Display Set-up

External displays often allow for greater productivity and organization of your digital work. Laptops are set-up to work with several screens active at once, however some laptops are able to host more than others. The highest number we suggest hosting on a laptop is 2 however under certain settings 3 may work properly.

1. To set up an external display with a laptop first identify the type of display cable that is being used. Once the cable is identified and it is ensured that the laptop is compatible or properly adapted the laptop will take a moment to identify the new monitor and then it should either extend the display or duplicate it to the monitor.

2. Once the monitor has turned on and is either duplicating or extending the screen you can adjust the settings for the additional screen.

To go to the display settings, right-click anywhere on the background of the desktop (your desktop background picture) and then select Display Settings from the drop-down menu.

3. Arrange your digital display in accordance with the actual arrangement of the physical monitor in relation to the laptop. Display 1 will always be the laptop's screen while any number greater than 1 will be external displays.

If you are ever confused as to what monitor is which, simply select the "Identify" button which should cause a number to appear in the bottom left-hand corner of the screen.

4. Below the display arrangement settings scroll down and you should find the Scale and Layout settings.

Here you can change the scale, resolution, orientation and most importantly, the display mode.

Under Multiple Displays, you can choose to extend or duplicate the displays. This will allow for the screen to either

a) Duplicate: Be copied to two or more screens, duplicating the image and resolution.

b) Extend: View each screen as an extension of your "Main Screen".

5. To easily switch the display mode (also called projection mode), you can access a quick-menu to swap these modes by pressing:

Windows Logo + P

This brings up the Project menu which will allow you to swap between the different display modes.