Intel GPUs for several years now have supported 3 independent displays, so if you've already disabled the built-in panel, that's unexpected.  Unless there's some limitation around using an analog display on the 5490, I'm not sure why that would be happening.  If you go into Windows Display Settings, is the VGA display still detected?  If so, have you tried manually re-enabling it?

In terms of dock options, if you want to attach all 3 displays directly to the dock, the TB16 will handle up to 3 displays as long as no more than one of them is 4K at 60 Hz and your 5490 has Thunderbolt 3, which I believe is optional on the 5490.  Other than that, there's the D6000, but that uses a DisplayLink chip to handle video data, which introduces several possible downsides compared to docks/connections that are natively driven by the GPU.

hi, many thanks for replying.

as soon as I plug in the USB-C cable the VGA adapter is disabled/the second monitor disappears. this is with or without the laptop screen down/disabled. even if I don't use the HDMI port as soon as I plug in the USB-C cable the VGA cable is disabled.

how can a check if the port supports Thunderbolt 3?

I have a very similar situation. I have a 5490 for work and I am attempting to have 3 monitors hooked up to it. I am fine with disabling the laptop monitor, but I'm not sure I'm doing it right.

I have

HDMI -> HDMI

VGA->VGA

USB 3 to Displayport.

The VGA monitor stays off unless I unplug the Displayport/USB cable.

There has to be a way to do this. I'm really hoping someone can help!

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@Hypnopaedia wrote:

I have a very similar situation. I have a 5490 for work and I am attempting to have 3 monitors hooked up to it. I am fine with disabling the laptop monitor, but I'm not sure I'm doing it right.

I have

HDMI -> HDMI

VGA->VGA

USB 3 to Displayport.

The VGA monitor stays off unless I unplug the Displayport/USB cable.

There has to be a way to do this. I'm really hoping someone can help!

---

I suspect you meant USB-C to DisplayPort, not USB 3 to DisplayPort.  The former suggests you're using an adapter that taps into the native GPU output wired to USB-C ports.  The latter suggests an adapter that uses something like a DisplayLink chip to carry video as regular USB data.

Anyhow, based on two different reports here, my guess as to what's going on here is that the internal wiring of the system and its onboard display output connectors means only two physical outputs can be allocated display bandwidth from the GPU at a time.  If that's true, then your only option would be to leverage the fact that a DisplayPort/USB-C is capable of driving multiple independent displays from a single physical connector, then attach at least two displays to that connector.  There are a few ways to use that capability:

- Use DisplayPort daisy-chaining for at least two of your displays, assuming at least two of your displays have DisplayPort inputs and at least one of them has a DisplayPort output to support daisy-chaining.

- Use a DisplayPort MST hub.  StarTech has models with 2 and 3 outputs and DisplayPort and HDMI outputs here, although you can probably find better prices through retailers like Amazon.  If you decide to get the DisplayPort output version and need to use HDMI/DVI displays as well, make sure you buy active DisplayPort to HDMI adapters.  Most DP to HDMI adapters are passive, and those typically won't work with MST hubs for reasons I can explain if anyone is curious.  Also take a look at the specs that include details about the allowed display quantities and resolutions, since the total bandwidth requirements of your displays attached this way need to fall within what a single USB-C output can deliver.  Essentially, you can do dual 2560x1600 displays or up to 3 1920x1200 displays.

- Use a USB-C dock (or a Thunderbolt 3 dock if your 5490 was ordered with the Thunderbolt 3 option).  A USB-C dock actually gives you less display bandwidth than the MST hub option described above, since now your USB-C port is required to carry both display and USB 3.0 data, but you could still get dual displays up to 1920x1200 out of it, and of course you get other connectivity benefits of a dock.  If you go with Thunderbolt 3, you get a double the bandwidth of an MST hub scenario and 4x the bandwidth of a USB-C dock scenario, which allows dual displays up to 4K and even some higher-end triple display configurations, but of course they cost more and you have to have Thunderbolt 3 on your system.

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@pAnon wrote:

hi, many thanks for replying.

as soon as I plug in the USB-C cable the VGA adapter is disabled/the second monitor disappears. this is with or without the laptop screen down/disabled. even if I don't use the HDMI port as soon as I plug in the USB-C cable the VGA cable is disabled.

how can a check if the port supports Thunderbolt 3?

 

---

Not sure how I missed this when you originally posted it (sorry about that!), but see my new post above for a theory as to the underlying cause of this issue and possible workarounds. In terms of seeing whether your system supports Thunderbolt 3, go into its BIOS setup and check your Thunderbolt options page.  If everything is grayed out, you don't have it.  If you can change settings, you do.

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@RICHRIEDEL wrote:

Like everyone else, I have the same problem.  From the dock, I am using only the VGA and HDMI output.  My laptop does not have the Thunderbolt 3 option. 

The mini-DVI port to DVI connector that would only give me 640x480 resolution. 

I also tried the VGA output on the laptop but it was inoperable. 

Finally, I tried the HDMI output on the laptop to DVI and that worked with 1920x1080 resolution on all 3 external monitors.  Naturally, the laptop is closed and that display is disabled for all of this to work. 

Disappointing since I could drive 4 displays which included my laptop display with my old E3640.  4 screens is so much nicer. 

---

If you really want that fourth display, you can of course connect a DisplayLink adapter to a regular USB port on the dock.  Since that display wouldn't be driven directly by a GPU, it wouldn't count toward your GPU maximum display limit.  DisplayLink has its share of limitations that I summarized in the post marked as the solution in this thread, but if you would just be using that last display for basic productivity stuff like Word, Excel, email, Web browsing, etc., then it would probably be fine.  A DisplayLink USB to HDMI/DisplayPort/VGA adapter isn't very expensive, and again you could even connect it to the dock rather than to the PC directly, as long as your dock has an available USB 3.0 port.

As to the larger point, while the limitations around which combinations of outputs you can use simultaneously seems specific to the way Dell implemented something on the 5490 (and presumably some other systems), the limitation around three displays applies to any systems where all outputs are driven by the Intel GPU.  As of this writing, there are no Intel GPUs that support driving more than 3 independent displays simultaneously, regardless of how they're connected.  Your older system probably had a discrete GPU running the display outputs, or it may have had both an Intel GPU and discrete GPU with different outputs wired to different GPUs, although that's relatively uncommon even today.  All that said, Intel is apparently going to give their GPUs a significant upgrade with "Ice Lake", which is expected around late 2019, so maybe quad display support will be part of that.

Like everyone else, I have the same problem.  From the dock, I am using only the VGA and HDMI output.  My laptop does not have the Thunderbolt 3 option. 

The mini-DVI port to DVI connector that would only give me 640x480 resolution. 

I also tried the VGA output on the laptop but it was inoperable. 

Finally, I tried the HDMI output on the laptop to DVI and that worked with 1920x1080 resolution on all 3 external monitors.  Naturally, the laptop is closed and that display is disabled for all of this to work. 

Disappointing since I could drive 4 displays which included my laptop display with my old E3640.  4 screens is so much nicer. 

Could you give me the final solution. i only have laptop not the docking. is it possible to get 3 displays without docking station from only laptop?

@lav_13  As long as you are running Windows rather than Linux, then yes it is possible to run triple external displays from a 5490.  To do it without a docking station, you could use either daisy chaining if you have displays that support it or get a USB-C MST hub.  Those solutions will allow you to run two 1440p displays or triple 1080p displays from the USB-C port.  If you can only run two displays from the USB-C port due to the resolution of your displays and/or the number of outputs on the MST hub you chose, then you can run the third display from the system's HDMI output.

If that isn't enough information for you, then you'll need to be more specific about what you are trying to do in terms of display resolution, display models/inputs available, etc.  I've already provided a lot of information in this thread, so if that isn't enough information for you, then you'll need to explain exactly what additional information you need.  When asking people for technical assistance, you need to provide technical information so that the people here who are willing to help you have something to work with.  There isn't a single "final solution".  The possible options depend on a variety of factors, and often there are multiple possible solutions to achieve a given goal.  So be specific about your goals.

@lav_13  It’s probably because the VGA and USB-C outputs on that laptop share a common GPU output, which means you can’t use those two outputs at the same time. This behavior has been discovered with other Latitude systems before. But if you connect two displays via USB-C by using a daisy chain or MST hub and then a third display via HDMI, you should be fine. Or if all of your displays will be 1920x1080 or lower, you can connect all 3 displays through an MST hub like this one. It has two DP outputs and an HDMI output, and even a USB-C power passthrough port if you want to power your system through USB-C.