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    February 23, 2012
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    February 24, 2012
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zBret's Reviews
 
Mirror your display for customers on the other side of the desk with help from this StarTech external video card. The USB connection works with any USB 2.0 port, letting you add a second VGA monitor to your computer. This compact StarTech external video card is portable and adds extra functionality to computers wherever you work.
 
Customer Rating
4 out of 5
4
Basic External Graphics for Cheap
on February 23, 2012
Posted by: zBret
from Phoenix, AZ
I bought this because I have a laptop (docked) at work and it only drives one external monitor. I plugged this into the USB on the dock, and windows (7, x64) found it - but not the driver. It came with a CD which I ignored, and I downloaded the driver from the Startech site. Once installed, I rebooted and voila, another running monitor. Windows found all 3 monitors (1 external from laptop, 1 laptop screen PLUS this unit), and I set it up.
Now let me tell you what to expect. Don't expect to watch perfectly smooth videos, don't expect ripple/artifact free scrolling and dragging. This is basic video with all the colors (32 bit).
Since I'm an electronics engineer, I know exactly what is going on. Data rates from USB 2.0 are far too slow to drive a full screen all the time, so it is a box that simply gets updates though USB, then drives the monitor (there is about 32 MB of SRAM in it to do this).
The result is the picture is clear, but the more movement on it, the more that needs updating. Reach a certain amount of movement (ie dragging a window) and you will see rippling as it attempts to update as fast as possible.
This is not a product issue. It works about as best as you can get for sending video though USB, I'm also betting that my docking station is using a hub, so that slows things even more, but it does exactly what I expected - its perfect for expanding your desktop and using the spare (driven by this unit) monitor for menus, reading and working on documents, graphics, etc.
NOTE: The ad here, and on Startech says "1920x1200" but the highest I got was 1600x1200 (and 1600x900 for widescreen, though I found 1600x1200 looked only slightly stretched on a widescreen). One star was lost due to this error. I even tried dropping to 16 bit color, but even then there were no higher resolutions.
For all you tech-heads, it contains an Nvidia Quadro FX 880M, but remember my warning above - update rate (not to be confused with refresh or scan rate) is limited by the restrictions of USB 2.0.
What's great about it: Works as expected, though max resolution is 1600x1200x32bit color
What's not so great: USB 2.0 Speed limits its ability to draw motion. If you want high speed for gaming/videos, get something not USB based.
I would recommend this to a friend!
Quality
4 out of 5
4
Performance
4 out of 5
4
+10points
10of 10voted this as helpful.
 
zBret's Review Comments
 
Mirror your display for customers on the other side of the desk with help from this StarTech external video card. The USB connection works with any USB 2.0 port, letting you add a second VGA monitor to your computer. This compact StarTech external video card is portable and adds extra functionality to computers wherever you work.
 
Overall4 out of 54 out of 5
Basic External Graphics for Cheap
By zBret from Phoenix, AZ
I bought this because I have a laptop (docked) at work and it only drives one external monitor. I plugged this into the USB on the dock, and windows (7, x64) found it - but not the driver. It came with a CD which I ignored, and I downloaded the driver from the Startech site. Once installed, I rebooted and voila, another running monitor. Windows found all 3 monitors (1 external from laptop, 1 laptop screen PLUS this unit), and I set it up.
Now let me tell you what to expect. Don't expect to watch perfectly smooth videos, don't expect ripple/artifact free scrolling and dragging. This is basic video with all the colors (32 bit).
Since I'm an electronics engineer, I know exactly what is going on. Data rates from USB 2.0 are far too slow to drive a full screen all the time, so it is a box that simply gets updates though USB, then drives the monitor (there is about 32 MB of SRAM in it to do this).
The result is the picture is clear, but the more movement on it, the more that needs updating. Reach a certain amount of movement (ie dragging a window) and you will see rippling as it attempts to update as fast as possible.
This is not a product issue. It works about as best as you can get for sending video though USB, I'm also betting that my docking station is using a hub, so that slows things even more, but it does exactly what I expected - its perfect for expanding your desktop and using the spare (driven by this unit) monitor for menus, reading and working on documents, graphics, etc.
NOTE: The ad here, and on Startech says "1920x1200" but the highest I got was 1600x1200 (and 1600x900 for widescreen, though I found 1600x1200 looked only slightly stretched on a widescreen). One star was lost due to this error. I even tried dropping to 16 bit color, but even then there were no higher resolutions.
For all you tech-heads, it contains an Nvidia Quadro FX 880M, but remember my warning above - update rate (not to be confused with refresh or scan rate) is limited by the restrictions of USB 2.0.
Customer Avatar
zBret
Phoenix, AZ
Resolution is fine
February 24, 2012
It looks like I found out why the max resolution was limited. The monitor was not being detected by windows (it was showing up as generic). After another reboot, windows recognized it and enabled the resolution up to 1920x1080 - the max for the monitor. I believe the product is listed with the correct resolution (though I have nothing available to test the maximum). I'd have edited my review if I could, but it looks like the Best Buy site does not allow that.
0points
0of 0voted this comment as helpful.
 
Toshiba Satellite 15.6" Laptop: Surf the Web, watch movies and enjoy casual gaming with wireless connectivity and an expansive hard drive. Built-in Bluetooth technology lets you pair the laptop with your compatible mobile devices for simple data syncing.
 
Overall3 out of 53 out of 5
Mixed Bag
By cr1969 from Clinton, NY
This would be an awesome laptop if the motherboard supported dual-channel memory. The laptop comes with one 4GB RAM module, but has two RAM slots on the motherboard. Though Toshiba claims the RAM is "not user-replaceable," it looked pretty darn replaceable to me when I added a second 4GB module to the second slot. The upgrade involved removing 12 screws and pulling the back off the laptop. The process was very easy and took all of 8 minutes. Unfortunately, though the RAM was recognized, it was still operating in single-channel mode. This article (http://www.extremetech.com/computing/222662-poor-oem-designs-single-channel-ram-sabotage-amds-carrizo) explains the situation, though does fully explain how drastically single-channel memory reduced graphics, especially 3D graphics, performance. Here is a YouTube video that shows the difference between an AMD A10 with single-channel 1600 MHz memory and the same APU with dual-channel 2133 MHz memory (https://youtu.be/p-k44EV5fM4). Even if the dual-channel memory was running at the same 1600 MHz as the Toshiba is configured with, it's obvious that dual-channel memory DOUBLES the graphics processing unit (GPU) performance. So, this laptop is half as fast as it could be for no real reason, except that Toshiba, for some unfathomable reason, chose to restrict memory speed to single-channel on this laptop. If I sound bitter, it's because the Carrizo AMD A10-8700p is an excellent chip that supports features like hardware HVEC H.265 4K video decoding and DirectX 12, but it is crippled by a seemingly arbitrary manufacturer decision. Aside from the tragic memory controller, The Toshiba seems like a nice laptop, especially for the $300 sale price that it was sold for as a Best Buy "Daily Deal." The memory is easy to upgrade to 8GB without risk of damaging the fragile ribbon cables on the motherboard (unlike an ASUS that I recently purchased that had the RAM slots on the BOTTOM of the motherboard, requiring near-complete disassembly to add memory). The screen and sound are fine, considering the price. Though it is plastic made to look like anodized brushed aluminum, this laptop is fairly good looking (but scratches very easily). As I mentioned, the RAM is super easy and cheap ($22) to upgrade to 8GB. It feel pretty sturdy. There isn't too much bloatware (except for McAfee, DigiMe, and Wild Tangent). The 1000GB hard drive is fine. It is just a shame that for practically no increase in manufacturing cost, plus the minimal price of a 4GB RAM upgrade, this laptop could have been a fine casual gaming computer. I love AMD, but the OEMs are crippling the machines that use their APUs. If you're looking for a good cheap laptop for anything other than running recent games, this is a fine purchase. Otherwise find an AMD A-10 8700P laptop that supports dual channel RAM.
Customer Avatar
zBret
Phoenix, AZ
Dual Channel RAM
February 20, 2016
A very interesting comment, and well written. I suspect it matches the problem I had recently buying an A10-7300U (Lenovo) - it wouldn't run as fast as an ASUS i3 for graphics, and adding RAM actually made it slower. If the ASUS you refer to is an X55(whatever), there IS a RAM access panel on the back. You don't think there is, but there is a black sticker over the screw that you must remove or puncture though, then you can add 8 GB to it. Unfortunately, my ASUS X55 started to have it's HDD die (clicking and seek errors that stole mouse focus), plus had no user replaceable battery, so I exchanged it for the A10 Lenovo, but now noticed graphics are worse, though the processor is a similar speed. I'm going to try to watch for RAM speeds from one computer to the other, but it is hard to do since they don't go out of their way to spec it on the website. It makes choosing (and keeping) a computer a difficult process.
+1point
1of 1voted this comment as helpful.
 
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