Can Surface pro run dual external monitors?

Anonymous
2013-02-05T22:36:00+00:00

With the ports configuration and specs of the announced Surface Pro, can one run  dual external monitors? By that I mean connecting two external monitors, one for primary display and one for extended display. Irrelevant what shows on the actual Surface screen.

This is the current configuration I have for my heavy laptop (with docking station) and want to recreate it if I swap to the cool Surface Pro.

I don't mind buying some port replicators, as long as the set-up works seamlessly once connected. I saw some other threads and no docking station is planned by Microsoft at this stage

Thanks for input

Surface | Surface Pro | USB-C

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Anonymous
2013-02-06T01:53:48+00:00

Greetings ManlioV,

That's a great question. Because the Surface Pro is running Windows 8, you could get a USB port hub and USB video cards and the Surface Pro would be able to install the drivers so you could hook up multiple monitors that way.

Hope that helps.

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  1. Anonymous
    2013-03-08T15:36:17+00:00

    Did videos play in any other apps or was it just Xbox videos?

    I didn't try any other videos, just those in my Xbox video app.  I doubt I will have time to test it more today (some hefty deadlines) but I will try to capture the specific error info that was displayed as well as see if other apps were impacted.  

    It seems like it was a conflict between what Xbox video expected to be the video drivers and the DisplayLink installed drivers.

    This was some testing to see if the Surface Pro should be one of the hardware options we include in our laptop replacement process, our sales staff is very non-technical so things like installing drivers and uninstalling them are something we have to avoid as it would require high touch interactions with our helpdesk staff.

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  2. Anonymous
    2013-03-08T01:35:55+00:00

    Did videos play in any other apps or was it just Xbox videos?

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  3. Anonymous
    2013-03-08T00:21:59+00:00

    I have the surface pro and have two monitors hooked up through the one USB port.  Remember you can do a lot with USB 3.0 looks like a lot of people posting here didnt know.  There is also a company I found that sells a 2 and 3 port display port box too but havent tried it. 

    This is a port replicator I am using found here 

    http://www.targus.com/us/productdetail.aspx?regionId=7&sku=ACP70USZ&PageName=Docking%20Stations%20by%20Targus%20USA&productCategoryId=13&bucketTypeId=0&searchedTerms=&navlevel1=products&cp=&bannertxt=Docking%20Stations

    Now you can hook up to a Gig wired network.  The sound etc all work through the Targus.  Note that the driver included doesnt work and directs you to the Targus website for the Win8 driver.

    The Targus includes adapters in the box for HDMI to DVI and there is another adapter included for DVI to VGA.  Hooking up with the single USB 3.0 port to this Targus will give you a lot.

    If your going to try the port replicator with Surface RT dont seems the processor will be a problem.

    So more about the Surface Pro.

    Batt life is great about 3hrs plus and the speed for apps is really fast being as the flash drive works well.  With the SD card slot I have 32gb of extra portable storage.

    Cons

    Normally the surface pro runs in scaling at 150% so you know.  The display through my two monitors using the Targus which is normally high res is limited by 1280 X 1024.  Further because of the 150% scaling its like 1024 X 768.  You can fix this by reducing the scaling back to 100% making the surface small but the other two very nice.  Try the Targus I think you will like and dont expect MS to deliver a port replicator as I would have to ask why would they.

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