2 laptops dual screen HDMI

How to Connect Two Monitors to a Laptop via HDMI

Most people find one display to be enough because their work isnt complicated.

However, when you advance to more complex work such as content creation and video editing, you realize that having one display is a bit restrictive.

Fortunately, connecting a laptop to two displays or even four isnt that hard.

The benefits of connecting your laptop to external displays can be immense, allowing you to organize your tasks and workflow in ways you couldnt manage with one display.

You can connect your PC to external displays in a couple of ways, such as extending the display, using the VGA port and using the HDMI port.

For this review, we will focus on connecting a laptop to two monitors via the HDMI port.

If you have one of the newer sleek laptops, you might find that your laptop doesnt have an HDMI port.

But no need to panic; we will also look at how to use HDMI adapters on laptops without native HDMI ports and get your dual display setup up and running.

The Steps of Connecting Two Displays to A Laptop Via HDMI Are as Follows

Check The Ports Available On Your Laptop

Before shoving HDMI cables into ports in the back or side of your laptop, pause and closely look at those ports and see if one of them is an HDMI port.

Most laptops nowadays have HDMI ports, while a few others dont.

You might mistake a DisplayPort for HDMI because they resemble each other. Other ports found on laptops without an HDMI port include DVI, Thunderbolt, and VGA.

So ensure that your laptop has an HDMI; otherwise, youll need an adapter to convert your ports to HDMI.

Confirm Your Laptops Graphics Card Supports Dual Displays

You need to ascertain that your laptops graphics card supports dual displays. All you need to do is get the name of your graphics card and do an online search.

1. To do this, right-click on the Windows Start button
2. Then click on the Device Manager tab

1. Next, expand the Display Adapters option
2. At this point, youll see the name of your graphics card

1. For our case, you can see its Intel UHD graphics which supports a dual display setup. But, if youre not sure, note down the name of your graphics card and enter the name into a browser search bar followed by multi-monitor or multi-display.

How to connect two monitors to a laptop with one HDMI port?

Now that youve confirmed your laptop supports dual displays, you can connect two displays using an HDMI splitter.

Most laptops come as standard with one HDMI port. So if your laptop came with one HDMI then youll need an HDMI splitter to connect two displays.

To do this, connect the splitter to the HDMI port on your laptop, then connect two HDMI cables to the splitter and then connect the same HDMI cables to both your displays.

Windows 10

When you connect external displays to your laptop, Windows will automatically detect both monitors. Once you connect the screens, they will go black and might flicker a bit.

1. Once the displays stop flickering, right-click on an empty part on your laptops home screen, and a drop-down menu will appear.
2. Next, click on Display Settings

1. Then scroll down to the Multiple Displays tab

1. Click on the drop-down menu and choose the Extend these displays option
2. Finally, click on Keep changes to save the changes youve made.

Windows 7 and 8

When you connect external displays to your laptop, Windows will automatically detect both monitors. Once you connect the screens, they will go black and might flicker a bit.

1. Once the displays stop flickering, right-click on an empty part on your laptops home screen, and a drop-down menu will appear
2. Next, click on Screen resolution.

1. Click on Display Mode. You will see three displays labeled 1, 2, and 3. display 1 is your laptops screen, displays 2 and 3 are the external displays.
2. To add these displays on your laptop, click on display 2 and then click the drop-down menu under Multiple Displays and select the Extend desktop to this display option. Repeat this process to configure display 3.

1. Finally, click on Apply to complete the process. Now you can use both external monitors as well as the display on your laptop.

Final Thought

To sum it all up, now you know how to bring a dual display setup to life using the native HDMI port on your laptop.

However, ensure that your laptop supports a dual display set up and your displays have HDMI ports, or your setup will involve too many cables and splitters.

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