Thinkpads Forum

I'm thinking about a laptop upgrade soon and wouldn't mind one that would allow the use of two external displays in addition to the built-in monitor (for a total of three monitors). From what I've read, neither the ATI FireGL 5700 video card in the W500 nor the Nvidia FX2700M in the W700 support more than two monitors at a time.

Am I correct in my understanding that to achieve 3 monitors, the only way to make it happen is to use the 2503 advanced dock station in conjunction with a PCI Express video card? In this case, is there any way to retain functionality of the built-in LCD through any kind of hybrid video card technology (sort of like "Nvidia Optimus" that is available in some ThinkPad models)?

TL;DR? In other words, can the PCI-Express video card and the internal video card operate at the same time with the PCI-E card running the two external displays and the built-in card running the laptop's LCD?

Edit: Based on the post in this thread, (about 2/3 of the way down the page, titled "Re: Advanced Dock Graphic Cards" by jordan_moss) it sounds like he got it working with a W500 the way I described. Has anyone other than him had any experience with this?

More recent Thinkpads can do that w/o going into the trap of a huge dock PCI-e GPU.

My W520 regularly drives two external (including a 30") in addition to the internal LCD.

T520 can even drive more than that. All w/o requiring the nightmare of the GPU in the dock.

jcvjcvjcvjcv wrote:More recent Thinkpads can do that w/o going into the trap of a huge dock PCI-e GPU.

My W520 regularly drives two external (including a 30") in addition to the internal LCD.

T520 can even drive more than that. All w/o requiring the Overused word of the GPU in the dock.

I was aware that the 520s and newer could do hybrid display adapters by design, I was just wondering if any of the earlier models (510, 500) could handle it as well or if it can only be one or the other.