How many external monitors (Surface 3, NOT Surface Pro 3)

[Gergolos]

Hey community,

I couldn't find any information about this, so if I somehow missed anything, I apologize in advance!

As the name suggests, I would like to know if there is any info about the external display capabilities of the Surface 3.

I know that there will be no daisy-chaining through the Mini Display Port (Surface team on Reddit), but because of the S3 having full windows and a USB 3.0 port I was wondering if it would be possible to connect an external monitor to the display port AND the USB 3.0 port simultaneously...

EDIT: now we know that it IS possible to connect multiple monitors to the S3! check the posts #13 and #15 for the proof

I know that the S3 does not have much power for stuff like this and it is not intended to... but still it would be nice to know.

Thanks in advance!

ps: in case you want to know what I would do with the S3 and two external monitors:

I use my S2 with an external monitor quite often for browsing and surfing the web with a bigger screen. But because of the limitations coming with Windows RT (no addons for the broswers, only IE as a browser, no adobe Bridge...) I still need to use my high powered pc for doing reference gathering (I am a designer) and other types of research. So I was hoping to do all of that with the S3. I am pretty sure things like that would work out just fine with the Atom chip and one external display. But two would be awesome. I am pretty sure - if in fact the S3 is powerful enough - that I will be able to use it for all of the research and my high end PC just for work. And nope... I don't need a Surface Pro. I don't need that kind of power with me when I am travelling. I do my work at home and need bigger screens.

 

[alisaad619]

1 display up to 4K resolution

if you want multiple external display then you need to go to the Pro line

 

[jobinthomas]

Yea from the AMA they said only 1 additional display. You can daisy chain displays with the Surface 3 according to the Surface team's AMA.

 

[Gergolos]

Hey,

thanks for the replies, but where did you get that information from? As I already wrote I am aware of the Surface team (reddit ama)saying that there is not going to be daisy chaining through the display port. But that's not what I was asking: I am talking about connecting one display through the display port and another through the USB 3.0 port.... That is not daisy chaining. At least as far as I got it right...

 

[rdubmu]

On the pro3 you can connect 1 monitor the display port on the Surface Pro and 1 to the docking station.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[jvloyola]

If you use a usb ďocking station like the targus one yoi canbget up to foir monitors: table5 scr?n. Displayport on tablet. Hdmi on dock and vga on dock

If a dell venue 8 pro can do it the sp3 surely can

Vinny

Posted via the Windows Central App for Android

 

[darkest.white]

If you use a usb ďocking station like the targus one yoi canbget up to foir monitors: table5 scr?n. Displayport on tablet. Hdmi on dock and vga on dock

If a dell venue 8 pro can do it the sp3 surely can

Vinny

Posted via the Windows Central App for Android

Reading that just gave me a stroke

 

[Gergolos]

Thanks for the replies, rdubmu and jvloyola,

the capability of the of the Surface Pro 3 of doing all of this (multiple external displays) is exactly why I want to know if the Surface 3 (not Pro) can do it as well. As far as I get it right there should not be any reason for not doing it (as jvloyola mentioned even the Venue Pro 8 seems to be able to do that) as the multiple screen option is built in to windows and USB 3.0 can do it as well.

Why I am asking is because of the Surface 2 having a USB 3.0 as well, but still not being able to use it for external monitors. I of course know that windows RT and normal windows versions are not the same, but still...

If anyone finds a video or other source of any kind showing the Surface 3 (NOT Pro) connected to more than one external monitor, please share it here. Would be great!

​Thanks again

 

[Chris_Kez]

I wish during the AMA they had given a complete answer about what the Surface 3 *can do* with regards to external displays. How many, in what ways, up to what resolution, at which rates?

 

[Gergolos]

Dito!

I can imagine Microsoft trying to "save" features like multiple monitors for the Pro-line. The issue with that would be: the hardware and software from S3 is capable of doing it...I don't know how comparable the Venue Pro 8 and the S3 are, but here is a video showing the Venue Pro 8 being connected to 4 (!) monitors...

edit/

Here is another video showing the USB 3.0 dock and 3 external monitors connected to the Asus T100 tablet, which is quite comparable with the Surface 3 (although, as far as I got it, the S3 should be a bit better hardware specs wise...).

[video=youtube;1z_ejVO7VDY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=246&v=1z_ejVO7VDY[/video]

Why I am linking this video is because of the quite similar ports setup on the T100 (+keyboard dock) and the Surface 3. Both of them have a dedicated monitor-out port (T100=mini HDMI and the S3=mini display port), but also a USB 3.0 port. The dock just uses the single USB 3.0 port.. For the Surface 3 not being able to do the same, I am quite sure MS would have to block the video output from the USB 3.0 port somehow which would be a di**-move

/edit


Btw:
If you go to this link (Compare Surface Devices) you can compare all four devices (S3 and the three SP3 versions) and when you scroll down to "Connect to external displays" the column for the S3 says "max 1" and the SP3 versions all have "multiple".

When one goes to the "Help me choose" site Microsoft asks how many external displays one wants. If anything other than "one" is chosen, then the "You should probably get a Surface Pro"-counter gets a +1... So at least on their official site Microsoft definitely wants the Surface 3 to seem like it would not be able to connect to multiple external screens...

Let us hope that is not correct...

 

[P_Devil]

For the Surface 3 not being able to do the same, I am quite sure MS would have to block the video output from the USB 3.0 port somehow which would be a di**-move

I don't think they can do that, not without breaking USB standards. I wouldn't be surprised if the Surface 3 can handle multiple monitors when using USB and the DisplayPort. I think the biggest thing is that Microsoft has blocked multiple monitor output from the DisplayPort. I don't think they have blocked anything else. We won't really know until someone tries but I just don't see Microsoft doing something special with the Surface 3 just to block something that older, less powerful Windows tablets, can do. I understand blocking the DisplayPort as they have to give some reasons for getting the Surface Pro but not the USB ports (or 3rd party software/drivers).

 

[Gergolos]

I don't think they can do that, not without breaking USB standards. I wouldn't be surprised if the Surface 3 can handle multiple monitors when using USB and the DisplayPort. I think the biggest thing is that Microsoft has blocked multiple monitor output from the DisplayPort. I don't think they have blocked anything else. We won't really know until someone tries but I just don't see Microsoft doing something special with the Surface 3 just to block something that older, less powerful Windows tablets, can do. I understand blocking the DisplayPort as they have to give some reasons for getting the Surface Pro but not the USB ports (or 3rd party software/drivers).

That is exactly what I think/hope!

I have great news btw. I contacted the great Sean Ong today. He is going to produce one of his amazing "Tips and Tricks"-videos again. This time for the Surface 3. I asked him if he could try out the external monitor setup (multiple displays). He sent me a reply and told me that he is going to get a docking station and check it out for us

So let's hope everything works out fine

ps: In case you don't know who Sean Ong is, you definitely should check out his youtube channel. Pretty great stuff about all the possibilities the Surface line (and other electronics) offers...

 

[Gergolos]

Ok, more great news!

Sean tested it out and gave me a shout:

As you can see he was able to connect the S3 to two monitors. He connected his TV with an USB-HDMI-DVI adapter with the USB 3.0 port. His Surface Pro 3 (as a monitor) was connected through the mini display port.

So: BAM! It works! We now know that at least two monitors are able to be connected to the S3. He is going to test it with the docking station soon (with more monitors), so let's wait and see...

 

[onkel_axel]

great news

 

[Gergolos]

BAM, here you go!

short answer: it IS totally possible to connect more than one external display to the Surface 3!

longer answer: check out the new video from Sean Ong (starting at min 03:07)