Why Does My Mouse Lag On A Second Monitor? [SOLVED]

Many people find that once they hook up their laptop to an external monitor, or add an additional display to a setup, their mouse starts to act a little odd. Specifically by beginning to lag when the cursor is moved across to work on the new screen.

In most cases, mouse lag is due to there being a mismatch of the refresh rates between two different monitors. The second most common reason is due to the computer receiving and interpreting the signal from the mouse a little too slowly, normally a problem with the USB connection. 

Both of these problems can also be easily fixed.

Reasons why your mouse may be lagging on a second monitor

There are a few reasons why a mouse may be lagging on a second monitor and we’re going to go through each of them here.

If the first solution doesn’t seem to be working, move on and try the next one.

Mismatched refresh rates on your monitors 

The problem we have here is that the Windows operating system isn’t brilliant at dealing with multiple monitor set-ups. 

You will know that the mouse lag is a by-product of a difference in the refresh rates of your monitor if it feels as if the mouse cursor is ‘resisting’, almost as if you need to put in a little bit more effort to move it about when the cursor lands on the second monitor.

There are a few steps that you will need to go through to fix this.

Update your graphic card drivers

Your first job is to ensure that your graphic card drivers are up to date.

This short (4 min) video produced by Techddictive provides shows a useful step-by-step guide on how to check and update the drivers of your graphics card. 

Adjust the refresh rate on your monitor

If that doesn’t fix your lag issues, then you are going to need to dive into the display options and start tinkering with your monitor settings. Don’t worry though this is dead simple to do (skip straight to the show-tell video below if you are more of a visual learner).

This process can vary depending on the operating system that you are using. These instructions work for Windows 10 and the upcoming Windows 11 release:

• Right-click on a blank spot on your desktop. Select ‘Display Options’
• Click on the monitor number that is causing you issues.
• Scroll down and select ‘Advanced Display Options’
• Select ‘Display Adapter Properties for Display’
• Select ‘Monitor’
• Adjust the refresh rate to 60hz (or whatever is the highest frequency that can be matched between the monitors)  and click ‘Save’

If the lag still hasn’t disappeared, then it’s time to check the other monitor using the same steps  to ensure that it is also set to 60hz.

Change the port being used to connect the mouse

If you have a wireless mouse, then there could be some sort of interference that is impacting the connection signal.

Try and change up the USB port that the receiver is plugged into. Sometimes, you’ll find that it doesn’t work brilliantly if it is plugged into a particular port or an external device.

Before you go…

Mouse issues aside, a multi-monitor setup is generally a wise choice for getting more stuff done. There are however ways to improve your setup even further and the following articles will give you the lowdown how to do so.

• 2 Monitors vs 3 Monitors: Which Is Best For Productivity?
• How Much Will A Dual Monitor Setup Increase Your Power Consumption?
• Do External Monitors Decrease Laptop Performance?