One of the features that Mac users have been able to lord over their Windows counterparts has been built-in readiness for multiple displays. As far back as Mac users can remember, you could pop a video card into a Mac and have two or three displays - no muss no fuss. You had your choice of an extended desktop or a mirrored environment. The same has held true for iMacs, MacBooks, and PowerBooks, with their external video out. But, in the case of a Mac Mini or one of the laptops, the video is limited to two external devices.

Enter Matrox with their DualHead2Go. It is a small black box with a video in cable that attaches to your system, and two video out ports. It allows a Mac Mini, for example, to have an extended desktop, or a laptop to have three displays - the native screen, plus two external sources. Another advantage is that it’s easy to match the resolution of the two displays coming out of the Matrox. They have similar units for PCs, so for Windows users, who always seem to be having problems syncing to external displays, this is a solid choice. There are some limits on resolution, so check in advance to make sure that your device expectations are met. Once upon a time, video professionals always had a powered video splitter on hand which made life simpler, and preserved image quality. The Matrox DualHead2Go brings that approach back for the computer user in your life.

Harris Fogel, Posted 12/20/2007

For more information on the Matrox DualHead2Go: www.matrox.com