Acer Nitro 5 AN515-55 : How can i connect two external monitors to my laptop?

ybwazzan
ybwazzan Member Posts: 10 New User
edited April 2021 in Nitro Gaming
hello, ive bought four dongles till now all in the hopes of being able to connect to separate monitors to my Acer Nitro 5 AN515-55 and none of them have worked, am I missing something? please help

[Thread edited title to add the product name]

Best Answer

  • Leostat
    Leostat ACE Posts: 3,043 Pathfinder
    edited April 2021 Answer ✓
    For the USB-A ones you may need to install a driver first, when plugged in does it show in device manager? And can you link to the one you got

    Also what res / refresh rate are you looking for?

Answers

  • Leostat
    Leostat ACE Posts: 3,043 Pathfinder
    Which dongles have you bought, at a guess was it  USBc-> displays :)?

    If so display link ones should get you a second working display. They work by in effect being a second GPU and shutteling video data over the USB connection, something like this : https://amzn.to/3rHLRbG or this https://amzn.to/3mg8eUB :)

    Its worth saying that both the framerate and the res is limited for these adapters though and they can use up quite a bit of CPU processing
  • billsey
    billsey ACE Posts: 34,220 Trailblazer
    The AN515-55 models don't support video out the USB-C port, so you need a dock to get more than one external monitor connected. The dock can be USB 3.0, 3.1, USB-C or even USB 2.0 if the monitor isn't too high of resolution... You have four USB ports, they are USB-C (3.1 gen 2), USB 3.1 gen 2 (right side) and USB 3.1 gen 1 (both on the left side). A dock will likely set you back a little more than the simple USB-C -> DP or HDMI cables, but it shouldn't be too bad.
    Click on "Like" if you find my answer useful or click on "Yes" if it answers your question.
  • ybwazzan
    ybwazzan Member Posts: 10 New User
    Leostat said:
    Which dongles have you bought, at a guess was it  USBc-> displays :)?

    If so display link ones should get you a second working display. They work by in effect being a second GPU and shutteling video data over the USB connection, something like this : https://amzn.to/3rHLRbG or this https://amzn.to/3mg8eUB :)

    Its worth saying that both the framerate and the res is limited for these adapters though and they can use up quite a bit of CPU processing
    no actually, i found out that video cannot be output through the usb-c after buying a usb-c to hdmi. the other dongles were USB A to hdmi and USB A to USB C
  • ybwazzan
    ybwazzan Member Posts: 10 New User
    billsey said:
    The AN515-55 models don't support video out the USB-C port, so you need a dock to get more than one external monitor connected. The dock can be USB 3.0, 3.1, USB-C or even USB 2.0 if the monitor isn't too high of resolution... You have four USB ports, they are USB-C (3.1 gen 2), USB 3.1 gen 2 (right side) and USB 3.1 gen 1 (both on the left side). A dock will likely set you back a little more than the simple USB-C -> DP or HDMI cables, but it shouldn't be too bad.
    yeah i read this in another discussion on acer community and I even bought two USB A to hdmi adapters which didn't work in a single port
  • ybwazzan
    ybwazzan Member Posts: 10 New User
    billsey said:
    The AN515-55 models don't support video out the USB-C port, so you need a dock to get more than one external monitor connected. The dock can be USB 3.0, 3.1, USB-C or even USB 2.0 if the monitor isn't too high of resolution... You have four USB ports, they are USB-C (3.1 gen 2), USB 3.1 gen 2 (right side) and USB 3.1 gen 1 (both on the left side). A dock will likely set you back a little more than the simple USB-C -> DP or HDMI cables, but it shouldn't be too bad.
    also could you please post an amazon link to an affordable one, please? 
  • ybwazzan
    ybwazzan Member Posts: 10 New User
    Leostat said:
    Which dongles have you bought, at a guess was it  USBc-> displays :)?

    If so display link ones should get you a second working display. They work by in effect being a second GPU and shutteling video data over the USB connection, something like this : https://amzn.to/3rHLRbG or this https://amzn.to/3mg8eUB :)

    Its worth saying that both the framerate and the res is limited for these adapters though and they can use up quite a bit of CPU processing
    i have a very similar one to this and it doesn't work
  • Leostat
    Leostat ACE Posts: 3,043 Pathfinder
    edited April 2021 Answer ✓
    For the USB-A ones you may need to install a driver first, when plugged in does it show in device manager? And can you link to the one you got

    Also what res / refresh rate are you looking for?
  • ybwazzan
    ybwazzan Member Posts: 10 New User
    Leostat said:
    For the USB-A ones you may need to install a driver first, when plugged in does it show in device manager? And can you link to the one you got

    Also what res / refresh rate are you looking for?
    yeah i installed the drivers and it works fine now but when I connect a monitor through hdmi and one through USB, both monitors as well as my laptop screen flicker nonstop and the mouse cant be moved because it keeps returning to the center
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