Village Tronic Vibook

Most computers that have a separate graphics card can have two screens connected to them at once, but Village Tronic’s Vibook allows you to connect of up to six extra monitors to a computer.

The Vibook supports PCs that use Vista and Windows 7 as well as Mac computers and some earlier versions of Windows.

It enables the user to add extra monitors (as long as they have VGA or DVI sockets) to the computer, using a USB connection, so if your computer does not have two monitor outputs or you need an extra one, it’s a great idea.

Officially it supports screens with resolutions up to 1600x1200 pixels but it did a good job on our larger test widescreen models, with resolutions of 1920x1080 and 1680x1050.

The device is a smart way to get extra screen space when all of your computer’s monitor connections are in use. It’s capable of extending the desktop display up, down, left or right, or mirroring it from one screen onto many.

It is best plugged into a USB port connected directly to the computer, though it also operated effectively when it was plugged into a USB hub.

It worked perfectly for viewing a large spreadsheet all at once, or displaying multiple applications. Where it falls down is on video (watching films, for instance) and games, because of the limited amount of data that can be transferred using a USB connection.

The ViBook is beautifully crafted. It is smaller than most portable music players and has a 1.5m USB cable that plugs into the PC. The socket on the other side is a DVI connector, which plugs into a monitor.

Adapters are supplied for other DVI sockets and VGA connections, along with a cradle to mount the Vibook discreetly on the back of a monitor using the provided screws or adhesive strips.

An installation CD containing drivers and software, which allows users to configure the multiple displays easily, completes the package.

Village Tronic deliver the product from Italy, so expect delivery times of two or three days.