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How to use your laptop as a second monitor

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How to use your laptop as a second monitor

Converting the device is not as easy as simply plugging in an HDMI cord, but here's what does work.

Whether you're gaming, working or simply browsing the web, adding a second monitor is one of the best ways to upgrade your workflow. Mirroring the display, which shows the same desktop on both screens, can be handy for presentations, while extending the display gives you one wider desktop. Extending the desktop into additional screen space means more visible tabs, easier multitasking and increased productivity. But making this change does not necessarily require buying a fancy setup. If you have a spare laptop lying around at home, you can make a few small tweaks to use dual monitors without going all-in on new hardware.

Converting your laptop into a second screen is fairly straightforward but not necessarily as simple as plugging in an HDMI cable. First you need to check your computer's compatibility, consider wired versus wireless options and tweak some settings on your system to smoothly extend or mirror the display. So how, exactly, do you turn your laptop into a second monitor? Here are the steps for Windows, Mac and Linux, as well as wired options via HDMI connections.

If both your primary computer and the spare laptop you want to use as a second monitor are running Windows 10 or 11, extending or mirroring them is quite simple due to the operating systems' built-in wireless casting tools. These rely on Miracast, a functionality that enables connections between devices via Wi-Fi and requires only a quick workflow to set up.


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