2 Additional Monitors - did I just get fleeced?

On two separate occasions I asked the Dell sales staff if they had a laptop that supports 2 additional monitors. Both times they recommended the 1720 with the 8600M graphics card. It arrived today, and I found that it only had a d-sub. Am I missing something here? And if I'm not, does anyone have any recommendations on how best to achieve a three screen setup with the Inspiron?

 

if it doesn't support, workaround (splits a ultra-wide video signal to fit three screens): http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/cadgis/products/th2go/th2go.php

i read on some thread that the s-video has extra pins so that you can get an adapter from dell that turns the svideo into digital component output that can do 1080i.

 

lambchops, thanks for the suggestion. My problem with the triple head is 1, you can't use UltraMon with it (supports separate task bars per monitor), and 2, I would need to get rid of my 19 inch lcd's 1280x1024 and somehow acquire 2 lcd's that support 1900x1200.

I'm dubious about using the s-video. My thought is that it will most likely only clone the display, not actually function as an additional screen, and s-video is pretty low rez. I searched for the adapter you mentioned though, and I couldn't find it. I found a couple s-video to vga adapters, but the highest rez they supported was 1024x768 and were a bit pricey.

I wouldn't be opposed to buying an additional video card or something, but it really grinds my gears that two separate sales people at Dell would tell me the laptop supported 3 screens when it doesn't. Don't really know if I have any recourse though.

 

can you take a picture of the d-sub?

 

I am guessing the idiots probably thought you meant 1 external + 1 built in. Good luck with getting everything to work, short of buying an external vid card box I can't see how you will be able to do it. Although I do believe your wrong about the LCD thing. I am fairly certain that the dsub will be able to be setup as a seperate monitor and you could force the res to hit something like 1280*2028 if I remember correctly. That would spread the secondary bar across the 2 monitors and make them effectively one big monitor. About the best I can think of with that laptop.

 

ok so on my dell desktop the d-sub has a breakout cable that has one vga and dvi cord can you post a pic of your d-sub plug on the laptop please

 

Liquidx: That was my worry going into the sales conversation, so I used very explicit vocabulary ("use three screens at once" for the first time and "two additional monitors" the second). The second one told me that the 8600M would be the only one that would suit my purpose, and I imagine the other two options have a dsub as well, so it's hard to think of that I was anything but intentionally mislead. I'll send them some sort of complaint but I doubt dell will do anything about it. Btw, the resolution comment I made was referring to the Matrox TripleHead, which "stretches" your screen so you could, for example, play a video game that extends across three monitors. I'm pretty sure I won't have a problem with using the d-sub for one additional monitor, the problem is I wanted two!

TechIsCool: I'll try to post a pic when I get home, is there something specific you are looking for? It looks like a normal vga port to me. Also, does your breakout cable actually let you use 2 additional monitors, or does it just let you choose between dvi or vga?

Anybody know if there is an express card out there that would act as a secondary video card?

 

I dont remember ever seeing a expresscard add on like that, but I do in fact remember seeing a external vid card box. I don't know whether it has went into production or not yet, but I think it was made by MSI. Check out tom's hardware guide I am sure that is where I saw it. It was a couple months ago, so I dunno....