How to Run More then One External Monitor over USB

Running multiple monitors from one laptop (or desktop) has been attractive for more than a decade. Of course most people run only one (actually microsoft estimate that 15% of PC users and 4% of laptop users run more than one). Indeed many people have old monitors (even low res ones) lying unused that could be quite handy as add-on external monitors. The old way to do it was to buy a fancy graphics card with multiple VGA outputs than came onto the market in the late 1990s (see Matrox m9188 x 16 which allows 8 monitors at a time).

For laptops this was not an option, but some expensive solutions came along like the CinePort Express. CinePort Express FX2  allows you to add two additional analog or digital displays to your laptop with resolutions up to 2048 x 1536 for analog and 1920x1200 for digital; combined with your laptop’s external monitor port, the laptop can support three external displays and your laptop’s onboard display with the CinePort FX2.The only problem is the cost which is about $1700 (link)

However there are now a number of new solutions that work over USB. Yes since 2000, USB2 and USB3 allow video signals (and sound and data). The only limitation is that processing is done via the main CPU so that refresh rates may be laggy for big displays. However the browsing, office etc there is probably no problem. The cost of USB to VGA or DVI adapters is remakably cheap, around $50-$100. 

Resolutions are limited to 1920 x 1200 (that full HD) over USB2 but if you have a new computer with USB3.0 you can go to 2560x1600 if you have a suitable monitor. A suitable monitor would be a 30" monster from Dell or Apple (but check it takes HDMI/DVI/Displayport). Then you are going to need to Startech USB32DPPRO USB 3.0 to DisplayPort® External Video Card Multi Monitor Adapter – 2560x1600 . Lindy also do one pretty much the same. The adapter accepts displayport to HDMI converters. The total price less than $£100