Thinkpads Forum

Can my T400s drive two monitors (VGA and Display Port) at the same time, without the dock? Can it do this with the screen open---three monitors going?

Thanks.

None of you experts know?

I'm driving a cheap 19-inch Dell via VGA but have been eying the deals on these Dell UltraSharps ... It would be pretty cool, I think, to have a 24-inch IPS elevated above my ThinkPad screen and the 19-inch vertical next to it ...

Any combination of two out of three (internal, VGA, DisplayPort) should work.

Three at the same time won't work though.

The easiest way to drive a third monitor is to use a USB-to-VGA adapter.

pianowizard wrote:The easiest way to drive a third monitor is to use a USB-to-VGA adapter.

Sweet. That sounds a lot cheaper than a dock

Any quality or performance issues?

Quality - probably not, performance - yes. Don't expect any fullscreen video at high resolution and high framerate.

dr_st wrote:Quality - probably not, performance - yes. Don't expect any fullscreen video at high resolution and high framerate.

Makes sense ... Thanks, man

dr_st wrote:Quality - probably not, performance - yes. Don't expect any fullscreen video at high resolution and high framerate.

Yup; real dogs, performance-wise. Anything other than casual web surfing is gonna drive you nuts. Tried this, dumped it, went on to Matrox line splitters, which work great, assuming you buy some extra monitors.

or you could try the DIY Vidock and Vidock 4.

lead_org wrote:or you could try the DIY Vidock and Vidock 4.

Those vidocks look expensive. I can get a Lenovo dock for that ... Which can definitely drive three panels, right?

miketoro wrote: Which can definitely drive three panels, right?

No. The limitation to 2 panels is that of the video card, not the dock. Now, I understand that _some_ modern systems (Optimus-equipped?) have the ability to drive 3 displays, but I doubt any of it applies to the T400s.

Here is a quote from Lenovo's dock description:
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... 72873.html

Any two, of the five, video ports can be used simultaneously. Attaching two monitors disables the ThinkPad display.

The newest T410s with Optimus is even capable of driving 4 screens.

Keith Comb did the test: http://blogs.technet.com/b/keithcombs/a ... -dock.aspx

lead_org wrote:or you could try the DIY Vidock and Vidock 4.

Well, yeah, the ViDock stuff is pretty slick stuff. But, the $$$ add up after buying this + video card, etc. With Expresscard port(s), these can work really well, tho.

Ah well ... Yet another reason to kick myself for not waiting three months for the 410s ...

m.