Case Study: USB to DVI External Video Card

When the development team for a major sales firm decided to make the switch to laptops from their existing desktop workstations for mobility reasons, they had a major concern at the forefront of their mind: monitors.

USB to DVI, (1280x1024)
$81.95

According to the manager, "...it made sense for us to replace our hardware with laptops. However, we did not want to decrease the level of productivity we had with our dual DVI screen setup."

The developers had long utilized twin 20" DVI monitors at their workstations to allow for easier debugging while coding; they were thus faced with the daunting question of how to retain the enhanced productivity from their sizeable twin screens while using their Lenovo W500 laptops?

The customer looked at a couple different options before finally opting for Sewell's solution.

Option 1: DVI+VGA Output on the Lenovo

o Lenovo W500 can do that with some tricks, but cannot output to two DVIs simultaneously. In addition, the internal video card only supports 2 screens at a time, so either a laptop screen + external monitor or 2 external monitor and laptop screen would be blank

o The quality degradation of VGA output vs. DVI output is really noticeable on a 20" screen

Option 2: Dual DVI Output on non-Lenovo laptops

o Again, only 2 screens at a time can be turned on: either external ones or internal + external, but not both

o The dual DVI output worked pretty well in this case; however, the laptop itself was somewhat inferior in build quality to Lenovo.

Sewell dvDeck High-Res USB to DVI, VGA Converter
$59.95

Option 3: Sewell USB to DVI External Video Card

Ultimately, the developers went with an option that utilized Sewell's external video card. "The approach we took was to purchase the Lenovo W500 laptops with docks to get one DVI output, and use the Sewell external video card to drive the second monitor. That setup actually allows us to keep our external dual-screen setup with a laptop screen available as well."

When asked whether he would recommend the Sewell external video cards to other working professionals, the Development manager responded in the affirmative, "Yes, the cards really helped us answer the main concern that we had during the transitional period."