@jayyyV First, a USB-C to HDMI cable can only connect a USB-C output to an HDMI input. It cannot be used to connect an HDMI output to a USB-C input as it appears you'd want to do. But HDMI outputs also only provide a very small amount of power, nothing like USB. So even if the video signal could travel in that direction (it can't), your display wouldn't be getting enough power.
Some portable displays have HDMI inputs specifically to be used with devices that don't have video-capable USB-C ports, but it looks like the model you have doesn't offer this. And even if it did, you'd then need to connect the display to a separate power source, which would be less convenient. Your display only has a USB-C input, which means it can only be fed by a video-capable USB-C output.
In terms of multi-purpose adapters, there are several that include a USB-C power passthrough port. They allow you to connect a USB-C wall charger to the adapter and it will pass power through to the laptop. And many of them will also use some of that power for the hub itself in order to provide more power to its own USB ports, which can make it more reliable to use with high powered USB devices like USB-powered external hard drives. However, I've never seen one that included a video-capable USB-C output, which is what you'd need in this case. Even hubs that have a USB-C data-only port (rather than just a power passthrough port) are still fairly rare today. So that might not be an option.
In terms of what you CAN do, I can think of a few possibilities:
If your laptop also has a "traditional" AC adapter port in addition to its USB-C charging port, you could use a "traditional" AC adapter plugged into that port to charge your laptop, thus keeping the USB-C port free for the display. But I don't know what your laptop has since Dell doesn't make a laptop called the "E590". Lenovo does, but you said "Dell E590", not "Lenovo E590".
Otherwise, some portable displays have two USB-C ports in order to provide power passthrough, i.e. you connect a USB-C power source to the display, then connect the display to the laptop, and that way the laptop can provide power to the laptop while receiving video from it. The Lenovo ThinkVision M14 display can work like this. This setup is also helpful when using the display with a device that doesn't supply enough power to run the display, such as some smartphones. (The M14 can also work without an external power source by drawing power from the source device when that configuration is preferable, fyi.)
Your only other option would be to get a laptop that had multiple USB-C ports to allow you to connect a power source to one and the display to the other.
Note that if you use USB-C power passthrough through either a multi-purpose hub or a display like the M14, typically the hub/display will "skim" some power from the source, which means the system won't receive as much power as the power source is providing. So for example if you have a 60W power source, the system might only see a 45W source because the passthrough device is using some of the source power to run itself. The passthrough device can't provide power to your system and draw power from it at the same time, so it does this instead. But that behavior can cause the source system to complain about a low power USB charger even when it won't do that if the same charger is connected directly. That's normal in this situation, and the end result isn't all that different anyway because if you connected the power source directly, the system would see a full power source, but it would end up having to use some of that power to run the display/hub anyway. But just be aware of that. The other option would be to get a higher wattage power source so that the laptop still received full power even AFTER the passthrough device skimmed power off. But some passthrough devices also have a maximum amount of power they can pass through, regardless of the source. For example, the ThinkVision M14 will skim off 15W for itself, but it will only pass through 65W max to the system. So if you connect a 60W source, you'll get 45W passed through. But if you connect a 90W source to the M14, you'll only get 65W to the laptop, not 75W.
@jphughan sir thank you very much for your answer. I don't know why i ask this on the Dell forums whereas the machine was a Lenovo. Apologies on this. Have a good day!
jphughan
9 Legend
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14K Posts
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December 8th, 2020 06:00
@jayyyV First, a USB-C to HDMI cable can only connect a USB-C output to an HDMI input. It cannot be used to connect an HDMI output to a USB-C input as it appears you'd want to do. But HDMI outputs also only provide a very small amount of power, nothing like USB. So even if the video signal could travel in that direction (it can't), your display wouldn't be getting enough power.
Some portable displays have HDMI inputs specifically to be used with devices that don't have video-capable USB-C ports, but it looks like the model you have doesn't offer this. And even if it did, you'd then need to connect the display to a separate power source, which would be less convenient. Your display only has a USB-C input, which means it can only be fed by a video-capable USB-C output.
In terms of multi-purpose adapters, there are several that include a USB-C power passthrough port. They allow you to connect a USB-C wall charger to the adapter and it will pass power through to the laptop. And many of them will also use some of that power for the hub itself in order to provide more power to its own USB ports, which can make it more reliable to use with high powered USB devices like USB-powered external hard drives. However, I've never seen one that included a video-capable USB-C output, which is what you'd need in this case. Even hubs that have a USB-C data-only port (rather than just a power passthrough port) are still fairly rare today. So that might not be an option.
In terms of what you CAN do, I can think of a few possibilities:
Note that if you use USB-C power passthrough through either a multi-purpose hub or a display like the M14, typically the hub/display will "skim" some power from the source, which means the system won't receive as much power as the power source is providing. So for example if you have a 60W power source, the system might only see a 45W source because the passthrough device is using some of the source power to run itself. The passthrough device can't provide power to your system and draw power from it at the same time, so it does this instead. But that behavior can cause the source system to complain about a low power USB charger even when it won't do that if the same charger is connected directly. That's normal in this situation, and the end result isn't all that different anyway because if you connected the power source directly, the system would see a full power source, but it would end up having to use some of that power to run the display/hub anyway. But just be aware of that. The other option would be to get a higher wattage power source so that the laptop still received full power even AFTER the passthrough device skimmed power off. But some passthrough devices also have a maximum amount of power they can pass through, regardless of the source. For example, the ThinkVision M14 will skim off 15W for itself, but it will only pass through 65W max to the system. So if you connect a 60W source, you'll get 45W passed through. But if you connect a 90W source to the M14, you'll only get 65W to the laptop, not 75W.
jayyyV
2 Posts
0
December 9th, 2020 00:00
@jphughan sir thank you very much for your answer. I don't know why i ask this on the Dell forums whereas the machine was a Lenovo. Apologies on this. Have a good day!