Thinkpads Forum

Hello,

I am thinking about ordering a T400s together with the Mini Dock Plus 3 (for use with 2 external TFT-Screens (21 inch, 1600x1200)).

But I am worrying if this will work like I imagine. Therefore I would like to ask for any experiences in using one or two externals screens im combination with a T6x or T400/T500 (without external graphic card in the advanced dock). Thank you very much in advance for any hint that help me to find the right decision either for the T400s or for a T400.


Question 1:

Is the internal screen of the Thinkpad is deactivated when connecting 2 external screens? Or might it be possible to work with 3 screens in total (1 internal and 2 external)?


Question 2:

I wonder if the graphic card of the T400s (onboard graphic) will be powerfull enough to drive 2 external TFTs, each at 1600x1200 pixel. I am using Microsoft Word, Microsoft Outlook and Dreamweaver most of the time and sometimes Photoshop. Although I don't need 3D graphics, working with the described software should be still comfortable. I don't like the fan noise the currently owned Advanced Dock makes, and therefore I would accept a less powerfull graphic card. But if it takes 15 seconds or so to move a window from one screen to another or if I have to expect extrem bucking/juddering while scrolling in Word or Photoshop the T400s would not be the right choose.

Do you have any experiences with a Thinkpad driving 1 or 2 external screens using the onbard graphic solution? Are my worries eligible or should the T400s be able to drive 2 screens at 1600x1200 with an acceptable performance?



Question 3:

Currently, I am using a T60 im combination with an Advanced Dock and a Matrox graphiccard to drive the 2 external screens.

Advantage 1: When booting the Thinkpad while I am on the road, the display setting is already correct (1400x1050) without changing any profiles

Advantage 2: I am using one Docking-Setupt at Home and one at work. Even when changing the screen setup e.g. at home, the settings at work will still be the same when booting - it seems like Windows remembers a kind of hardware ID of the graphiccard and is able to save different settings...

Problem: If I decide for the T400s (im combination with one Mini Dock Plus 3 at home and one Mini Dock Plus 3 at work), in all 3 settings (office, home, on the road) the same graphic card is used.


Question: Regarding this fact:
Will Windows still be able to switch between the settings automatically by remembering if the Thinkpad ist docked or not?
If yes: Will Windows also remember that two different Mini Dock Plus 3 units are in use so that different settings for each one are possible?
If not: how can I change the settings automatically by additional sofware (Ultramon?)?

Nebelfelsen wrote:Is the internal screen of the Thinkpad is deactivated when connecting 2 external screens?

Yes.

Nebelfelsen wrote:Or might it be possible to work with 3 screens in total (1 internal and 2 external)?

Only with a separate video card in the dock.

Nebelfelsen wrote:I wonder if the graphic card of the T400s (onboard graphic) will be powerfull enough to drive 2 external TFTs, each at 1600x1200 pixel.

Yes. And much more than that. Far weaker video cards can accomplish that without sweating.

Nebelfelsen wrote:Will Windows still be able to switch between the settings automatically by remembering if the Thinkpad ist docked or not?

Sometimes it may, sometimes it may not. It is likely that it works some percentage of the time, but not 100%.

Nebelfelsen wrote:If not: how can I change the settings automatically by additional sofware (Ultramon?)?

Lenovo's Presentation Director (Fn+F7) allows you to switch to any scheme in just a few seconds.

Hello dr_st,

thanks for your very helpful reply.

So I don't have do worry about the graphic card performance. (although I have just tried to drive a stational Thinkcentre-PC with onbard-Graphic with the 2 screens and there a problem apperared after waking up from standby: one of the 2 screens shows violett horizontals lines and needed a restart... - the performance is well anyway).

2 screens will be enough and as I don't want to use the Advanced dock with a separate video card anymore (because of the fan noise), the T400s might be a good choice. In combination with the Mini Dock 3 it is the only possibility to connect 2 screens via DVI anyway (if you don't want to use the Lenovo USB to DVI converter or other separate hardware).

But there is one last thing that makes me a bit nervous: the storage of the displaysettings in Windows for the 3 modes home/work/on the road.

I have almost given up hope, that Windows recognizes if I use the Mini Dock 3 at home or the other one at work but the switchover between 1 internal screen at resolution A to 2 externals screens at resolution B will also becomes uncomfortable. Of course I am a bit spoiled by the comfort of the Advanced Dock
regarding the resolution "switchover" (but also a nervous wreck concerning the fan noise).

Is there really no possibilty to make it easier to set the right resolution without accessing the presentation manager manually. Does anybody know if there is a software (I don't know if Ultramon can do that - I found no option regarding this) that can register a kind of unique hardware id (perhaps of the connected screens) to make an automatic change of display settings become possible?

Another option might exists if the presentation manager is able to trigger the change of a display profile by a command-line command, too (or alternatively by Hotkeys dedicated to special setting profiles). Is this possible perhaps?

The use of the presentation director requires:

1) One press on Fn+F7 key combination
2) One mouse click to select the relevant scheme from the list

I hardly think you'll find any software that can make it simpler than that. But if you do find something that claims to do it automatically, let me know, as I may also be interested.

Hello dr_st,

I just want to give a feedback because I received mit T400s on saturday.

Unfortunately the image quality of the internal display is even worser as I feared. The contrast is to low and when I increase the brightness to an acceptable level black color looks more gray-green than black. I hope I did not get a faulty display. I have already read about a poor quality but I thought that was meant in comparison to other lenovo displays.... But perhaps I am just a bit spoiled by the T400 SXGA+ display or by the external NEC displays. But anyway: the quality is really disappointing, especially for an upscale notebook.

Now back to the dual screen problem:

I tried to use the presentation director but I was a bit disappointed concerning the comfort. Furthermore the newer version does not seem to have the option to choose a dedicated profile for the dock mode (as the presentation director version on my T60 still has had) - but perhaps it would not work even if there were such an option because the docking mode seems to be different. There is no undocking icon in the Windows XP startmenu any more and the behaviour of the T400s docking solutions seems to be more like an USB device instead of a real docking solution.

I installed Ultramon (by Realtimesoft) then but when changing between the internal display and the dual screen environment it took some seconds while the display was flickering several times before the right resolution was set automatically. I suppose a kind of software conflict between the presentation director and Ultramon.

But after deinstallation of the presentation director Ultramon worked fine for me. I even did not have to define special display profiles. Once configured for one of my three setups (dual screen office, dual screen home, Thinkpad display only) without creating any Ultramon display profile the sofware recognized the hardware directly after entering the windows password (as soon as Ultramon was started by Windows).

I was amazed that hot docking or undocking is likewise easy to handle: within a second (or two) the resolution is set automatically to my needs.

Furthermore profiles can be defined, e.g. to switch manually. Therefore there is no need for me to use presentation director any more.

I bought Ultramon several years ago just to have a further taskbar on the second screen but never tried the functionallity concerning display size settings in a dual screen environment. Experiencing the comfort of Ultramon now is the reason why I don't want to miss this tool any more.

Cons:

- Although the position of the icons is saved, Icons on the second screen are moved to the primary screen when booting in single screen mode. After booting in dual screen mode again Ultramon is not able to move these icons back to the second screen. There is an option to save and recover the icon position by button click but I still did not try as I suppose that it still would not fit all my needs.

- During startup with the external screens connected the resolutions is not switched until I entered the windows password.


Conclusion:

Despite the cons listed above, Ultramon works fine for me and there are much less problems than I feared before buying the T400s.

Anyway: in my opinion the really bad image quality of the internal display is taking the shine off Lenovos reputation. I am sadly disappointed and feel a bit kidded by Lenovo regarding the high price of this Thinkpad (3300 US-Dollar (2250 EUR) including 3-years OnSite Service and 2 docks (including German sales tax)).

So you're from Germany?

Please fill out your location in the profile as per forum rules:
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=3352

yak wrote: Please fill out your location in the profile

Done so.