Computers with multiple screens/moniters

[firefighter111]

Hey guys, so I've recently started playing around with hooking up my laptop to a secondary monitor from my previous desktop, and while doing this, I came up with a couple of questions.

1. How can I make it so videos and games use both screens, I know that windows xp had somthing called dual view, which I guess did that, but I was wondering of I needed special equipment for that, or if I don't, could someone just tell me how to do that?

2. Is there any way to bypass my laptop screen, and have my two screens be two other monitors? I'm definitly going to be purchasing a new monitor, because my old desktop one is acient, and if I could do that, I would consider getting two new monitors.

Thanks,

Firefighter111

[Xplorer4x4]

A dual monitor set up on a laptop isnt going to be in your best interest. Laptop video cards are not as powerful as a desktop card and the gpu has to work harder to display images on 2 screens.

Now it is possible for a laptop I would assume. Most laptops have a VGA port on them, so you could buy a cable to split the VGA signal in two. If your laptop has HDMI port, you MIGHT be able to get a cable to split the HDMI feed, or there may be a cable to split the HDMI into 2 DVI feeds(DVI and HDMI are roughly the same thing)

All the settings you will need are in Display Settings(Start->Control Panel->Display settings).

A desktop computer is going to out perform any laptop of the same price. The only exception would be a laptop with an SSD compared to a desktop running an HDD.