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Review on StarTech.Com USB 3.0 Or USB-C Dual HDMI Adapter For Windows & MacOS, 2X HDMI Displays (4K30Hz/1080P), Integrated USB-A To C Dongle, 4In Cable (107B-USB-HDMI) by Jarom Bulles

Revainrating 5 out of 5

Installs and Functions perfectly! Some total resolution limits with multiple monitors.

I got this to use with my desktop computer so I can have two HDMI outputs from the same graphics card. However, while waiting for a new card, I hooked this up to my Dell laptop and added the two monitors. The monitors are capable of 2650 by 1440 resolution. The laptop display can run at 3840 by 2160.Windows 10: I downloaded the driver zip file and extracted it exactly as instructed and hooked up the two monitors to the StarTech device with HDMI cables. Then I ran the driver executable and installed the driver. Rebooted and plugged in the device. The two monitors came up immediately. I selected to extend them, put them in a left to right order with the laptop as the center display, and got three displays side by side with the ability to drag windows across between them. However I noticed that the rightmost monitor was only displaying at 2048 by 1152 and not the full 2560 by 1440. It seems that, although it can handle two monitors, there is a limitation on how many pixels it can handle. I unplugged the HDMI port for that monitor from the device and plugged it into my laptop and was able to get the full resolution of 2650 by 1440 on both external monitors again. So, the pixel limitation definitely appears to be in the StarTech and not in the graphics card on the laptop. I suspect that, when I get the desktop graphics card, I will either need to run both displays at 2048 by 1132 or plug one of them into the card and one into the StarTech. For me that is not a showstopper since my main issue was that most graphics cards don't offer two HDMI ports and this solves that problem while still allowing me the maximum resolution on my displays.But functionally it works perfectly and, for my needs, it will be just fine as I will either be happy with the lower resolution of 2048 by 1152 or, if I need 2650 by 1440 or higher, I will always have an HDMI port on the graphics card from my laptop or desktop.The display settings make it easy to put three monitors in whatever resolution, positioning, and scale/layout settings that I want. Obviously, if displays are duplicated, then both displays get the same settings. But, in extended mode, each one can be set to different settings.Note: Since this simply presents the monitors to the graphics card in the computer and then transmits the output from the card to the monitors, it is not, in itself a graphics card and depends on the graphics card in the computer. I'm not a gamer so I don't know about the performance with gaming graphics. However, since the gaming video will be rendered completely by the graphics card in the computer, then the limitations will only be the latency and throughput of the USB 3.0 channel and the refresh frequency of the StartTech device.

Pros
  • Has a short 4-inch cable for easy portability
Cons
  • Problems occur when connecting the adapter to non-standard USB ports