Which dock, KVM or displayport solution for max resolution?
Posted: Sun Dec 28, 2014 4:12 pm
Hi.
I have been given souped up X230 as a tool to work with (mostly coding, emails etc nothing too fancy)
Until now, I have been working from home on a PC or docked Macbook with multiple screens a quite a lot of real estate.
I am about to upgrade, probably to a dual screen setup, but I want to establish a sensible docking solution for x230 to see what is the max supported by the machine internals (intel GPU) and ports (displayport and dock) in terms of resolution and number of screens.
When I am at a client's site, I usually dock to a dual 24" 1920x1080p solution.
My current thinking is to mimic that setup for consistency, unless I know for sure that the machine can run a single, or better yet a dual 4k screen at 60Hz somehow?
Since I have to buy new screens anyway, it seems a bit pointless to be buying what is now almost 'legacy' 1080p screens, as 4k screens can be had for not that much more. But then again, 4k is still a bit fiddly and this is supposed tobe a rock solid work setup...
I am also thinking I could be running those 4k screen with 'pixel doubling' or just upscaling when plugged in to to x230 an native when running with my own HW?
Otoh, I can also get some very good 1080p IPS screens and wait until the 4k things matures a little.
One final option that I am considering is a very-widescreen (21:9)single monitor with real estate and resoultion equivalent to almost two 1080p screens. The advantage of such approach could be using just a single DP (or DP to dual-link DVI) cable) to drive the screen. I am only considering that option as it avoids the costs of dock or kvm - at the moment I m not sure how much would I need to spend...
In any case, since I am also plugging in other computers (PC, mac) to that same screen/keyboard setup, rather than a dock, I am thinking of getting a KVM instead, which also needs to support all the resolution and ports available on the x230 - any recommendations here are very highly welcome.
One other consideration is that I am plugging in/unplugging only once a week, so a dock is not so direly needed as for some who need to plug multiple times a day.
Still my ideal solution would be: x230 connected to a dock, connected to a KVM, connected to a pair of 4k displays (both at 60hz), usb kb+m and (optional) wired ethernet.
TO sum up what I am asking for is:
1. Are there any docks for x230 that can drive 2 4k displays at 60Hz and if so is my x230 also capable of doing that?
2. What's the cheapest dock to drive 2 1080p displays via DVI or DP? (and where to buy in Europe - can I trust ebay) ?
3. Any recommendations for a cheap KVM.
Thank you very much in advance!
I have been given souped up X230 as a tool to work with (mostly coding, emails etc nothing too fancy)
Until now, I have been working from home on a PC or docked Macbook with multiple screens a quite a lot of real estate.
I am about to upgrade, probably to a dual screen setup, but I want to establish a sensible docking solution for x230 to see what is the max supported by the machine internals (intel GPU) and ports (displayport and dock) in terms of resolution and number of screens.
When I am at a client's site, I usually dock to a dual 24" 1920x1080p solution.
My current thinking is to mimic that setup for consistency, unless I know for sure that the machine can run a single, or better yet a dual 4k screen at 60Hz somehow?
Since I have to buy new screens anyway, it seems a bit pointless to be buying what is now almost 'legacy' 1080p screens, as 4k screens can be had for not that much more. But then again, 4k is still a bit fiddly and this is supposed tobe a rock solid work setup...
I am also thinking I could be running those 4k screen with 'pixel doubling' or just upscaling when plugged in to to x230 an native when running with my own HW?
Otoh, I can also get some very good 1080p IPS screens and wait until the 4k things matures a little.
One final option that I am considering is a very-widescreen (21:9)single monitor with real estate and resoultion equivalent to almost two 1080p screens. The advantage of such approach could be using just a single DP (or DP to dual-link DVI) cable) to drive the screen. I am only considering that option as it avoids the costs of dock or kvm - at the moment I m not sure how much would I need to spend...
In any case, since I am also plugging in other computers (PC, mac) to that same screen/keyboard setup, rather than a dock, I am thinking of getting a KVM instead, which also needs to support all the resolution and ports available on the x230 - any recommendations here are very highly welcome.
One other consideration is that I am plugging in/unplugging only once a week, so a dock is not so direly needed as for some who need to plug multiple times a day.
Still my ideal solution would be: x230 connected to a dock, connected to a KVM, connected to a pair of 4k displays (both at 60hz), usb kb+m and (optional) wired ethernet.
TO sum up what I am asking for is:
1. Are there any docks for x230 that can drive 2 4k displays at 60Hz and if so is my x230 also capable of doing that?
2. What's the cheapest dock to drive 2 1080p displays via DVI or DP? (and where to buy in Europe - can I trust ebay) ?
3. Any recommendations for a cheap KVM.
Thank you very much in advance!