Diamond BVU5500 USB 3.0 to 4K DisplayPort Graphics Adapter Review

Introduction

So you’ve just bought that amazing new 4K monitor and you’re loving the resolution and stunning images, except every time you get back to your notebook or other older computer that can’t handle such a resolution. Diamond comes to the rescue with their BVU5500 USB 3.0 to 4K Display Port Adapter.

The Diamond BVU5500 features DisplayLink’s 4K technology with a DisplayPort 1.2 plug and adds this to your old laptop, tablet or computer, increasing the resolutions up to four times that of 1080P. If one extra monitor shouldn’t be enough for you, then just add some more. You can have up to six BVU5500 adapters connected at the same time, increasing your PCs capability with six times 4k resolution.

The device in itself is very simple and relative small. It has a short USB cable attached at one end, a DisplayPort 1.2 at the other end, and the side offers two 3.5mm audio jacks. On the bottom it has 4 small rubber feet for better surface grip where it’s placed as well as a sticker with the serial and model numbers. The weight of 90 grams and size of 80 x 48 x 25 mm also make it highly portable so you can take it with you where ever you need it.

This is such a simple tool, yet so useful. It is also one of those gadgets when used once, you just can’t seem to think how you ever lived without it before. At least when you own a 4K monitor like I do and also have a lot of older systems running for different tasks. It’s only the newest that support 4K natively and this already makes the Diamond BVU5500 adapter a winner in my book.

The adapter is almost plug and play, it will require you to either download the drivers or install them from the included disk. It only takes a couple of seconds and Windows will recognize the adapter and extend your desktop; It could hardly be any easier.

Inside it features a DisplayLink DL-5500 chipset that can handle a maximum resolution of 3840×2160, and the BVU5500 also supports HDCP 2.0 protected video playback. It is compatible with Windows 7, 8, and 8.1 and only requires a 1.2GHz CPU with SSE2 support to work. For 4K resolution you’ll need a system that is a little faster, recommended is an Intel Core i5 with 2GHz or more. You’ll also need to have a 4K capable display, a USB 3.0 or 2.0 port, 30 megabytes of free disk space, 1GB system memory, and either a CD/DVD drive or an internet connection to get the drivers.

“Updates to the screen are automatically detected and compressed using the DisplayLink compression technology (DL2+ or DL3). This adaptive compression technology automatically balances the compression methods based on the content, available CPU power, and USB bandwidth, providing the best possible USB graphics experience at any given moment.”