Dual-monitors with one VGA port?
Would it be possible to use some sort of splitter to make Windows display to the other monitor as if I had two ports (both unique, not cloning from the primary.)?
Theoretically yes, but it would be non-trivial as the device would need to be able to read the DDC information of both monitors and return fake DDC information to the computer for a display large enough to span across both, and then it would need to reprocess the VGA signals coming from the computer and insert appropriate timing sequences for each monitor. I know of no device that does this.
The Matrox DualHead2Go can do that for you. I believe it simply creates a virtual monitor that is twice as wide as the attached monitors, and then splits the resulting signal and sends it to the respective physical monitor.
As Xantec pointed out in the comments, they also have a 3-monitor version which can handle up to 3 monitors.
There is a device that will add a second VGA connection using a USB port. Is that a possible solution? If so, I can find you a link.
If you have a USB port, you can pick up a USB to DVI or VGA connector cheaper than most video cards.
- Plugable USB to DVI ~$65 - I use this one and it's dead simple to install.
- Plugable USB to VGA ~$45