Which is better: Dock II or Mini-Dock

[The Weissman]

I can get the Dock II (2877-10U) for $180 or the Mini-Dock (2878-10U)for $140 for my new T42 (2379-DXU). I've been reading up and these are the differences that mean the most to me:

Dock II pro: has an Ultrabay 2000 bay (good for my NEC ND-6500A DVD burner) and a half-PCI slot for possible future use.

Dock II con: loud fan (but I could disconnect it).

Dock II + Mini-Dock con: the DVI port is passthrough; since my T42 has no DVI port, it will not be functional.

Dock II + Mini-Dock: can be used with Dell 2001FP at 1600x1200 native resolution, if using ATI Catalyst drivers.

I'm looking for further guidance. Can anybody offer help, particulary those who have used either or both of these?

Steve

[redsb3]

I have the Dock II, drawback is you need a lot of real estate on your desk for it. Box itself is 12 X 6 1/2 inches, then of course your T-Pad sticks out in front of it. Plus side, every connection you can think of including PCMCIA's in the back (good for IEEE1394 card (firewire). Honestly, I don't know where that fan crap came from. Perhaps if your in a dead silent room, yes you would hear it if you concentrated on listening for it, otherwise I don't notice it. Great addition to my home office, not sorry I bought it. And your wrong about the DVI port, it works just fine, I have a 1905FP attached to it right now.

[RonS]

I have a Dock II and it's great, but I opened it up and disconnected the fan because it was so loud. I couldn't stand it anymore. I have 5 Dell desktop computers on in my office right now (plus my Thinkpad plus a Dell notebook) and the fan on the Dock II was far louder than all of the others combined. (To be fair, the Dell desktop's are extremely quiet).

It's not difficult to disconnect the fan power. It's a little white plug you see on the bottom of an opened-up dock. I almost clipped the fan wires before I saw the plug.

After unplugging the Dock's fan, I've never had any heat problems, but just to be safe, I left the door off of the PCI slot area. I run a 9250 graphics card in in the PCI slot, DVI cable, network, 2 USB, PCMCIA firewire, sound and keyboard plugged into the dock. I just felt around the Dock and it's barely warm to the touch.

[jack NYC]

I have the dock II as well.
2 questions regarding the use of the dock:

Whenever I undock ( I have the same DVI setup with the Dell 1905fp too, how weird!) How can I return to the same state of monitor sizing and configuration, I keep having to go back and set it all up again?

Where di you find a half size graphics card? any ideas for finding half height cards out there?

Thanks
Jack

[wuy30]

I have the dock II as well.
2 questions regarding the use of the dock:

Whenever I undock ( I have the same DVI setup with the Dell 1905fp too, how weird!) How can I return to the same state of monitor sizing and configuration, I keep having to go back and set it all up again?

Where di you find a half size graphics card? any ideas for finding half height cards out there?

Thanks
Jack

use the presentation director, Fn+F7, There are options in there that you can set up custom config. try that.

[redsb3]

jack NYC, would like to help you but I honestly don't know the answer. I have never had to reset mine at all. I reattach to the dock, turn it on and it is just like I left it. I thought it has some kind of dock profile similar to Dell's because my settings are always exactly the way I left it, and it definitely knows if it's docked or not.

I just looked up on Access Ibm, under Protect & Recover, typed docking profile in the keyword search and it had some information listed. According to IBM if your running WXP, it should automatically generate a docked profile, also says you can change screen settings by using the display properties window. Funny, I have never needed to adjust mine at all.

[The Weissman]

Well, I've made my decision, and bought the Dock II, refurbished for $180 shipped. Should have it in a few days. Thanks, everyone, for your input.

Steve