I had an EVE Online account several years ago and had a great time playing the game. Due to work and time constraints, I haven’t played seriously for a few years, but I am looking to get back to a regular playing schedule. I am also planning on upgrading my laptop in the near future, and I was curious as to if I will be able to have a dual-screen setup using a laptop. I have seen videos of people using multiple monitors, but I have always seen them connected to a desktop computer. Would a laptop/monitor combination still serve the same purpose and be able to function in the same manner? I’m not sure if this is the correct place to ask this question, but I am not very familiar with the forums and this seemed like a good place to start.
Most laptops have an external port for extra monitors… MiniDP/HDMI/VGA. You can still use the laptop display as well.
You can also get USB video adapters and video signal splitters.
You can also get USB or proprietary docking stations and port replicators that will give you multiple monitor ports.
One thing you have to be aware of would be the limitations of the video card in the laptop. You might have issues driving multiple high resolution monitors.
Okay, great. I just wasn’t sure whether I could get the same dual-screen experience using a laptop screen and a monitor instead of two dedicated monitors. I don’t think the video card will be an issue, I am planning on meeting the recommended settings for EVE with the new machine (either a mid to high level standard laptop, or a mid level gaming laptop). As long as I meet the recommended (not minimum) system requirements, do you think I would be okay running the game on the laptop and a monitor? I will be the first to admit, I am not the most well-versed in computer functionality (beyond the basics). I appreciate all of your help!
Windows detects the two monitors because they are plugged into 2 different HDMI / video ports. The game then gets these settings from Windows and allows you to either:
Choose which screen to show the game environment on, so you can have 2 accounts logged in, one per screen.
or
Stretch the EVE screen across both monitors, resulting in a resolution of 3840 x 1080. You can then use the in-game position offsets to bring your ship towards the center of the left screen, and put your map, Overview, and other “data” screens centered on the right screen.
Unfortunately, laptop Windows usually only gives 2 options: turn one screen off, or mirror the two screens so they show the same image. This is why the other players above are suggesting that you get a USB video adapter or an HDMI splitter, and you can check whether this will work either on your current laptop, or on your new one. Basically, if you can get Windows on your laptop to show you two different screens, say half the internet on one and half on the other, then you’ll be able to do that with EVE too. If there are no such configuration options in the Windows Display Control Panel, then you can’t do that with EVE either.
I haven’t seen a laptop in a long time that didn’t offer mirror or extended desktop (which gives you multiple seperate displays). The only issue that would concern me is resolution. For example, the Surface Book claims to be able to drive multiple 4k monitors. However, in practice it has difficulty with 2 external 4k monitors if the LCD on the book is enabled.
— However 4K graphics is not supported in Eve Online, so it’s a bit of a moot point.