triple screen

I'm wondering if it's possible to get a triple screen setup with a laptop like mine? I have VGA, HDMI, and DisplayPort, however I'm not sure if plugging 2 monitors (VGA and HDMI let's say) will allow me to display different stuff on both monitors (in addition to my laptop screen) simultaneously or if I'll be forced to choose between which monitor to use.

I'm sure my HW can support it.

 

I think it depends what you want to do

I can possibly clone my screen too 100 screens on my Intel X3100 - but if I want to extend my screen the limit is much lower.

In your case - if you were to run say Photoshop in one, a media player in another screen and a browser in the third, possibly yes.

If you want to play high end games (or even older ones) on all three screens simultaneously or use them as one large screen then it'll easily become problematic.

About output - I'm not sure you can use two different types of output - i.e. VGA and HDMI simultaneously.

 

As previously mentioned, I want to display different stuff on each monitor, so basically extend my desktop to > 2 screens. I mean I have VGA, HDMI, and DisplayPort, so technically I think I should be able to output a different monitor from each and also extend my desktop onto each?

I won't be running games, this is actually for a friend and it'll most likely be movies on both at most.

 

I think in terms of available "power" that should work pretty well

Although I'm not sure about the different ports.

But your graphics card should be powerful enough

 

As a matter of fact, I just read something on this last month. Where the connected up to 4 screens. Of course I just glossed over it since I had consider it overkill. I'll try to find the article if you're interested.

 

it depends on how many RAM buffers your GPU has...

mine only has 2 RAMDACs(8400 M GS), so i can only output to two screens... (have main laptop screen, HDMI to 22" LCD, VGA port connected to nothing... tried connecting a third 17" LCD via vga, but not working)

most likely your GPU only has two, and can only support 2 total screens at once...

EDIT: looks like your GPU has triple buffering... has 3 buffers... maybe it's possible...

if not, you could use a USB screen(bad though... uses a lot of CPU)... or something like the ViDock(very expensive) or DIY ViDock(kinda expensive and a little messy)...

 

Not only does your video card have to support it, your chipset and drivers have to support it. Companies just don't see the need to divert resources to support it atm.

I don't know of any laptop that supports two externals and the laptop itself. It could be worse I guess. Way back in the day, laptops only support either the laptop's screen OR the external monitor.

 

Lol thanks for the research guys. Basically reason my friend wants to do this is;

He has a unibody MBP with a P8600 and GeForce 9600m GT (256 MB DDR3) and has an Apple Cinema Display and his regular 15.4" setup as dual screen (computing). Then he has a 32" LCD TV (1366x768) that he uses for gaming (Xbox, etc.), but would also like to use for watching movies from his laptop. However, he doesn't want to keep switching ports on his laptop (obviously).

I mean I'm sure his HW should be possible because the other option is to buy a movie player box especially for the TV.