External monitor question

[moneypitfeeder]

Question regarding connecting an older Macbook Pro (13" early 2011) to external monitors. First off, please forgive my port/cable/connection ignorance :) I have been able to connect a single external monitor to my laptop through the thunderbolt port to an adapter that is a Thunderbolt mini DP to VGA-HDMI-DVI (see image). I have read that thunderbolts can be daisy-chained to allow for 2 displays, but I haven't a clue how to go about this. I'd like to be able to use my 2 larger monitors (have VGA & DVI ports) and close my laptop, as the 13" screen, while a very nice picture is really small and hard to use for reading. Can anyone recommend something in layman's terms (hopefully inexpensive) to allow me to connect to 2 screens. Not looking to upgrade computer or screens anytime soon. Thx!

[BudgetSlasher]

Looking at the specs of a Macbook Pro 13" early 2011 (https://support.apple.com/kb/sp619?locale=en_US) your system has thunderbolt, not thunderbolt 2 or thunderbolt 3.

I quick google leads to this result, https://support.apple.com/en-au/guide/mac-help/mchl7c7ebe08/mac

For Mac computers with Mini DisplayPort, Thunderbolt [emphasis is mine] or Thunderbolt 2: You can connect up to two displays. If the displays themselves have Thunderbolt ports, you can connect one display to another and then connect one of the displays to a Thunderbolt port on your Mac. If your Mac has two Thunderbolt ports, you can connect each display to separate Thunderbolt ports on your Mac. A DisplayPort device must be the last device in a chain of connected Thunderbolt devices. See Connect a display, TV or projector to Mac.

So as I understand how apple intended it, your monitors will not work, you need to go unadapted from the Macbook Pro's thunderbolt to display 1's thunderbolt and then from another port of display 1 to display 2 (this is also my understanding of daisy chaining).

Perhaps, and likely, there is a work around of kludge to get there. If so maybe someone else will chime in.

[moneypitfeeder]

Thank you, and yes, my monitors do not have thunderbolt ports, and my laptop only has 1 thunderbolt (I think the original type) port.