Multiple monitors (3) in notebook using HDMI and vga port, with a graphic card only

Question

I have a HP dv9830us laptop. It has a vga-out and a hdmi-out port.

I want to know if it's possible to use 3 devices, each one with different displays, using just one graphic card - NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GS? (Original, vga with an external monitor and hdmi with a full hd tv). Where I can find this kind of information?

If not possible, I would like to know alternatives like:

• "Usb" solutions to be possible to connect to the external lcd or to a TV. The TV should be flawless, but the second monitor can have slow response times; (I've found some Usb Video adapters, do these units really work?)
• Cheap PCMCIA video cards to be possible to connect to an external monitor, so I would use the hdmi with the tv and this second video card to output to another monitor.

I'm using Windows 7 and Ubuntu 10.04. Is this possible in both systems?

Solution

Both Windows and Linux support 3 displays just fine. As for if your hardware supports it, my guess is that it is unlikely, especially on a laptop. Probably to save on costs it only supports a single external display, and not both. Of course you could always try, if it doesn't work, you've only lost $5 to buy the cable (assuming you don't already have one, and you don't buy it from some ripoff place like BestBuy)

Comments

[Somebody still uses you MS-DOS]

I think I'm on my own about this subject. I think I'm going to buy a cheap Usb Video adapter and test it. Thanks anyway.

[davr]

Yeah, sorry I haven't used any of those kind of devices before.

[nmuntz]

USB Video adapters support for linux is nonexistent to this day. There is work being done with Displaylink USB support, but its really experimental stuff and doesn't work well yet...