GeForce MX250 2nd display output limitations

WOW-  great post question,  hope we get an answer and if true a recommendation for alternative mult-monitor laptop graphics solutions.  I dont need games just want the best performance I can get for multiple external business monitors-  especially for collaborative video like Zoom, WebEx, etc

Link below supports the info and seems to say this product is a waste of time unless for games on the internal monitor,  but still unsure.

https://www.quora.com/How-well-would-the-NVIDIA-GeForce-MX150-work-with-external-monitors-not-for-gaming#

@Dreva  read my first post in this thread for an explanation of the various ways that dual GPU systems are actually set up at a hardware level.  The overwhelming likelihood is that the Inspiron system you're looking at uses the discrete GPU only through NVIDIA Optimus, just like the vast majority of dual GPU systems on the market.

@gmasters-autotraining.net  the link you posted does not support your conclusion that Optimus is a waste of time unless you only want to game on the internal display.  It specifically says that Optimus DOES allow the dGPU to render content bound for displays that are wired to the Intel GPU.  There are only a handful of technologies that Optimus cannot be used with, which I explained in the post I linked in my reply above.  But Optimus is perfectly fine for general gaming and video performance, and it DOES allow the dGPU to be used.  It also happens to be the architecture used on the vast majority of dual GPU systems on the market today, and they do not all suffer a limitation of only being able to use the dGPU for content shown on the internal display.

good info but still not clear if there is much or any benefit to laptop multiple external monitor setups. Take a Dell bistro 5390 w mx?, What is direct wired mean? Add d6000 dock on the usb-c port that suppots dp over usb and now attach 2 monitors to the d6000 for collaborative video and Screenshare...any benefit?  Are those monitors considered direct wired?  If a 3rd monitor is plugged to the PC hdmi are all 3 going to get a benefit or will just the 'direct' HDMI 1 engage the MX and other 2 still on IG? 

If no benefit to monitors on the dock, Why would I buy the model w the MX?

Tks

@gmasters-autotraining.net  One additional note: The "collaborative video and screenshare" use cases like Zoom and WebEx that you're talking about can easily be handled by any reasonably recent Intel GPU.  Intel GPUs for years now have been able to run up to three displays at up to 4K 60 Hz each, and Intel GPUs from Intel Core 7th Gen CPUs onward have included hardware decoding support for 4K video -- so Zoom and WebEx video chatting and screen sharing would be trivial.  I seriously doubt that the NVIDIA GPU would even activate at all for those applications even if your system had an NVIDIA GPU.  I personally have a Latitude 7480 with a Core 7th Gen CPU and only an Intel GPU.  I run Zoom/WebEx/Skype for Business screen shares and video chats practically all day every day for my job and I never have any problems.  So if that's all you care about, then you don't really need an NVIDIA GPU at all.  Just know that if you DID decide to get an NVIDIA GPU anyway, then it would still be able to be used on external displays even though it's running through Optimus.  However, if all you're doing is Zoom and WebEx, it likely wouldn't activate for those applications.  That's not because it CAN'T activate on external displays, but rather because it isn't NEEDED in those cases because an Intel GPU can handle those easily.

@gmasters-autotraining.net  Having outputs wired directly to the discrete GPU is only necessary when using specific technologies like the ones I mentioned in that thread.  If you just want the extra graphics performance available from a discrete GPU, then the Optimus architecture will allow that, so external displays will be able to benefit from the graphics performance of the discrete GPU.  Again, almost every laptop that has a discrete GPU these days uses NVIDIA Optimus, and those laptops are NOT all limited to being able to use the discrete GPU only with the built-in display.  In fact, on almost every laptop the internal display is ALSO using Optimus because the Intel GPU has direct control of THAT display too!  With most laptops, the NVIDIA GPU is not directly wired to ANY display.  It operates purely via Optimus, as I explained in that thread I linked.

The Dell D6000 dock is a special case because that dock uses "indirect display" technology called DisplayLink -- not to be confused with DisplayPort.  DisplayLink technology does not use a native GPU output at all, and as of this writing, that DOES create a problem in systems with both Intel and discrete GPUs -- and DisplayLink in general carries drawbacks even in systems without discrete GPUs.  I wrote in detail about the drawbacks of DisplayLink in the post marked as the answer in this thread.  The D6000 only uses DisplayPort Alt Mode over USB-C when THREE displays are connected to it, and then it only uses that for the display attached to its HDMI output.  The other two displays still use DisplayLink, and when there are only two displays total, then both displays use DisplayLink even if one of them is connected to the dock's HDMI output.

If you are NOT trying to do things like VR, G-Sync, Adaptive V-Sync, or stereoscopic 3D, then you do not need a system that has display outputs wired directly to the discrete GPU.  A system that uses NVIDIA Optimus for its display outputs will be fine.  Again, if what you want to do is possible on the built-in display that is ALSO using Optimus, then it will also be possible on the external displays in the same way.  DisplayLink is a different, as I detailed in that other post.  But most docking stations tap into native GPU outputs rather than using DisplayLink, so if you get one of those docks or just attach a display directly, then you wouldn't have a problem.