Reviews – Sitecom USB2 VGA Adaptor – Revolutionary Adaptor For Multiple Monitors

Reviews - Sitecom USB2 VGA Adaptor - Revolutionary Adaptor For Multiple Monitors

"So you wanna be a stockbroker, or at least look like one?

Forget the Saville Row suit and invest in a matrix of TFT displays"

If there were awards for versatility in the personal computing market (and there most probably are) then the innovation of the USB port would without a doubt clench the no1 position. USB the universal peripheral-to-computer connection has slowly been expanding its grip over, well, anything that attaches itself to a computer: Keyboards, mice, printers, items that traditionally all had their own little plugs are now available with USB connectors. Even if your state of the art widget doesn't come with a USB connector a veritable sea of adaptors are available for you to convert your Serial, PS2 or LPT into USB. The world's love of USB probably stems from its ease of use; Your partially sighted techno-phobic Grandmother could

However one peripheral that has traditionally never been USB compatible; neither in the direct or adaptor forms is the computer monitor. The fact that your computer need to pass display data though a graphics card meant that unless monitor manufacturers embedded graphics chips into their monitors, a monitor could never stray from its VGA connector. And there is no problem with that. I challenge you to find a computer without a VGA port on the back; even laptops these days have a spare VGA port allowing you to extend your desktop over two monitors. But there cometh the problem: What do you do if you want an extra monitor on your desktop computer and you only have one VGA port? What do you do if you want to look like a pretentious stockbroker or graphic artist with a matrix of shiny TFT screens?

Well first of all I would like to point out that there is nothing pretentious about having three or five screens on your desk. Its cool; or at least cooler and a hell of a lot more functional than a plethora of neon lights and acrylic case-mods found at your local LAN party. But getting back to the point. Traditionally, you would need to purchase and fit extra graphics cards to your desktop. Laptop computers are generally limited to the one single VGA port allowing only one extra monitor to be used in conjunction with the laptop screen; a non-starter for any aspiring laptop commodities trader.

That is of course, until now, with the birth of the worlds first USB2 to VGA adaptor from Sitecom. The incarnation of such an adaptor marks the conquest of USB over the peripheral market. Finally one can effectively plug any VGA monitor into any USB2 port paving the way for ordinary Joe to transform his bachelor pad into the international nerve centre of… well, 43 Acacia Avenue.

The adaptor functions as an external USB graphics card packed into a silver box smaller than your average glasses case. Setup is easy and Sitecom provides you with all the documentation and software you need to get started. However being the worlds first such adaptor means that it isn't without fault. As much as we loved the adaptor and everything it stands for, bear in mind the following before you rush out and buy a trolley-load with the intention of creating at 40ft video-wall.

Firstly, the adaptor can only support resolutions of 1024x768 under 16bit colour mode. Increasing the colour mode to true colour or 32bit means reducing the resolution to 800x600 - Hardly ideal if you just splashed out on a couple of 19" TFT's. Neither can the adaptor support any fancy-pants 3D applications or games, indeed the USB2 format isn't as fast as the traditional VGA option. Running something simple like the Windows Beziers screensaver was jerky and the driver provides no support for screen rotation. As a result the adaptor is unsuitable for high-end graphics or video editing users, but this does not make it a bad product.

Sitecom's USB2 VGA adaptor is a godsend for web developers, programmers and brokers alike. Even home users can benefit by browsing the web using multiple monitors or creating reports for work or school; writing on one monitor and researching on another. The true increase in productivity is something that can only be grasped when tried for yourself. And in a similar case, when you revert to using a computer system with only once screen you will most likely become utterly frustrated with the bunching-up of applications on the windows taskbar. And while you won't be able to span your favourite 3D 'shootemup' over multiple monitors with this adaptor, it doesn't mean that you can't play the game on you current screen and have a map or list of cheats up on the other. This adaptor cannot be praised enough. It is the keystone in USB's one-for-all philosophy. You saw it here first; expect it to be copied a thousand times over within the next year or two.