Kensington Universal Multi-Display Adapter
Posted by admin | Posted in Computer | Posted on 15-06-2010
5
- Works with widescreen and standard LCD Monitors up to 30 inches, or maximum 2048 x 1152 pixel resolution or 1080p
- Connect one end to your monitor cable, the other end to a USB port of your computer and you are done.
- Add up to six additional monitors to your computer, by connecting up to six adapters directly to your computer or through a USB hub (if computer allows)
- Displays projector on screen – simply connect the adapter to your notebook
- Included DVI to VGA adapter provides flexibility to connect to any type of monitor, projector or HDTV up to a 2048 x 1152 pixel resolution or 1080p
Product Description
Adding a second screen is now as easy as adding the Kensington Universal Multi-Display Adapter. With an additional screen, you can screen emails, chat, and work on your presentation, all at once without juggling, flipping or tabbing through open windows. In fact, research has shown that those adding multiple screens increased productivity by 42%. Operating Systems Compatibility: PC and Mac compatible including Windows XP (sp2, sp3, including Tablet PC editions), Wi… More >>
This review is of the Kensington Dual Monitor Adapter (model # K33907US) which I purchased at Amazon. That model appears similar to the Kensington Universal Multi-Display Adapter (model # K33928US), but there may be some technical differences.
I should mention that I’ve used multiple monitors for years, and if you haven’t used them with your computer, you really, really should. They improve efficiency greatly when running multiple active applications, and are one of the most significant and easiest upgrades you can make. And this reasonably priced Kensington model makes multiple monitor installation a cinch.
As mentioned, installation is very simple. First, install the device drivers from the installation CD. Secondly, connect the monitor to the Kensington adapter. Thirdly, connect the adapter in turn to one of your computer’s USB ports. Finally, reboot your computer – the new monitor should start working immediately. You can then configure the resolution and layout of your monitors via Windows Control Panel.
I used this adapter with my 14-inch laptop, which runs Windows Vista and already has a built in VGA port for a second monitor. This way I can use two additional monitors plus the laptop monitor, for a total of three. One monitor is connected to the VGA port built into the side of the laptop and the other is connected via the Kensington adapter to a laptop USB port (see accompanying photo). I configured the three monitors to extend the desktop over all three monitors, so I can move active windows to whichever monitor I want. I use the laptop screen as my primary monitor, which means it alone shows my desktop icons along with the Windows Taskbar and Quick Launch Bar
With this system I noticed no degradation in video performance from that using the laptop alone. I.e., video clips run just as fast as before, windows can be dragged from monitor to monitor without delay, no flickering or eye strain etc.
For reference, my laptop is a 2 year old 14-inch Lenovo model running Windows Vista Ultimate. It is designed primarily for business-type uses rather than intensive gaming or graphics work. It has an Intel Core 2 Duo CPU running at 2.20 GHz with 4 GB of RAM. The Video card, which is probably the weak link in the system, is an Nvidia Quadro NVS 140M, running at 1440 x 900 pixels, 32-bit color @ 60 Hz.
P.S.
From looking at the reviews of this item (i.e., the Kensington Dual Monitor Adapter (model # K33907US), I gather that it is not very Mac friendly, but seems to work fine with Windows.
Rating: 5 / 5
I love my Macbook Pro, but was so bummed when I could only utilize one external display along with it. I like symmetry and substantial space to spread out and view my documents, email, calendar, etc. This little device was the answer to my prayers. I’m running a 24 inch monitor at 1920×1200 off the native video card, and another 23 inch monitor off the Kensington USB Displaylink unit at 2048×1152. The Kensington is putting out a crisp, clear, and beautiful image, with no degradation of quality. Doesn’t work as smoothly for video, but for documents and normal business use, this thing is where it is at. Highly recommended.
Rating: 5 / 5
I have used two of these to hook up two additional monitors to both a Windows computer running Win XP, and a new Mac Mini running Snow Leopard. Installation was a snap, and it sure beats researching, buying and installing video cards in either of these computers. My Windows computer (emachines circa 2005) was old and I found that the new Mac Mini worked better with these. I think it was because my 2005 computer had an old and slow video card. The only caveat is that you need to download the latest driver from the Kensington website if you are using snow Leopard. The install CD will give an error message for a MAC installation.
Rating: 5 / 5
I have a 2007 Intel Core 2 Duo MacBook Pro 17″ running Mac OS X 10.6.3. Installed the driver from [...] and the device works perfectly on 3 different LCD monitors being driven through an SVGA cable or DVI cable.
The refresh rate is noticeably worse when dragging a window from the internal LCD to the external through-USB monitor. It’s probably 5-10 FPS, which is fine for browsing, coding, and even low-def youtube. Running video on the external monitor pegs the CPU, though, due to all the data it’s having to send through USB.
Rating: 5 / 5
I kept having it lock up when doing the install. I think this is because I have a video card with 2 outs on it and one of the monitors was not using that dvi out. I use that particular lcd with dvi coming from this computer and the vga coming from my laptop and this display was showing my laptop output and not that of the computer on which I installed the software. After I switched that LCD to display from the computer on which I was installing this software.
I would be completely positive except that it totally bothers me when a hardware computer component has a driver or software with a license that it can only be installed on one computer. This seems completely stupid to me.
Rating: 4 / 5