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I'd like to set up a dual monitor system to extend my display & use different independent applications on each screen from the same desk top computer. I have an office job & this set up would be for working from home.

I'm looking to purchase an additional used inexpensive VGA connectable LCD monitor for this set up & I'm on a bit of a budget.

My desktop tower has only one VGA port which is already being used by my current monitor. The only other ports I have available are USB ports and a single old school serial port (no HDMI ports).

Is there a specific adapter that I can use to do a dual monitor extended display?

I thought the answer would be a VGA Y Splitter Cable but apparently from what I've been reading the VGA Y Splitter Cables will only allow for dual monitor "mirroring/exact duplicate displaying" which is useless for what I need. Please help!

My desktop computer is a Dell OptiPlex 7010 /16 GB RAM, 2 TB HDD/WIN 10 PRO/ Core i5-2400 3.10GHz - if this information is of any help.

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You can look for a monitor that supports wireless display, or you can buy a cheap GPU from Ebay that has an HDMI port.

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  • Thank you for your response. I'll look into your suggestions but a wireless display would probably blow up my budget & as far as installing a new GPU with an HDMI port is concerned that might be beyond my skill set (although I'll investigate this idea a bit further). I was really hoping a solution to my problem would just involve some sort of adapter or something. Thank you again.
    – jacksonxbaj
    Commented Jul 17, 2021 at 5:39
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Nearly any graphics card from the last 10 years supports at least two monitors as output (One VGA, the other DVI or HDMI). At the moment you are probably using the display output of your mainboard.

The simplest solution would be buying a cheap PCIe-x16 graphics card on eBay. Most graphics cards satisfy this condition. But the more you invest, the faster the graphics card(GPU) will be. Unless for gaming, not much is necessary. But before that, check if your mainboard has an x16 PCIe-Slot (these are the longest ones). If it doesn't, your PC is outdated and you'll need a new mainboard (there are many that satisfy these requirements for 1$ or 1€).

After you installed the graphics card, simply connect your monitors to it. That's all. Hope it helps.

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