Thinkpads Forum

Before anyone asks or complains, let me say that I consciously decided to add this new post to pose some questions rather than put it as a reply at the end of the "Mini Review of the Advanced Dock and T60p" thread. That "Mini Review" thread has gotten mired down (IMHO) in the issue of whether or not the dock supports simultaneous use of both the internal (in the T60) video card and an external (in the dock) video card to drive 3 monitors.

Here's my situation: I just want to dock the T60 and then use a video card installed in the Advanced Dock to drive one (1) external monitor. I don't care about driving a second (or third) monitor using the T60's internal video card while the ThinkPad is docked.

So, my "simple" questions are these:

Has anyone tested this configuration such that they can make recommendations of specific brands and models of video cards that will work in the Advanced Dock as I've described above? I'm not looking for a "high-end" card that requires a supplemental power line (which the Dock doesn't have) because I want to stay within the parameters specified by Lenovo.

Be advised that I am looking for the "best" card in terms of processing power and RAM. I am thinking at least an ATI X1300 series board with 256K on-board RAM (not HyperMemory) or an equivalent NVIDIA-based board such as a 7600 or 7800 series.

I'm hoping to buy the "revised" Advanced Dock before Monday the 11th (the end of Lenovo's $254 sale).

Thanks in advance for your time in answering my questions.

Try the X1300 card from VisionTek. Bought mine from Best Buy. Connect3D also works, but I had problems driving a 30" monitor.

May I ask why you don't want to use the DVI or VGA output already present on the Advanced Dock? The card in the laptop's pretty good already, certainly comparable to a graphics card such as the X1300. Also you won't have to put up with the loud whirr of the dock fans cooling the PCIe bay...

Wallybear said:

I'm hoping to buy the "revised" Advanced Dock before Monday the 11th (the end of Lenovo's $254 sale).

You may want to confirm that the Lenovo website will let you do so. I've been spec'ing a machine to buy and, since last night (US east coast), I've not been able to get to the point where I can actually add a selection to the shopping cart, regardless if I'm trying to buy an R, T or X60. I get the following message:

Our apologies

An error has occurred and the content you requested cannot be displayed.

Update:
Was finally able to get past the error by opening a saved shopping cart.