full screen, and a YouTube video in FireFox. I was very impressed as all the videos ran fine. I’m not running a supercomputer either. This was all driven by a Dell Inspiron 9400 with 1 gig of RAM, an Intel Core2Duo @ 1.73 GHz.

The bottom line? Check out the USB External Video Card over at Sewell Direct.

This adapter would work well with a touch screen monitor as well.