Thinkpads Forum

I recently purchased a T60 with the Intel GMA 950 graphics card. Would like to get the advanced docking station and drive an external monitor via DVI. What's the max supported output resolution I can expect? In particular, can it do 1920*1200 on a 24'' widescreen? Please note that I'm not interested in VGA output.

I've seen some related discussions on this board but they tend to involve fancier graphics cards -- not sure how much that matters.

This should help...

http://www.intel.com/products/chipsets/gma950/

I seem to recall reading somewhere that the 950 does not support the DVI in the external docking station. You might call 800-IBM-SERV to double check if you don't get an answer here.

The 950 is the best graphics in terms of battery usage. I use a Dell 24" 2407 1920x1200 display on VGA of my X60 with good results (tho not like DVI).

According to Lenovo's website:

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... 2#graphics

"Support for a DVI monitor (available on select models with discrete graphics chipsets) is through the ThinkPad docking options and is limited to a resolution of 60 Hz mode. "

I have no direct knowledge if DVI is supported on integrated models, but Lenovo says DVI is NOT supported. YMMV. GP

Hmm, that's a bummer. I wish they could have stated that a little more clearly somewhere. I just called the support line and the guy I was talking to confirmed that the 950 does not support DVI, though he seemed to be reading from the same web page you're quoting from. I don't suppose there's anyone out there with evidence to the contrary?

Oh well, I guess I'll have to live with VGA output... Can someone at least confirm that the 950 can do 1920*1200 via VGA with good quality (refresh rate etc.)? Or if not, what native resolution I should shoot for.

As another option, could I drive a 1920*1200 monitor digitally through some kind of expansion card? Maybe I'm fretting too much over this, but I've seen one too many negative comments about the VGA-out quality of the ThinkPads.

dfumento wrote:I use a Dell 24" 2407 1920x1200 display on VGA of my X60 with good results (tho not like DVI).

And, of course, the X60 uses the GMA 950 just like the OP's T60. I agree that the Dell 1920x1200 LCD looks perfectly acceptable when driven with my X60s's (also uses GMA 950) VGA output. I have seen what a bad VGA image looks like; the output from the GMA 950 much nicer.

pianowizard wrote:And, of course, the X60 uses the GMA 950 just like the OP's T60. I agree that the Dell 1920x1200 LCD looks perfectly acceptable when driven with my X60s's (also uses GMA 950) VGA output. I have seen what a bad VGA image looks like; the output from the GMA 950 much nicer.

Indeed ... VGA output is not necessarily evil. My X31's output (using Intel 855 chipset) also looks very good to me on my Dell 1600x1200 IPS display.

vga isnt necessarily evil, but once you've gone dvi, you dont got back.

i had a ati 7500 t42 connected via dvi and a geforce 6600gt (desktop) connected by vga to a dell 20" both at 1600x1200, the difference was clear to see, no pun intended.