Setting up multiple monitors

There are two different possibilities depending on your system configuration:

• One USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-C port (for computers shipped with a plastic chassis)
• One USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-C port with DisplayPort Alt Mode 1.4/Power Delivery (for computers shipped with an aluminum chassis or a discrete graphics card installed)

If you have the discrete GPU and aluminum chassis, the setup should work.  If you have a plastic chassis, it will not.

In either case, if your goal is dual external monitor support, you'd be better off with a higher-end 5000 or 7000 series system, or an XPS or Latitude model.

@ejn63​ How would I determine which configuration I have?

Check the device manager -- if you see two GPU entries (one Intel, one nVidia), your system can output video over USB.  If you see only an Intel GPU, it cannot.

Ok. . .let's ignore the Ai BOT post above this!

I am a bit surprised by EJN60's answer.

What determines if you can drive multiple external monitors? 

I am run 2 D3100 hubs - - with 2 monitors, other with 3 monitors attached. I swap the hub inputs between three machines fairly regularly and smoothly (plug and play; no reboot)

One PC is a Latitude (recent) (i5) which does NOT have a discrete video card. 

One PC is an an older Inspiron 7573 (i7) which HAS discrete graphic. . .but has USB 3.1 Gen 1 ports (USB A Connectors)

Third PC is a desktop PC (i5) with an "ok" video card that is so old - -> I had to install a USB 3.1 I/O card (Machine had USB 2.0 on MB)

Thinking harder. . . .I have run the hub with an older MS Surface (i5) which definitely does NOT have discrete graphics.

so what determines how many external monitors I can run?

The design of the system board determines what the system can run.  It's not uncommon for entry-level models like this one to lack support for video out over USB.  And it's also not uncommon for the capability of a system with a discrete GPU to have the capacity for video out over USB, while basic models lack that support.  That is the case with this model system, which is why I quoted the port support information directly from the system documentation for this particular model.

Desktop PCs very rarely support video out over USB -- and business models (Latitude) generally have more feature support than consumer-grade entry level models do.

You CAN still run video from a system that doesn't have native video output over USB support -- you just need a displaylink capable adapter to do the job.

Thank you for that explanation.

As a data point:  My old desktop machine (6th gen intel, I believe) has a 3.1 Type "A" USB I/O card installed. I run two monitors off of the video card; and I regularly swap to my 2-monitor hub using a USB A cable. (So, I can run 4 monitors- - -although I generally only ever run 2 at a time).

(Sounds crazy; BUT - - > Normally I have work PC running through HUB with the desktop (personal) machine on a side table.  When I have something "serious" to do with the personal machine; I swap USB inputs to the hub so I can use my "main desk" peripherals. 

It appears that the Inspiron I have does not support multiple monitors.  Have to admit, I never thought to check on something like that.  I just figured that they all would at this point.  But I'm still in the time frame that I can return it.  Guess I'll be looking for another laptop to replace it.

@onesnark​  i have Inspiron 15 3530 i7. How do i connect 2 monitors with this laptop i tried multiple extender with USB-c doesnt work. Can you please help.

@KHP​ I run a star tech w/usb-a hub that supports 2 monitors on it just fine.