Lenovo Port Replicator for W500

[realtanu]

Sorry for the newbie post. I want to use my w500 in a home office set up. I intended to buy a docking station, and now reading up on port replicators. My goal is to "easily" attach/detach my laptop from a home office comprised of keyboard, mouse, two monitors, and an external hard drive (which I already own). No "old" equipement, e.g. only have a new printer that will be wireless or USB connected (which I need to be). "Easily" means only one or two plugs.. not plugging in everything individually. If I assume correctly, I can connect my laptop to a replicator via 1 USB plug and then all of my home office equipment turns on. Not sure if my laptop screen must be flipped open as well, but ideally it would not need to be.

My laptop would be the wifi receiver, hard drive, software etc.

I believe for this use, I can use a replicator, and not a docking station. (Please correct me if I wrong). Or should I go docking station for any other benefits (easy plug'n'play).

If this is the case, Lenovo has a sleek replicator (link below) but scant information on it. Anyone use this replicator? I may need to get a USB hub on it as 5 USB ports is alot, but may not be enough (figure Keyboard, Mouse, Monitor 1, Monitor 2, External Drive eat up all 5.. and no room optional equipment, e.g. USB OTA audio solution, memory sticks).

Thank you

http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/cont ... umber=4058

[thitiv]

I suggest you get the Advanced Mini Dock 2504

http://shop.ebay.com/i.html?_nkw=thinkp ... =R40&_ipg=

I have one at work and another at home. It works great with my T500, which is more than 90% identical to the W500.

[realtanu]

I suggest you get the Advanced Mini Dock 2504

http://shop.ebay.com/i.html?_nkw=thinkp ... =R40&_ipg=

I have one at work and another at home. It works great with my T500, which is more than 90% identical to the W500.

Thanks for the response! I saw that same 2504 listed on Lenovo's site (so it works with W500) but much more $ than the eBay listings. Do you have any sense for the difference in using the 2504 vs. the port replicator? How seamless is your 2504 experience? Is your laptop effectively "off" when you slot it in (with the monitor closed), any issues etc.?

Thanks

[thitiv]

Thanks for the response! I saw that same 2504 listed on Lenovo's site (so it works with W500) but much more $ than the eBay listings. Do you have any sense for the difference in using the 2504 vs. the port replicator? How seamless is your 2504 experience? Is your laptop effectively "off" when you slot it in (with the monitor closed), any issues etc.?
Thanks

I have never used a port replicator so I can't compare them. ThinkPads docked at the 2504 can be used in two ways: lid/screen closed for single external monitor setup or lid/screen open for dual monitor setup. I regularly use the latter but had tried the former once. If you dock the machine with LCD closed, external monitor connected (thru VGA or DVI port at the back of the 2504), and USB keyboard and mouse plugged, when you press the power button, the T500 will power on and work desktop-like.

I have never had any issue with the 2504. Windows 7 also fully recognize it and you will see the "Undock" menu command along with the "logoff", "sleep", "hibernate", etc. commands in the Start Menu.

When you want to leave home/office, just press the "Eject" button at the dock, Windows 7 will "safely remove" all connected hardware in a few seconds and you are ready to go.

Go for it, realtanu! I bought my first 2504 for home a few months ago and within less than 1 month I bought another for work--with personal money.

[realtanu]

Thanks a lot. Very helpufl. I am going to see if I can dig up any more info on this port replicator.. if I can't, or if what I learn is not great.. then I will be ordering the mini-dock this week.

Meeting a technician for warranty service tomorrow (swap out the keyboard) so maybe he will know the answer.

[dr_st]

The USB port replicator you linked to only has one DVI port, so you can only connect one external monitor. Not to mention that the USB bandwidth is horrible and cannot support full resolution full framerate video without lags/stuttering, especially when other devices on the port replicator share this bandwidth.

The only advantage of USB port replicators at this point is being generic and compatible with any laptop, current and future.

Lenovo also sells the "Essential Port replicator" (2505). Stay away from it as well. It does not have DVI (so you can only connect one external monitor), does not have a USB hub (only 1 USB port), does not have a lock, and does not come with its own power adapter. A totally useless accessory, IMO.

I second the suggestion to get the 2504 Mini-dock. I use it with both my T60s, and it's a very seamless experience, as you describe - easily works with up to 2 external monitors and all the accesories (keyboard/mouse/speakers/network). Not to mention that it is a much more elegant solution - it takes up less space overall (since it sits under the laptop) and simplifies cable management.

You can typically go with a used one and be quite safe, and save a lot of cash in the process. In fact, there is one for sale right now on the forums (which I consider a much safer source than eBay):
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=84788

[realtanu]

bought 2504 on ebay for $99 and unfortunatley didn't work. Couldn't get it to click in, and upon inspection noticed the board on the 2504 was cracked. Doh!

[Edmond Dantes]

Please stay away from the port replicator.
I bought one for my X301, ad it is terrible.
Poor mechanical execution, horrible bandwith as before mentioned.
The cursor on the screen moves slowly.
If you plan to use a network connection attached to the replicator, consider that by great amount of data (as for example by data synchronising) the laptop hangs.

Lenovo customer care here in Switzerland suggested me to buy a port replicator from Targus (!).
I gave up using the replicator and asked Lenovo for my money back.

Every morning I plug my 6 cables (KVM, network, external HD, power) in the X301 and use it alone; it is really faster and never hangs.

Hope this helps.

Regards

[realtanu]

that is a great review and great to have it out there under the subject header of this message. I would have never even posted the first message if I had known that. As of now just waiting for my refurbed mini-dock from Lenovo for $50 (off their outlet website). There is another user on this site who has a "new in box" mini-dock for $70 for any members interested as well (pm me or reply to this message)

[crashnburn]

Look at your local CL listings. Get Adv Mini Dock for much less.

[FrankK-F]

I have the 2503 ThinkPad Advanced Dock http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... 61232.html (with internal expansion slot, plus ultrabay) for my W500 and have loads(*) of devices connected to it in my home office. Use 2 monitors ... internal plus 1600x2560 external on VisionPort connector on the left side of the W500. Theoretically I could use the video ports on the dock to connect additional monitors ... but haven't enough desk-space to try/implement this.

(*) Devices include .. printers, flat-bed scanner, photo scanner (SCSI via USB-SCSI adapter), Card Scanner, External DVD LightScribe writer, Wireless Router, External 2.5" HDDs, Raid-1 backup drive, PPC dock ...

This setup works very well for me ... with one caveat. Before shutting down the system to take the W500 with you, move each app to the internal monitor. I have run into problems that, in the field, the app that was shutdown in the external monitor would not come up on the W500's display; I am using Ultramon to manage my monitors setup.

My recommendation is that you buy a bit more capacity with your Dock than your immediate needs .. as you will most likely expand sooner then later.

[deforest]

Before shutting down the system to take the W500 with you, move each app to the internal monitor. I have run into problems that, in the field, the app that was shutdown in the external monitor would not come up on the W500's display

I have a tip for you, if you can alt tab to the application, (or you can use the task manager to bring it to front), then you can use alt-space to bring up the little menu to control the app window (this will be off screen so you won't see it), then use the down arrow cursor key and then enter, this makes the window controllable via the cursor keys, so you can move it around till you see it, then hit enter when your are done, and viola the window that was off screen is now on screen.

You can try this now on your apps to get a feel of the operations, it's one of those that is useful too in situations where you don't have a mouse/touchpad/trackpad attached to the computer (or the driver loaded).