I'm trying to determine if I can run two EXTERNAL monitors on a laptop. Can it be done? If so, any suggestions?

google for vtbook

To read your question verbatim and absolutely literally, you are essentially asking for a total of 3 distinct screens, the two external, and the one internal. Of that I don't yet have any firsthand knowledge :-(However, if your question could be construed as asking for a total of two full-size displays, then how about a 17" LCD laptop with a second larger panel connected externally? I assume you are aware that many (most?) laptops shipped in recent years have graphics controllers which offer separately independent frame buffers for the internal and external displays. You can check to see whether a particular laptop has this capability by going into the Control Panel --> Display --> Settings, and looking to see if in addition to the rectangle with a number 1 in it, if there is a second rectangle with a number 2 in it (possibly grayed-out).For what it's worth, the Sony VAIO laptops with 17" 1920x1200 Xbrite LCD are simply stunning ;-)While it may not be what you intended, another alternative is to have multiple laptops connected by a network hub, and then running a remote windowing system, such as: X windows (aka X11), or PC Anywhere, or Citrix, etc. Even though your apps would display on the extraneous laptops, their execution could actually all be happening on just one of the laptops.---------------------------------------------------P.S. Keep in mind that while the memory inside of the vtbook runs at 266MHz (common for video controllers), its CardBus interface runs at 33 MHz, (i.e. bottleneck). This matters for some apps and less so for others; probably not so bad for most quant work. (unless you're animating large matrices in MatLab)

Anyone familiar with USB 2.0 to SVGA? Seems to be the easy, cheap option for dual monitors off a laptop?

I don't know your exact needs, but it seems to me that anywhere you could plug in the two external monitors could also power your PC.Is it the case that what you actually want is in fact a PC that's easy to lug around ?In that case, you should look at low form factor PCs.

I have a laptop that I use both at the office and home...I need to have it hooked up to two external monitors when I'm at home but in the office it's only used for email and instant messages, so no need to have dual monitors while here.

Seems like a good place to ask again: Anybody know how I can rotate the aspect ratio, so my screen is taller than it is wide?

Every Apple store I've been to has one of these set up, in case you're considering doing this on a Mac. The cinema displays are just stunning.

Get a docking station with a PCI slot. Then you can install a dual output graphics card.