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Review on πŸ–₯️ StarTech.com USB 3.0 to Dual HDMI Adapter - 4K 30Hz & 1080p - External Video & Graphics Card - USB Type-A to HDMI Dual Monitor Display Adapter - Windows Only - Black (USB32HD2) by Stephen Parkell

Revainrating 5 out of 5

Installed and works great! Some common resolution limitations with multiple monitors.

I got this for use with my desktop so I can have two HDMI outputs from the same video card while I am however waiting for a new card I connected it to my Dell laptop and added two monitors with a resolution of 2650 x 1440. The laptop display can operate at a resolution of 3840 x 2160. I then ran the driver executable and installed the driver. Device restarted and connected. Immediately there were two monitors. I decided to expand them, arranged them left to right with the laptop as the center display, and got three displays side-by-side with the ability to drag windows between them. However, I noticed that the monitor on the far right is only showing 2048 x 1152, not the full 2560 x 1440. It seems that while it can handle two monitors, it is limited in the number of pixels it can handle. I unplugged the HDMI port for this monitor and plugged it into my laptop and was able to get the full 2650 x 1440 resolution back on both external monitors. So the pixel limit is definitely related to StarTech and not the laptop's graphics card. My guess is that if I get a desktop graphics card I'll either have to run both displays at 2048 x 1132 or connect one to the card and the other to StarTech. This isn't a problem for me as my main problem was that most graphics cards don't have dual HDMI ports and this solves this problem while still allowing me to use the maximum resolution on my displays. But functionally it works fine, and it will be fine for my needs too, as I'm either happy with the lower resolution of 2048 x 1152 or if I need 2650 x 1440 or higher, I always have an HDMI port on the graphics card from my laptop or desktop. The display settings make it easy to set up three monitors with any resolution, position and scale/layout settings. Of course, when displays are duplicated, both displays get the same settings. But in the advanced mode, different settings can be made for each of them. Note: Since this simply presents the graphics card monitors in the computer and then directs the output from the card to the monitors, these are not graphics per se. cards and depends on the graphics card in the computer. I'm not a gamer so I don't know anything about game graphics performance. However, since the game video is rendered entirely by the computer's graphics card, the only limitations are the USB 3.0 latency, bandwidth, and refresh rate of the StartTech device.

Pros
  • EASY SETUP: Attached 25cm (10") cable to extend the distance between adapter and host device for multi-monitor workspace or HDTV boardroom; automatic driver installation; works with Windows system even if 4K output is not natively supported by laptop/video card
Cons
  • Slightly dented