Best way to drive 2 1920x1200 displays

[YW-Slayer]

Hi all,

Have a W520 with a Quadro 200 card.

I currently use the Displayport for a Dell 2407 and VGA for an old Viewsonic VP171s (in portrait mode), but I am going to use a Dell 2707 (being replaced with a 2713 at another workstation) to replace the 2407 and use the 2407 in portrait mode to replace the VP171s.

I want to ensure that the 2407, although a secondary monitor, is not short-sold. What's the best way to do what is stated in the title? Or should I just stick with running it via VGA? From what I recall, the quality of a 2407 won't be that great via VGA, although I suppose it may be acceptable for office work in Word, Excel, Outlook, etc. which to be fair is all I will be using this setup for.

I'm not terribly keen on buying any docks due to a lack of desk space and as I understand the docks change the USB3.0 ports to USB2.0 ports. I would prefer buying the Matrox adapters. Ideally, I wouldn't want to buy anything or install stuff at all, although I suppose that is likely to result in worse image quality (assuming that this will mean I have to hook up the 2407 via VGA).

[cheetahdriver]

I am currently running 2 Dell UltraSharp U2412M along with the W520 screen on a 3 screen setup using the MiniDock plus 3. I have one on a DisplayPort and while I finally got the other DisplayPort cable, the second one is currently running on the VGA port. Even with my new computer glasses, I can't tell the difference between them and they are less than 6" apart. Thus, my recommendation would be not to stress about it, although it is certainly possible that you can see something in the display I am missing.

[YW-Slayer]

Thanks Cheetah, sounds good and will do!

[jcvjcvjcvjcv]

Remember that in general cheap monitors that have both DVI and VGA inputs have a very low-quality VGA input.

Also take note that many consumer-grade laptops have a very low-quality VGA output that isn't really worthy of outputting anything higher then 800x600.

Dell Ultrasharp monitors however are high-quality as are ThinkPads. In my church a ThinkPad T22 drove a beamer at 1024x768 using a VGA cable of 30 meters long. Image quality was perfect!

The Analog output of my T61 works great in combination with a Dell 2007FP. I can't tell the difference between it and another 2007FP next to it that's connected using DVI.

[davidhbrown]

... as I understand the docks change the USB3.0 ports to USB2.0 ports. ...

Just a minor quibble/clarification not on your main topic, so please feel free to disregard, but the docks don't *change* anything. The USB 3 ports on my W520 are still USB 3 ports when docked. The USB 2 port is still a USB 2 port. In addition, the dock adds a half dozen USB 2 ports. I would be nice if the dock added a few USB 3 ports (perhaps a newer dock they introduced with the W530 does?), but it does not remove any USB capability.

[YW-Slayer]

Hey David, not a problem. When I last looked into the dock (around a year ago) my understanding was that the only docks available, though they could be connected to the USB 3.0 ports, only had USB 2.0 out for everything, so they would only operate at USB2.0 speeds. But I am not sure if that is still the case. What model do you have? It's unlike I'll add a dock as I'm quite happy with my present setup, but it'd be good to know what options I may have.

JCV - that's great news, thanks. Good thing I held off buying it, as my colleague today told me that they are selling the U2713 for cash for HK$4500 (around US$570) rather than the HK$5500 on the Dell HK website. Now I can put the HK$1000 I have saved toward a Geforce GTX670 for my main desktop at home!!

[davidhbrown]

I believe what I have is the Mini Dock Plus Series 3 - 170W, purchased back in April '11. They are now showing a "Mini Dock Plus Series 3 with USB 3.0 - 170W"; it appears they have added only a single USB 3.0 port to the existing dock designs. I suppose that's better than nothing, but it's certainly not going to get another US$269 out of me!

USB Ports: o Port Replicator: 3x USB 2.0, 1x USB 3.0 o Mini Dock: 5x USB 2.0, 1x USB 3.0 o Mini Dock Plus (90W & 170W): 6x USB 2.0, 1x USB 3.0