How to turn any laptop into a dual screen laptop

Laptops are portable miracle machines that let you work (or play) whenever and wherever you want. Unfortunately, its limited displays also limit your productivity compared to a dual-monitor desktop. But what if you could have that on the go?

Dual-Screen Laptops Are Cool (But Expensive)

At the higher end of the laptop spectrum, we’re looking at some amazing laptop concepts that integrate multiple displays. The Asus ROG Zephyrus Duo has a bright secondary touchscreen that appears above the keyboard when you open the laptop.

The Lenovo Yogabook i9 packs a full vertical dual-monitor setup into its slim frame, with the option to convert it to a side-by-side portrait setup if that’s your thing.

However, these amazing productivity and entertainment laptops come at eye-popping prices, and do you really want to buy a whole new laptop just to add a second screen? The good news is that there are more than a few options for adding a second screen to your mobile laptop without buying a whole new laptop!

Use a portable monitor instead

Portable monitors are essentially laptop monitors without the laptop. They usually come in the popular 15.4-inch size, but are available in other sizes as well. Some of these monitors have HDMI or other traditional display inputs, but usually the monitor works over USB.

These displays are battery-free and slim enough to fit in the same laptop bag or sleeve you’re using for your computer. So it’s as simple as pop out the screen, plug it in and get to work.

Mount a laptop screen extender

Portable monitors are great for turning your humble single-screen laptop into a productivity monster, but they have a downside when it comes to space. First, you can’t use them on your lap, and second, you may not always have enough tabletop space to put the monitor on.

This is where a laptop screen “extender” comes to the rescue. This is a monitor system or monitor mounting system that connects the additional screens to the main body of the laptop. With this solution, the space your laptop takes up remains the same, since the additional monitors do not touch the floor.

yes we said monitors, because these extenders are also available in tri-monitor formats. This of course raises the legitimate question of whether your laptop can support the weight of an additional monitor attached to it. In most cases, these monitors are so light that they easily fit within the main display’s weight capacity, but if you’re using an ultra-thin and light laptop, it’s worth double-checking if it’s officially supported. Otherwise, contact the extender manufacturer and ask if their product will work with your computer.

Turn your phone or tablet into a secondary screen

If you already own an iPad or Android tablet, chances are you can use it as an extended USB or wireless display with your laptop. In the case of an iPad, you can use Apple’s Sidecar or with a third-party solution. Though possibly Apple’s new Universal Remote feature may be a more powerful way to combine an iPad and a Mac.

Unfortunately, Android tablet owners don’t have such an easy solution, but certain brands of Android tablets, such as Samsung Galaxy tablets, have similar solutions. Don’t worry if your Android tablet doesn’t have a brand-specific solution though, as you can use apps like Duet Display with any tablet that meets the app’s requirements.

RELATED: How to make your iPad work like a laptop

Try a VR headset

The latest way to add more monitors to your laptop might seem a bit out of the question, but you can use a VR headset like the Quest 2 to create a virtual workspace with multiple virtual desktops. In this case, you’re not using your laptop monitor, but instead creating a virtual workstation without dragging around multiple physical screens.

We don’t recommend using this solution in public places like coffee shops or airport lounges, but if you have a private workspace like a hotel room, it’s actually a pretty amazing solution. The two main apps you should know about are Virtual Desktop and Immersed.