Thinkpads Forum

I'm thinking maybe to get a Dell 30". but looks like those monitors needs dual DVI inputs .
what do i need to do to be able to do this ?

form what i know i need a docking station with dedicated video card that got two outputs. is this correct ? or is there any other cheaper option ?


i am thinking to get maybe instead a ViewSonic 28" 1920x1200 that wont need any fancy hardware to run it. but i have no idea how 1920x1200 looks like on 28" LCD.

thanks Dan

you don't need two physical DVI ports.   you just need an advanced mini dock.   it has a dual-link DVD-I port on it.

nice, so it's simpler then i thought.
does it support 2560x1600 resolution ?

thanks

this question is asked like once a week it seems

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=22358

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=30979

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=50574

I'm a bit slow in understanding this and would appreciate someone spelling it out.

To get 2560x1600 resolution out of a Thinkpad from a DVI-D port, do I need to:
a. Buy a docking station and any Thinkpad?
b. Buy a docking station and plug a PCI-E video card in it?
c. Buy a docking station and a Thinkpad workstation with discrete graphics?
d. Either b. or c.?

The DVI port of the Advanced Mini Dock is a pass through. The DVI pins are in the laptop to dock connector and the dock just routes them to a real DVI connector. This pass through includes the additional pins needed to drive the 30in monitors (Dual DVI pins).

Whether this will work depends on whether the laptop drives the extra pins or not. The same dock is used by many laptops (T, R and Z series) with a variety of graphics options.

For a description of the various DVI connectors and options, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVI

Thanks, sglaser.

How can I find out which laptops will drive the DVI-D pins and which won't?

Lenovo doesn't make it easy to find out.

Sites like ati http://ati.amd.com/products/workstation ... atrix.html can help verify that the chips are capable of doing it. That's clearly a prerequisite.

Google search shows some folks have done it with FireGL V5200 (T60, Z61p). Sometimes they needed updated manufacturer drivers.

My display is 1920x1200 so I haven't had that pain.

Thanks again sglaser.

To who it may concern - I read in the following link that 140M isn't enough to run a 30'' monitor.

http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/02/14 ... nkpad_t61/

However, I read in the following link that 570M is enough.

http://forums.lenovo.com/lnv/board/mess ... age.id=786

juu wrote:Thanks again sglaser.

To who it may concern - I read in the following link that 140M isn't enough to run a 30'' monitor.

http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/02/14 ... nkpad_t61/

However, I read in the following link that 570M is enough.

http://forums.lenovo.com/lnv/board/mess ... age.id=786

Wrong - either chip will run that monitor just fine.

the question now is this.
there two kinds of 570m in T61p . one with 128M and one with 256M of memory. 14" Vs 15".
i have the 14" , doest it have enough memory to run max resolution of the 30" and what about running on 32bit colors ?


BTW what's the cost of a docking station with the dual DVI ?

thanks Dan

awolfe63 wrote:Wrong - either chip will run that monitor just fine.

Can you please clarify what you mean by "just fine"? Max resolution, through digital DVI-D not analog and with 32bit color depth? Can it run Vista well at that resolution/color depth?

danny_isr wrote:BTW what's the cost of a docking station with the dual DVI ?

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=56864 is the cheapest version. Advanced Dock also should work.[/url]

danny_isr wrote:the question now is this.
there two kinds of 570m in T61p . one with 128M and one with 256M of memory. 14" Vs 15".
i have the 14" , doest it have enough memory to run max resolution of the 30" and what about running on 32bit colors ?


BTW what's the cost of a docking station with the dual DVI ?

thanks Dan

once again, all you need is an advanced mini dock.   it has a dual-link DVI-I port on it.

regarding vram requirements, please read my following reply...

juu wrote:Can you please clarify what you mean by "just fine"? Max resolution, through digital DVI-D not analog and with 32bit color depth? Can it run Vista well at that resolution/color depth?

it takes exactly 16MB of video memory to drive 2560x1600 @ 32-bit.   therefore, the 128MB and 256MB nvidia GPUs will drive WQXGA just fine as stated above.   if you're playing games or driving 3D modeling apps then this is where 16MB is not enough and 128MB~512MB is ideal.

Any one has first hand experience running that kind of resolution ?
i want to know that it's usable for more then just surfing and text editing.


thanks Dan

danny_isr wrote:Any one has first hand experience running that kind of resolution ?
i want to know that it's usable for more then just surfing and text editing.

i've used both the apple 30" cinema display and the non-HC version of the dell 30".   shortly before i bought my lenovo L220x i used the dell 30" on my T61p.   outside of it being physically too large for my desk, i didn't find any issues with the resolution.   in fact, it has the exact same pixel density as my L220x.

if all you're doing is surfing and text editing then you may not need 2560x1600.   1920x1200 or 2048x1536 might be better.   on both my T61p and L220x (each WUXGA) i can fit two pages in word side-by-side with no problem and almost fit two 1024 pixel wide websites side-by-side.

my daily use is in autocad, solidworks, illustrator, and photoshop.   while 2560x1600 may be nice, i don't find it necessary for the work i do.   besides, moving my mouse that far across the screen just means more work for my wrist.

actually i do lot's of text editing and i need as much real estate i can get. i have like 10-20 files open at the same time.
at work i got 2x24" 1920x1200 monitors and i run out of room all the time.
So when i do VPN from home it will be nice to have lot's of real estate.

another option is to get 28" like ViewSonic for less then half price of $500 (and probably no need for docking). but then i'm back to 1920x1200. I'm not sure if it's not too much of a screen for such a resolution .

erik wrote:

danny_isr wrote:Any one has first hand experience running that kind of resolution ?
i want to know that it's usable for more then just surfing and text editing.

i've used both the apple 30" cinema display and the non-HC version of the dell 30".   shortly before i bought my lenovo L220x i used the dell 30" on my T61p.   outside of it being physically too large for my desk, i didn't find any issues with the resolution.   in fact, it has the exact same pixel density as my L220x.

if all you're doing is surfing and text editing then you may not need 2560x1600.   1920x1200 or 2048x1536 might be better.   on both my T61p and L220x (each WUXGA) i can fit two pages in word side-by-side with no problem and almost fit two 1024 pixel wide websites side-by-side.

my daily use is in autocad, solidworks, illustrator, and photoshop.   while 2560x1600 may be nice, i don't find it necessary for the work i do.   besides, moving my mouse that far across the screen just means more work for my wrist.

A-ha! Found it. I guess you were right.