I don’t know how many of you out there seem like you are stuck by the number of monitors that you would like to have on your Mac or PC. I myself use a MacMini in my office and  this Mac has only 1 DVI video out port on it. At first, it really wasn’t a problem. I was using a 19 inch Samsung monitor that got the job done (before this, I used a 14″ iBook and this was a big step up from that). A couple of months ago, I decided to splurge and get a 22 inch Acer monitor. I do a bit of graphic design and the extra screen space was great for that type of work. So now, I have two monitors and only one port. Well, it was off to the closet for the 19 inch monitor until I could find someone who needed it.

The day for that monitor has arrived! Enter the EVGA UV-16 USB video card. This little box, which measures only 2 inches by 2 inches uses a USB 2.0 port on your computer and adds a DVI out port so if you only have 1 built in port, you can add this and connect a second monitor!

I installed this device on my MacMini. I had seen some others talk about it on the internet and it really didn’t get glowing reviews by other users, so I was a little apprehensive, but the prospect of setting that second monitor up (which had cost me $175) shoved those apprehensions aside. This little box came with a little wind-up USB 2.0 cable (which seemed a little flimsy) and a DVI to VGA adapter for connecting older monitors. The physical connection took all of 2 minutes to complete. After that, I had to download updated drivers for the Macintosh from the internet (which are not included in the package, only Windows XP and Vista drivers come on the CD). They quickly installed and then a few minutes later, I had full use of both monitors.

Now, the second monitor works great, but not flawlessly. You cannot play full-screen video on the second monitor on the Mac (I did manage to get this working in WindowsXP after a little bit of tweaking). Also, if you move open windows around on the second monitor, you may notice it get a little laggy. And finally, sometimes, the desktop picture seems to change itself when I log in to the Mac. Those, these are mostly minor annoyances that I overlook as I am mainly using the second display for things such as email.

Overall, I would say that the EVGA UV-16 is a great value for the price (I picked it up for $69 at CompUSA). EVGA claims that you can use up to 6 of these devices on a single computer! I think I’ll stick with my one external monitor for now.