Introduction

Did you ever need another monitor on your computer? I use three on one of mine for reviewing and research work. It used to be that you had to buy an expensive VGA card and hope that your power supply had enough power to use it properly. If your power supply was too small or had the wrong wiring power wiring for a new GPU then you had to buy and install a new one of those also. Then you had to install drivers, software and configure things like AMD Eyefinity Multi-Display. Now you can plug in an adapter that is powered by the USB port and add up to 6 monitors to your computer. (With six adapters) and not even open the computer case.This adapter from Sandberg adds a HDMI monitor to your computer into an existing USB3.0 or USB 2.0 communications port.



Specifications:




Unboxing

The USB 3.0 to HDMI Link is supplied in a very attractive looking packet which consists of a clear plastic upper section that slots into a cardboard base. This packaging is both protective and visually effective so is very well suited to the product.



The rear of the packet contains a vast amount of detailed information about the features and specification of the USB 3.0 to HDMI Link.



Along with the USB 3.0 to HDMI Link itself there is a quick-start guide.



Sandberg also bundle a Driver CD.




A Closer Look

The adapter delivers a convenient external video solution that makes it easy to add multi-monitor capability to a USB enabled desktop or laptop computer (optimal performance from USB 3.0, backward compatible with USB 2.0).



The device was also much smaller than I had envisioned, which is great as it takes minimal desk space.



The output consists of one HDMI Female.




Testing

The onboard Intel HD graphics chipset on these laptops can drive two monitors, but not three.This gadget performs exactly as advertised on my windows 8 laptop. Installation was easy.You can install the driver from the cd or you can download the software from the web site.



In a few minutes the third monitor was showing my desktop. I found that I could manage the multiple monitors either through the app in the system tray, or by using windows control panel.It supports desktop display mirror, extend mode, multi screen mode and screen rotation mode.



High performance USB Graphics Engine supports resolutions up to 2048 x 1152 @ 32bit.I plugged it into a USB 3 port and played the latest FPS games over it without any noticeable lag, slow down or graphical glitches.If it can handle modern day gaming, it can't easily deal with 2D and it does without breaking a sweat.Spreadsheets, word docs, email, etc all worked fine.




Conclusion

Nearly every computer sold in the last few years has a USB 2.0 slot. This device will work on USB 2.0, but will be slower.This device uses system resources for the display. It uses the computer's memory and CPU, which means that on a slower computer you might notice that the extra display slows the computer down even more than normal. I did not notice any performance issues rendering a large spreadsheet on a core i7 laptop with 8gb RAM.Leveraging the high-bandwidth (5 Gbps) SuperSpeed USB 3.0 interface, the USB video adapter functions as a convenient external graphics card that eliminates having to open the computer case for video card installation. The adapter delivers smooth, high definition content to multiple displays and can be used to mirror your primary desktop, showing the same image on each display, or to extend your desktop onto a second or third monitor to double or triple your workspace and increase your productivity.Avery easy solution to multi screens (up to 6 extra) I am running a Qosmio with 6 extra screens, 2 x24" and 4 x19". The advantage of this system is that each of these adaptors acts for 1 screen allowing you to use different screen sizes and types. I run these through the Plugable USB hub with the 4.0 amp power supply and still have a single USB3 port available. The result is spectacular.



It works perfectly,just run the cd and install it then plug and use.Both sound and video are perfect.When I see it I though that it was going to have some kind of delay buy not at all l! I watch films and work using this and it always worked pretty good.Pretty amazing little unit that will easily turn any old laptop in to a multi-display machine!Supplied with a five year warranty and with a $81.99 price tag,the Sandberg USB 3.0 to HDMI Link is Awesome.