DisplayLink Adapters Demoed at IDF 2012. HDMI & DVI Over USB Becomes A Reality

Posted 09/16/2012 at 5:55pm | by Justin Kerr

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PC Manufacturers are working day and night to shrink Ultrabooks into impossibly thin new form factors, and one of the casualties of this push has been output display options. VGA and DVI made way for mini display port and HDMI, however even these smaller connectors take up precious space. Even if your laptop sports one, what if you want more than one external display? The answer my friends is DisplayLink. The proliferation of USB 3 on Intel’s new chipsets is making outputting to multiple monitors over USB much more than a hack, this could well be the future.

Engadget snapped off some pictures of new offerings from EVGA, HP, Lenovo, and even Targus. Here is a quick run-down on each of the offerings.

EVGA UV Plus +39: HDMI or DVI at resolutions up to 2048 x 1152 for $85.

Lenovo: DVI only, support for resolutions up to 2048x1152 for $80

HP 3005pr: This bad boy turns one USB 3 port into four USB 2.0, two USB 3.0, along with one HDMI, and a DisplayPort. Amazingly it also offers an Ethernet jack, along with audio in and out connections for a mere $150. 

Targus: Offers specs much the same as the HP model listed above, but swaps the DisplayPort for DVI. The $250 price tag is justified by adding the ability to charge 90w laptops using packed in universal adapters. This might be useful if you leave your power brick at the office. 

The last two options come pretty close to being the ultimate docking station for a notebook, but these DisplayLink adapters could also come in handy for desktop users looking to add additional display’s without cracking open the case.

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