Dual monitors are becoming popular with the growing tech advancements and more use of web-based services. Dual monitors are found to increase productivity and also enhance the viewing experience. But if you are unaware of how to set up dual monitors, then this guide is for you. Here we will discuss a step-by-step approach to how you can setup dual monitors with a laptop or PC in no time.
Check your PC’s Display Port
The very first thing you should do is check your PC’s physical ports from the back of your CPU. There you will find a lot of different ports, but you should only look for “display ports”, such as HDMI, Micro-DVI, VGA, DisplayPort, Thunderbolt, etc. Let’s assume your PC has Thunderbolt as the display port.
Check your Monitor’s Display Port
Just like for your PC, now look for the display ports on your monitor (that you want to use as a second monitor) and see which ones are common between your monitor and PC. Let’s assume your monitor also has Thunderbolt as a display port.
Pick the Display Cable
Once you know the display port you will use, next you have to pick the right display cable to connect your PC and the monitor. Since we have assumed that both the monitor and PC have Thunderbolt display ports, so you should use Thunderbolt to Thunderbolt cable.
If you have the cable, then you can connect the monitor and PC right away. However, if you don’t have the cable, you can easily purchase it from the local store or through online stores, such as Amazon. In short, you can easily find any combination of the cable that you need to connect your monitor and PC.
Setting Up Multiple Monitors
Once you have connected the PC with the dual monitor, it’s time to set up the settings for using dual monitors. Follow the below steps to do it:
- From your primary monitor screen, right-click on the desktop and then click “Display settings”.
- Within display settings, you will see all the monitors that are connected to your PC. If you don’t know which number represents which monitor, click “Identify” and it will pop up the relevant numbers on all the monitors.
- Click “Extend these displays” and there you will see multiple options on how to use your monitors. You can use them as duplicate, extend, and only 1 at a time.
- You can drag the monitor number-based icons to any position (such as up, down, left, or right) you want depending on how you have set them physically.
- In the display settings, you also get a lot of other settings to customize, such as “make this my main display” to show the taskbar and notification. Similarly, you can set the scale of the screen, display orientation, and similar others. You can customize these settings for every monitor by selecting them one by one.
- You can also customize taskbar settings with multiple computers. To do that, click on “Personalization” from the left sidebar and then click “Taskbar”. Under “Taskbar behaviors”, you can set different taskbar settings, such as “show my taskbar on all displays”, etc.
This way, you can set up multiple monitors and can have a better viewing experience.
Bonus Tip: Instead of going to the display settings, you can press “Windows logo key” + “P” to quickly set how you want to use the dual monitors, such as PC screen only, extend, duplicate, or the second screen only.
Laptop as Second Monitor
Instead of using a monitor as a second screen, you can also use your laptop as a second monitor. Follow the below steps to do it:
- From your PC’s monitor, go to “Settings” and then click “System” from the left menu bar.
- Click “Projecting to this PC”. If you see nothing there, then it means you have to enable that feature. To do that, click “Optional features” and then click “View features”. From there, search for “Wireless Display”, tick the checkbox, and click install.
- Once the feature is installed, head back to the “Projecting to this PC” setting. Click “Launch the Connect app”.
- On your laptop, go to Settings > System > Display settings. From there, click “Connect” under “Connect to a wireless display”. There you will see the display of your PC’s monitor you can connect with. So, connect it and then set whether you want to duplicate, extend, or use the second screen only.
- You can go to display settings and customize all the settings you want, such as monitor position, display orientation, etc.
This way, you can instantly turn your laptop into a second monitor through a wireless connection. Once you are done with screen sharing, press “Windows logo key” + “P” and click “Disconnect”.
Wrapping Up
In this digitalized era, dual monitors bring a lot of benefits to the table. That’s why we can see that it has become a lot easier to connect multiple monitors with the PC. By following the above-listed steps, you can easily connect multiple monitors and also customize the settings as you want. So, connect the monitors the way you need and elevate your viewing experience.
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