400s and older docks

[scottmlew]

Hi everyone, quick question...the Lenovo literature is very clear that the new docks won't work with the older ThinkPads, but I didn't see anything that explicitly confirms if the 400s will work with the previous generation of docs (e.g., those that work with the T60, T61, T400, etc.). Does anyone know for certain?

[smidgley]

Yes, I know for certain that the T400s won't work with an older dock. The connectors are different sizes.

[scottmlew]

Thanks for the speedy reply. Not at all what I wanted to hear...that increases the price of my planned purchase by quite a bit It seems that Lenovo changes their peripheral interfaces very frequently...docks, batteries, DVD drives, etc. When I bought into the ThinkPad line many years ago I was expecting greater stability, given that they're "enterprise"-oriented products.

[ahlip]

Its actually not too bad. The T60, T61 and T400 generations all shared the same docking bays.

[ssd_thinkpad]

The new dock will be the newstandard docking format of lenovo for some time. The newer dock makes thinner thinkpads possible - the T400s(lim) is an example.

[yak]

Another good thing about it is that maybe the current docks will finally get a price drop.

[scottmlew]

ssd_thinkpad -- I hear you, but that's what they said when I bought the dock for my T60...and that hasn't lasted me very long!

[yak]

It's not their fault, really. The technology goes forward and the docking stations start to lack behind. Take the DisplayPort for example. Any new user would expect the docking station to provide it but the current docks do not.

[chi3x10]

The T400s have completely different dock connector from the old ones.

BTW, the picture is from a taiwanese blog. You can click the link below to see a lot of nicely taken pictures of T400s.
http://www.tpuser.idv.tw/wp/?p=289

[phr]

Displayport seems to have become obsolete before it got any real traction. Is everyone switching to HDMI now?

[meh]

You mean, it hasn't seen much implementation yet.

DisplayPort > HDMI for the following reasons

• No licensing/royalty/etc fees
• Ability to chain multiple displays
• Less complex to implement

You see HDMI on consumer notebooks because, well, HDMI is prevalent in consumer HDTVs.
All business notebooks will probably come with DisplayPort rather than HDMI; the Dell Latitude Eseries does, at least, and now so do ThinkPads.

[dr_st]

Well, you see, the DisplayPort-HDMI contest is a tricky one. Yes, perhaps DisplayPort has some advantages over HDMI (which I'm entirely not sure about).

The royalty fees are a joke. 15 cents per port? Yeah, this is going to crush the economy.

The ability to chain multiple displays is interesting, but how practical is it really? You can use a splitter to achieve the same effect most of the time.

As for the simplicity of implementation, it may be true, but honestly, who cares? Obviously HDMI isn't that complex to implement, since it's everywhere, even on the cheaper electronics these days.

HDMI's advantages over DisplayPort actually mean much more to the average person. First of all, it's totally electrically compatible to DVI, which means you can connect it to any DVI-equipped monitor with a simple, logic-free, cheap adapter.

Second, it's omnipresent. And because it is omnipresent, it will continue to be omnipresent, so it seems that whatever battle the DisplayPort consortium was hoping to fight against HDMI, they've already lost, before it even began.

HP, for instance, continues putting HDMI over DisplayPort even on its business models. DELL, being one of those who actually push DisplayPort, and among the first monitor makes to include it, use HDMI in addition to that.

I find it highly unlikely at this point that a major breakthrough for DisplayPort is going to happen.