IOGEAR intros USB 2.0 external DVI video card

Just in case IOGEAR's USB 2.0 External VGA Video Card (pictured) wasn't swank enough for your DVI-equipped display, the firm is introducing a variant just for you. Designed to give users the ability to spread those 80 column spreadsheets over two monitors without cracking open the case, the USB 2.0 External DVI Video Card enables the use of a multi-monitor setup for folks with leased / locked machines and those absolutely terrified of seeing PCB in the flesh. Of course, the $149.99 unit is only designed to operate with Windows XP / Vista, but chances are your corporate box isn't running anything else, anyway.

[Ma2T @ Apr 21st 2008 11:10AM]

Sounds like a cool idea / product.

What I would love to see, not sure if it would be possible. A gamer / 3D card version, would be great to upgrade laptop graphics this way.

[webon @ Apr 21st 2008 11:20AM]

NEVER

[beamerboy625 @ Apr 21st 2008 12:13PM]

I don't know, a PC laptop video card might be possible for gaming. Of course, if you really want hard-core gaming, you should just by a gaming PC/laptop, or build in. I see this unit as great for people with laptops as well, although mine already has DVI out.

[thequinox @ Apr 21st 2008 3:32PM]

This has been considered before, but USB 2.0 simply doesn't have the bandwidth required to power such a device. For an external video card to proceed it would need a much faster connection to the mobo.

[chrisaroz @ Apr 21st 2008 11:10AM]

Pictured? There is no picture...

[morty @ Apr 21st 2008 11:12AM]

i'm so gonna play crysis on this.

[Chebwa @ Apr 21st 2008 11:20AM]

I'm gonna play Crysis on your face.

[Bobs @ Apr 21st 2008 11:23AM]

I am so gonna eat a bowl of jello.

[Gaz @ Apr 21st 2008 12:49PM]

Crysis sucks ass!

[geekazine @ Apr 21st 2008 11:15AM]

I've used USB - VGA connectors before. Not great for anything more than a static screen. If you have a Desktop, it would be better to get a dual monitor video card, and if you have a laptop, just hook up the video and open the lid of the laptop.

I haven't used a single monitor setup for a long time - I recommend dual monitors if you do a lot of work on the computer. However, don't go cheap. Get something that will do the job or else you'll be more disappointed than you were before.

[gusbrown @ Apr 21st 2008 11:24AM]

Hopefully it'll support decent resolutions - many of these types of products I tried in the past have offered pathetic resolution or have been so crash prone they haven't been worth it.

[jeroen020 @ Apr 21st 2008 11:28AM]

Hmmm it's not yet listed on iogear's own website. The VGA version is spec'd, but only supports up to 1280x1024 resolutions. For me it would only be useful if it supports 1080p and/or WUVGA resolutions, an additional SXGA only doesn't cut it. Hopefully the DVI version will go up to the higher resolutions as their competition listed in the links in the article go up to UVGA already.

[kiyoshi @ Apr 21st 2008 11:33AM]

generally, the USB2.0 adapters cannot do more than 1680x1050.

[aggro_dude_ @ Apr 21st 2008 12:52PM]

VGA does 1280 x 1024
DVI does 1600 x 1200

Better than this though is the Tritton one:

Their VGA does 1600 x 1200 (http://shop3.outpost.com/product/5520180)
Their DVI does 2048 x 1200 (http://shop3.outpost.com/product/5585410)
but at $119.99 price point

[justin @ Apr 21st 2008 11:29AM]

"Of course, the $149.99 unit is only designed to operate with Windows XP / Vista, but chances are your corporate box isn't running anything else, anyway."

My NT 4.0 box gently weeps at this statement.

[T D @ Apr 21st 2008 11:53AM]

How hard would it be to install a $40 DVI card? Doesn't even have to be PCI-E x16. I'm betting people with multi monitors, even if they've never opened their case before, can install a PCI or PCI-E x1 etc card.

[TJHart85 @ Apr 21st 2008 1:16PM]

Engadget is saying that this is mainly for people who cannot open their computer (leased / locked computers).

For that situation & for idiots this thing may be great.

The price tag is too high for anyone else!

[Johnny @ Apr 21st 2008 12:13PM]

As one who recently set someone in our office up with a Sewell USB-DVI adapter on a Mac Mini, I can say that it works fine if you are only using it for 2D applications. The resolution is as good as they want it and there are no noticeable drawbacks in this situation. Also, I think I paid a little less, $120, from Sewell's website.

[aggro_dude_ @ Apr 21st 2008 12:46PM]

$99.99 on frys.com (http://shop3.outpost.com/product/5547670)

$110.24 on buy.com and free shipping (http://www.buy.com/prod/the-iogear-usb-2-0-dvi-adapter-instantly-allows-you-to-add-a-high/q/loc/101/207662066.html)

$135.87 on Amazon.com (http://www.amazon.com/USB-2-0-External-Video-Card/dp/B0016B6722/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1208795490&sr=8-1)

[L.Rawlins @ Apr 21st 2008 12:49PM]

http://www.displaylink.com

I think you'll find that this is the wizardry powering these devices which debuted at CES this year, and comes built into a select few newer monitors.

DVI based Displaylink(ed) monitors maxes out at around 1600x1200.

[foodle @ Apr 21st 2008 1:04PM]

Rather than spend so much time thinking of disparaging remarks about people who don't want to open their cases, maybe the author could have thought for a second about who this product is actually targetted at (i.e. laptop owners who want to drive two screens).

[John @ Apr 21st 2008 1:09PM]

We bought one recently for basic office documents, if you don't get into any of the weird bugs like usb port power\conflicts, it works fine. I can't even imagine playing a game on this, but for someone trying to resurrect a laptop with no working vga ports and a cracked screen (man just buy a new one lol) then this is for you. Oh and this works fine for basic document, and static internet pages.

[Sean O @ Apr 21st 2008 1:51PM]

Can anyone explain how these things work exactly? USB 2.0 has a max bandwidth of around 400mbps. Uncompressed video is at least twice that amount. And I'm talking 800x600. When you get up to 1600x1200, you're looking at like 2gbps.

[robodrobo @ Apr 21st 2008 6:49PM]

The Displaylink technology actually compresses and decompresses on the fly. You can do reasonably sized 720p video without too many dropped frames if you have a decent computer. One of the cooler things is that it allows you to use Vista Aero on each attached display, which is a vast improvement over previous devices.

[AlexPN @ Apr 21st 2008 3:23PM]

a second monitor for my imac? is this posible?

[aggro_dude_ @ Apr 21st 2008 4:28PM]

With the Tritton DVI one:

works with mac bu only 1280 x 1024

http://shop4.outpost.com/product/5585410

[foodle @ Apr 21st 2008 4:01PM]

Unless you have a much older generation imac, they have had a video out port to drive a second monitor for some time.

[Jordan @ Apr 21st 2008 8:29PM]

The USB to DVI adapter has been out for a long time, and engadget has had several posts about it already. Why should the fact that IOGear has finally branded make any difference?

[Marc Brooks @ Apr 21st 2008 10:46PM]

Why you wouldn't buy the Sewell version that already supports OSX, I'm not sure... plus it's cheaper.

http://sewelldirect.com/USB-to-DVI-External-Video-Card-High-Resolution.asp

[Jeff @ Apr 22nd 2008 2:03AM]

Yet another DisplayLink-based product! There are two models, I think they use the same chipset and just have different amounts of RAM (the better one has 128mb, I think the lesser one is 64mb). They'll do 1280x1024 and 1600x1200 respectively, on DVI or VGA. You can see most of the companies that make them on DisplayLink's site, along with beta drivers for OSX - http://www.displaylink.com

These work fine for anything but gaming. They'll run fullscreen video alright, and I did get World of Warcraft playing on one -- nothing pretty, but it ran. The OSX drivers are lacking support for a couple of things, but they're also good enough for whatever most office users will be doing.

And a quick plug, we sell both kinds, at very reasonable prices here:
http://www.datapro.net/products/usb-to-dvi-video-adapter.html

Mention Engadget in the comments and I'll upgrade your shipping and possibly throw something fun into the order :D

[Vladmech @ Apr 22nd 2008 2:50PM]

But would this allow for 3 monitors? I'm already running a dual screen setup via 2xDVI. If this could allow a third screen for just internet pages etc I would be sold.