Hooking Microsoft Surface Pro 3 up to USB monitor

Question

I have a Surface Pro 3 and I tried hooking up my Toshiba 14" USB monitor (PA3923U-2LC3) to it with the supplied USB cord. The Surface reported that the monitor was attempting to draw too much power.

I am assuming I could plug in a powered USB port and that would work but toting that around starts missing the point of a super-lite computer. The USB cord for the monitor has a second connector for plugging into another USB port in the case of a USB port not providing enough power. Can I plug this into the USB power port on the Surface's power supply without concern of hurting my Surface?

Answer 1

That USB port only is there to draw more power if it needs it. You can plug it into the Surface's power supply and nothing bad should happen.

The USB spec specifies that only 5V should be drawn, max, from any one power port. Some devices adhere to this more strictly than others (and in the case of Apple, won't allow the device to draw more than 5V unless it performs a special "handshake" first, that only their own devices will perform).