Thinkpad + dock question

[john123]

I spend most of my time in the office but do some travelling every now and then, when I travel I want to have all of my files and everything with me. But when I am in the office I want to have as powerful a machine as possible and as close to a desktop.

What I have found is a T61 with an advanced dock. I want the T61 because I need a solid machine that is very fast, has a big drive, and is a main machine. I want an advanced dock because I want to add a PCI card for a multiple monitor setup. I found the NVIDIA Quadro NVS 440 card that will allow me to have four additional monitors. That along with the 1 DVI and 1 VGA on the advanced dock, I can technically connect up to 6 monitors.

Ideally, I wouldn’t mind an X61, I prefer the identical machine in the smaller package, the only thing is that I can’t attach it to an advanced dock. Why don’t they let the X61 connect to the advanced dock.

Is what I am planning possible? Is there something else that is an option or I should consider?

Should I go with a machine that has integrated graphics or one with discrete graphics? Does it make a difference? I would appreciate any feedback and comments about what I am looking for.


Some concerns:

I have been reading that the expansion base creates a lot of noise with the fan. Do I really need to worry about it. I don’t want to have the sound of a 747 taking off on my desk.

I have read that the dock won’t work with many video cards, is the one I have in mind a card that will cause problems.

There is this issue of not being able to hot undock the machine without shutting down. Is that also a problem with the T61 too?

[SHoTTa35]

huh? as far as i know it can. Not directly but with a MediaSlice or whatever they call them now (X6 Dock) That slaps on to the bottom of the X6x and then you put that into the Dock. The X6 doc contains the DVDRW drives and other ports not on the main machine itself.