I have a laptop with the following relevant hardware:
- Intel CPU with Intel HD Graphics 4600
- Nvidia 940M GPU
I want to attach two Full HD monitors to this laptop. The laptop only has a single VGA port and a single HDMI port. The monitors support both these interfaces.
It is phsyically possible to attach a VGA and HDMI connector at the same time. So the laptop manufacturer did not intentionally block simultaneous use.
Would it be possible to:
- Attach both monitors and extend my desktop to these monitors without using the native laptop screen.
- Attach both monitors and extend my desktop to these monitors, also keeping the native laptop screen active (also Full HD).
I have not actually bought the monitors yet and cannot test the desired setup.
Thanks in advance!
I have found little to no information about the Nvidia 940M's capabilities to run multiple monitors through both VGA and HDMI simultaneously. The Intel integrated graphics card is advertised to support up to 3 monitors. A disclaimer at the bottom also states that mileage may vary...
I have found many discussions online about people wondering if their setup supports multiple monitors. But the information provided seems to differ wildly.
Related questions (oldest to youngest):
- 7 yrs ago: two external monitors
- 7 yrs ago: Multiple monitors (3) in notebook using HDMI and vga port, with a graphic card only
- 4 yrs ago: Two external displays from one laptop with VGA and HDMI?
- 3 yrs ago: How to connect one HDMI and one VGA monitor to a laptop?
Edit:
I have bought the monitors and everything is working fine. I can extend the desktop to both external monitors and keep the native screen functional at the same time. This works both on Windows 8.1 and Linux (Ubuntu 16.04).
One side note: the quality of the image on the monitor connected through VGA is noticeably worse than image on the monitor connected through HDMI. As gronostaj has said in his answer: the VGA interface does not offer images as crisp as the HDMI interface.