Two external displays from one laptop with VGA and HDMI?

I have a Sony Vaio VPCEB4X0E laptop. I already have this connected to an external Dell U2412M monitor via VGA, and have both laptop screens running at 1920 x 1080.

The laptop has both VGA output and HDMI output (in the past I have also had this connected to my TV, also at the same resolution).

My office has provided me with another external Dell U2412M monitor, and I really want to use both of these than the tiny screen of the laptop.

My idea was to use the VGA port to one monitor, and the HDMI (with DVI adapter) to the other monitor.

My question is, whether this really is two separate video out channels, or whether it is one video out channel with two output ports?

The graphics card is an ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5470.

Further information from this site :

http://www.amd.com/us/products/notebook/graphics/ati-mobility-hd-5400/Pages/hd-5470-specs.aspx

■ATI Eyefinity multi-display technology2,3◦Four independent display controllers •Drive up to four displays simultaneously with independent resolutions, refresh rates, color controls, and video overlays

◦Display grouping •Combine multiple displays to behave like a single large display

Well, 400 views and no replies - so, to reply to my own post, and for anyone who might be interested, I have successfully hacked a VGA cable, and got a DVI-HDMI cable, and tried this.

On my own laptop (which has the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5470 graphics card) it is possible to run two external monitors from the same laptop, as long as the screen is closed. Both external monitors are running at 1920 x 1200.

I had to hack the VGA cable beacuse the DVI and VGA slots are so close together :









For laptops without a decent graphics card this might not be possible.

Can you see which one is sharper (better?) in use VGA Vs. HDMI? Or do they just look identical?

What made you end up in China?

There's really not a lot in it, but I would say the HDMI is slightly more defined.

Why China? Well I was becoming quite sick of the prices of everything in UK, from petrol to house prices. My first job out here back in 2002 made a huge impact on me, and I managed to move back out here in 2006 (and subsequently met a girl!). Where I live is quite beautiful, with sandy beaches, mountains, the Great Wall, and really only 2 hours from Beijing on the express train. It's not nearly as cheap as it used to be, but I have reallly fallen in love with the place.

Good hack there. Couldn't find a slim vga connector so probably a design fault from SONY to have both video outputs so close to each other.

Be nice if all 3 screens could work