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April 19th, 2020 19:00
Using dual monitors with Inspiron 3482
My almost new Inspiron3482 running windows 10 appears to have only a vga video out. (recent community search indicates there is another monitor output? Looks similar to HDMI, but I've never heard or seen the style plug before)
I have 2 flat screen monitors. One has both DVI and VGA ports. The second only has a VGA port.
What do I need to do to operate dual monitors? Do I need to install a DVI card to use both monitors?
Thanks in advance
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redxps630
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April 19th, 2020 19:00
Inspiron 3482 appears to be a laptop w one HDMI out port. can you verify model number?
DELL-Cares
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April 20th, 2020 04:00
Sorry for the delay in reply. I see the system has one HDMI 1.4b port. If monitor has HDMI 1.4 you may connect using the HDMI cable. If there is no HDMI port on the monitor, you may use an adapter which converts HDMI to DVI connection.
As per the system specifications we do not see any internal upgrades available on this system. Hence, we cannot recommend DVI card upgrade. You may use an external adapter which will be better option.
As per the service tag details, I see the system has Intel UHD Graphics 630 you may refer for details on external monitor support as per the graphics card.
DELL-Cares
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April 26th, 2020 11:00
Hi Dwweeber,
We hope the information provided was helpful. Let us know if you have any other queries.
jphughan
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April 26th, 2020 14:00
@Dwweeber according to the photos on the Inspiron 3482 product page here, it has only an HDMI output, not a VGA output. If that is NOT your system, please recheck your system model. If that IS your system, then you can connect one display via an HDMI to DVI cable/adapter, and then for any additional displays your only option would be adapters that use "indirect display" technology like DisplayLink. Plugable makes some DisplayLink adapters that plug into a USB port and give you a DVI, HDMI, or DisplayPort output. Any of those coupled with an appropriate converter could be used to connect your VGA display. Note that indirect display technology has some drawbacks that can be significant for some people's use case, which I wrote about in the post marked as the answer in this thread. But on the other hand, this type of solution is your only option for getting multiple external displays connected to that system.
If on the other hand you have some other system that has VGA and some other display output connector you don't recognize, then that port might be USB-C. Note however that not all USB-C ports support video output, since that is an optional capability of a USB-C port that is not always implemented. But if you do have a video-capable USB-C port, there are cables and adapters that will convert that to DisplayPort, HDMI, DVI, and VGA, so that port can be used to connect to whatever type of display input you need.