Photo gallery: EVGA UV Plus+Design and Features
DisplayLink has been kicking around for a little while now, and products are starting to tip up featuring the technology, including Asus' VW223B. At its heart, it's a technology that allows you to hook up a display using USB — and although there are limitations, it does have specific applications.
EVGA's implementation is a box that features a USB port at one end, and a DVI port at the other. The set up is simple — plug the supplied retractable USB cord into your PC, then plug your monitor into the DVI port (via the DVI to VGA adapter if necessary). Install the software, and you're away.
Once things are up and running, an application appears in the system tray giving quick access to the monitor's functions — only the rotate feature is unique though, as everything else can be accessed through the Windows control panel.
Performance
Being hobbled by USB 2.0 bandwidth, the UV Plus+ comes with some limitations — for a start, it'll only display up to 1,650x1,050 pixels. The graphics adapter inside the box also has no form of 3D acceleration, so don't expect to be playing games on the USB enabled monitor, and unless your CPU is grunty enough to take the weight, you may struggle running 1080p video. Scaling of video is also not great compared to a video card, with noticeable pixellation of our test video when scaled to full screen.
We suspect the market for DisplayLink devices is reasonably niche due to its limitations, however, for those doing simple office-type work who need a cheap way to add a bunch of extra monitors to one video source, it could prove a compelling solution.
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