Two external screens on HD 620?

[erci17ab]

Dear all, 

I have an older Acer Swift3 with an i-3 7100U that has an Intel HD620 integrated graphics card.  According to information online, it should support two external monitors.

However, upon adding an HDMI splitter, the laptop does not detect my external screens. My laptop has only one HDMI exit and in theory, it should be possible to add two external screens by having a splitter (I have attached an image of the said splitter for illustration).

Would it maybe be possible to add the screen via USB-C port, alternatively?

The laptop has:

1 USB 3.2 Gen 1 (3.1 Gen 1) Type-C port

2 USB 3.2 Gen 1 (3.1 Gen 1) Type-A port

I have noticed similar threads on this platform, however, each case is individual, and therefore I have made a new thread. Lastly, the information on internet regarding the diversity of USB ports is just mind-boggling.

Thank you in advance!

Best,

Erik

[n_scott_pearson]

No, no, no! Using a HDMI splitter DOES NOT result in two independent displays. System will still see only one of these monitors and both will receive the exact same image. The HDMI protocol simply does not support two (or more) monitors sharing (multiplexing) the HDMI stream. You can connect one monitor via your HDMI connector and that is it (well, unless you actually want them to show the same image).

I am having a lot of problems finding details regarding your laptop model. As far as the Acer site goes, this version never existed (typical). From what information I could find elsewhere, there are only two possibilities for connecting a second external monitor:

1. If - and this is a big 'if' (less common in 7th gen) - the USB-C port supports DisplayPort Alt. Mode, then this DisplayPort stream can be used to connect one, two or even three monitors. For one monitor, a simple USB-C-to-HDMI adapter could be used: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07JW7GT7H. To connect two or three monitors, this can be accomplished via DisplayPort Daisy-Chaining (if the monitors support this possibility) or using a Multi-Stream Transport (MST) Hub. Here is an example of such a Hub (this one supports HDMI monitors): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XPVGQKY. Note that your processor supports a maximum of three monitors total, so connecting three monitors would require that the laptop's internal display be disabled (some laptops automatically disable the internal display when the lid is closed).
2. If the USB-C port does not support DisplayPort Alt. Mode, then the other option is to use a USB 3.0-based graphics adapter. Here is an example: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00OD37KHG. This is an expensive one with 4K support; there are cheaper ones if 2K or lesser resolution is all that is required.

Hope this helps,

...S

[erci17ab]

Thanks, n_scott_pearson!
I guess ill settle for the 3rd option 🙂
My laptop specs are
https://www.laptoparena.net/acer/notebook-acer-swift-sf314-52-36m8-nxgnued007-silver-57240

[n_scott_pearson]

Yea, I saw a similar spec summary. The problem is that it does not say, one way or the other, whether DisplayPort Alt. Mode is supported. I am guessing not, since they usually will proudly mention this capability if it is supported.

So, you want to look at using a USB 3.x port (either USB-A or USB-C) to support a second external monitor. I gave an example for the expensive 4K monitor; let's look at the lesser options:

1. The cheapest solutions support only 1080p monitors. Here's a (US$19) example: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08XB1RRZL. I bought one of these (though it was US$13 when I bought it) and it worked fairly well.
2. A better quality solution supporting 2K monitors would be something like this: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00H91BQ7Y. 

Hope this helps,

...S

[erci17ab]

You have been a great help!