Multi-monitor desktops are starting to become more commonplace as LCD panels and powerful graphics cards get more inexpensive. Not only can you have more workspace when browsing multiple web pages, but you can further enhance your workflow by having several related windows open on different monitors.
There are a few annoying problems with using Windows’ built-in multi-monitor support. For one, the taskbar doesn’t span all of your monitors; cramming all of your open items onto one display. Most games are not multi-monitor aware, either, so playing ultra-widescreen games across multiple monitors hasn’t been possible – that is until you use one of Matrox’s external multi-head adapters. Matrox has now unveiled one of their latest products, the DualHead2Go Digital Edition, which opens up a whole new world of work and gaming possibilities.
As the name suggests, the DualHead2Go Digital Edition improves over their previous model with the replacement of analog VGA output digital DVI. This new unit still takes regular VGA as a source, converts to digital, and outputs to two different monitors.
Compatibility
DualHead2Go Digital Edition is compatible with a wide range of notebooks and desktop computers. A complete list of known compatible systems is available and will be regularly updated to reflect new system support.
Minimum system requirements
- Single VGA output connector, on a compatible system
- Microsoft® Windows® XP, Windows 2000, Windows XP x64bit, Windows Vista™ and Mac® OS X v10.4
- Display driver supporting 2048 x 768 or 2560 x 1024 resolution
- Powered USB connector
Product information
Dimensions: 10 cm x 14 cm x 3.2 cm
Weight: 235 grams
Connectors: HD-15 (analog) x 1 (input); DVI-I (digital) x 2 (outputs), USB
Warranty: 2-year limited warranty
Part number: D2G-A2D-IF
Hardware included
- DualHead2Go Digital Edition connector box
- One 2-foot HD15-to-HD15 (analog) monitor cable
- One USB cable
- Matrox PowerDesk utilities for Microsoft Windows 2000, Windows Server 2003, and Windows XP
Even though the DualHead2Go Digital Edition takes an analog input, it outputs digital information. The DualHead2Go converts the analog signal from the system to digital data using various techniques to ensure the best possible conversion. These techniques include gain compensation to normalize the signal, and phase adjustment to properly interpret the analog input signal. After the input is converted to digital data, DualHead2Go technology divides the display information into 2 display outputs. These signals are then passed through the 2 standard digital (DVI) monitor connectors at the back of the DualHead2Go Digital Edition box.
Matrox DualHead2Go Digital Edition is a compact, external box that connects to the VGA output of compatible notebook or desktop computers. The multi-display configuration delivered by DualHead2Go Digital Edition allows you to work simultaneously with multiple full-screen documents or applications eliminating the need to repeatedly open, close, or minimize applications. It is the ideal solution for professional and home users looking for a simple and cost-effective solution to quickly increase their productivity.
Through patent-pending technology, the operating system detects the DualHead2Go Digital Edition as an ultra-widescreen monitor which is then split into two or more standard resolutions compatible with the attached displays. DualHead2Go Digital Edition also enables support for standard and wide resolution panels, offering a stretched desktop of up to 3840×1200 (or dual 1920×1200) across two displays.
DualHead2Go Digital Edition harnesses the capabilities of your system’s existing GPU or integrated graphics for acceleration of all 2D, 3D, and video rendering. There is no image distortion and no scaling to the original raw pixels generated from the existing graphics accelerator. By using DualHead2Go Digital Edition in conjunction with the built-in notebook, you can view up to three displays of independent information at one time. Desktop computers with only one video output can now be upgraded to dual-display without requiring users to open up the computer casing. If your system has a dualhead graphics card, DualHead2Go Digital Edition can be connected to the second output of the graphics card for a triplehead configuration.
Key features
- Add two independent displays to your notebook or desktop system and create a fully symmetrical DualHead setup.
- Run your desktop at up to 3840 x 1200 resolution stretched across two displays (1920×1200 per display).
- Harness the full graphics rendering power of your existing notebook or desktop computer. This includes the full video and 3D capabilities of your embedded graphics solution.
- Upgrade Intel integrated graphics on a desktop to DualHead® without opening the chassis of the computer.
- Matrox PowerDesk SE software (for Windows only) seamlessly manages window positioning and message pop-ups and offers the flexibility to select a wider range of resolutions, including support for widescreen and standard aspect ratios.
- Compact device that may easily be taken on the road with you.
- Can be used with either analog or digital panels.
- Compatible with both Windows and Mac operating systems.
The beauty of using this external unit is that software does not need to be multi-display aware. All 2D, 3D, and video acceleration can occur as if the two displays were a single unit. With traditional multi-mon, video playback has some issues. If you drag a window with a playing video between two monitors, then one half will not render (showing only a black screen). The video hiccups for a second when you drag the video completely over to the new window, as the operating system has to start writing to a new display. There are a couple of other caveats when using traditional multi-monitor support in Windows, and they are the result of the operating system treating each display as a seperate unit.
You can use the multi-display support provided by DualHead2Go Digital Edition without adding or replacing any system software. The display driver of the existing graphics hardware can continue to be used. However, to improve multi-display support, DualHead2Go Digital Edition includes Matrox PowerDesk software. This software has the same easy-to-use interface included with Matrox graphics cards. Among other things, PowerDesk provides controls for where dialog boxes and message boxes appear, how windows are maximized, and adjusting image quality. PowerDesk software helps improve image quality by calibrating the phase adjustment to properly interpret the input signal. With the DualHead2Go Digital Edition, PowerDesk offers the flexibility to select a wider range of resolutions, including support for widescreen and standard aspect ratios.
The existing graphics hardware and software in the computer does nothing different other than providing a monitor signal with a resolution that’s twice as wide as a standard resolution. The computer continues to use its own graphics processor to render a single display to its graphics memory. The real “magic” of making 1 display into 2 occurs inside the DualHead2Go Digital Edition box.
Then DualHead2Go Digital Edition uses Matrox technology to divide the display information into 2 display output, which are passed through the two standard DVI monitor connectors on the back of the unit (a DVI to VGA converter is needed to output to a VGA monitor). No pixels are added, dropped, scaled, or otherwise changed, and all original video information is preserved from the original monitor signal.
It is actually very simple to get the DualHead2Go Digital Edition up and running, and can be done in just a few minutes. Inside the box is the DH2G unit itself, a two-foot VGA male-to-male cable, a two-foot DVI cable, USB cable, manual and software CD. The short length of the video cable may be because most users will want to set this unit on top of their PC, but could also be to reduce signal loss. This cable will have to handle a large resolution at 60Hz cleanly, and the video cable quality is great.
You start by plugging up your monitors to the intended output (1 for the leftmost, 2 for the rightmost). When you plug the USB cable in, then a small red power LED turns on inside the unit. Without any software installed, the Matrox unit passes video information to display 1, so you can see what you’re doing.
DualHead2Go running 3 displays on a laptop (built-in + 2 external monitors)
After you install the software, you receive the ubiquitous “restart your computer now” message. Once you’re back at your desktop, you will now have access to a much larger display and can change resolutions immediately. The new large desktop does take a little bit of time to get used to, but once you step into the “multi-monitor” world, you’ll never want to go back because your productivity is greatly improved.
Laptop running two external displays
The Windows taskbar is now stretched across two screens, and you’ll be swinging your neck around to take in the full view. You’ll quickly discover that you like to keep several windows open on different displays, as glancing over at them is much easier than digging through a heap of buried windows. Many users use the left display as the “main” display where you do most of your tasks (Photoshop, editing, word processing), and the side displays acts as a complement, where you place supporting items (email, file explorer, images, etc).
Matrox DualHead2Go Digital vs. Traditional Multi-Monitor
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Since the OS thinks this is one big desktop, how do you handle maximizing windows or where to place dialog boxes or child windows? Matrox has you covered there, too. You can configure the default behavior of child windows, maximized windows, and other desktop preferences to fit your work style. For example, you can choose that all dialog boxes appear on the display of the parent program, or force them to a pre-designated display. By default, all windows Maximize to fill only the current display, but you can press Ctrl + Maximize to fill the entire desktop. There’s no fooling the software when maximizing either – if you have an application partially on one display, then it will maximize on the display that contains most of it.
Desktop running two external widescreen displays
The default resolution or aspect ratio probably isn’t optimal, so you’ll have to go into Matrox’s desktop management software to configure the resolutions you want to use. The Desktop utility will show you all of your connected monitors, and the capabilities of each. You “create” a new resolution by selecting a resolution that will be the same on every monitor (a 3840×1200 resolution is derived by selecting a 1920×1200 resolution across two displays). You can create a total of four custom resolutions, which are then available on the slider control of Windows’ Display applet.
Play ‘The Sims 2’ in Ultra-Widescreen
Although the DualHead2Go is geared for a better productivity experience, it can also be used for games. The resolutions you set up should be available to most games, and the DualHead2Go automatically distributes the game across two monitors. This product works best with strategy games and flight simulators, as FPS games would render the cross-hair between two monitors, which becomes disorienting.
If you are serious about gaming, you should look at Matrox’s TripleHead2Go, which is optimized for PC gaming as well as productivity.
The DualHead2Go has added some functionality over their previous analog edition, and addresses some issues. For one, the unit supports widescreen digital displays, and can be used with both analog and digital monitors (although not at the same time). Usability is improved by implementing USB power to the unit. Matrox’s desktop management software now features flexible desktop customizatoin that is much better than traditional multi-monitor support.
To add even more flexibility, you can mix and match monitors: one or both can be analog or digital (although this is not a Matrox supported configuration. I was successfully able to achieve this setup). Those who want a completely digital signal from end-to-end (or want to mix and match analog and digital monitors) will want to upgrade to the TripleHead2Go Digital Edition, which supports both digital input and output, and can also function in Dual-Head mode.
The DualHead2Go is intended for productivity, and its usefulness is limited in gaming. Gaming enthusiasts should look at the TripleHead2Go Digital Edition.
Mac OSX running 3 displays (two from DualHead2Go, one from free DVI port)
Since only two monitors are used, you will not run into the DirectX9’s desktop limitation of 4096×4096. You will be able to run both of your digital monitors in their native resolution (up to 1920×1200), while enjoying a more robust experience than traditional multi-monitor. Although the desktop management software tries to put new windows and dialog boxes on a particular display, some software doesn’t behave and either pops up between the two monitors or launches in both displays. If your video card has two outputs, you can even connect a third monitor (but the 3rd monitor is treated as a seperate unit).
As a productivity tool, the Matrox DualHead2Go gets around several limitations of traditional multimonitor. This product would be more helpful to laptop users where there is no physical way to upgrade to multiple displays, but is also helpful for the desktop user who is fed up with traditional multi-monitor support.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||