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Docking station upgrade x230

X230-X280, X390 Series
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axmaxwell
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Location: Ridgecrest, CA

Docking station upgrade x230

#1 Post by axmaxwell » Sun Nov 11, 2018 11:57 am

Has anybody tried upgrading the ports on the dock station? I'd like to convert the outdated VGA port to HDMI.
e-Machine upgrade : mini ITX, I7-4790K, 16gb ram GTX-1050tiLP
Home Desktop: I5-2500k, R9 390X, 24gb ram, 14tb storage
X230t: I7-3520m, 16gb ram, 128gb msata ssd, 2tb hdd

axur-delmeria
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Re: Docking station upgrade x230

#2 Post by axur-delmeria » Sun Nov 11, 2018 12:16 pm

axmaxwell wrote:
Sun Nov 11, 2018 11:57 am
Has anybody tried upgrading the ports on the dock station? I'd like to convert the outdated VGA port to HDMI.
The closest thing to an HDMI port on the Series 3 Ultrabase is the Displayport++ port, which only needs a passive DP-to-HDMI dongle. It will work up to 1920x1200 IIRC.
Planned Purchase: T480s i5-8350 FHD Touch
Impulse Buy: Thinkpad not named for safety reasons :lol:
RIP: X220 4291-C91 X61 7676-A24 760XD-U9E :cry:

dr_st
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Re: Docking station upgrade x230

#3 Post by dr_st » Sun Nov 11, 2018 2:31 pm

The docking connector carries two DisplayPort++ signals, which are used as follows:

Mini-Dock Series 3: one goes to the DisplayPort, one to the DVI
Mini-Dock Plus Series 3: one goes to first DP/DVI, one goes to the second DP/DVI
Ultrabase Series 3: one goes to the DisplayPort, one unused.

So on the Mini-Docks, there is nothing that can be done - both signals are already in use; on the Ultrabase, one could tap into the unused pins of the second DisplayPort signal, and solder a proper port somewhere, which could be DP or DVI/HDMI (with a built-in passive dongle).
Thinkpad 25 (20K7), T490 (20N3), Yoga 14 (20FY), T430s (IPS FHD + Classic Keyboard), X220 4291-4BG
X61 7673-V2V, T60 2007-QPG, T42 2373-F7G, X32 (IPS Screen), A31p w/ Ultrabay Numpad

GomJabbar
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Re: Docking station upgrade x230

#4 Post by GomJabbar » Sun Nov 11, 2018 4:03 pm

I bought a Display Port to HDMI adapter which I have used with a standard HDMI cable successfully on the Display Port of the X220. For some reason, the first Display Port to HDMI adapter I bought passed the video but not the audio. I bought a different brand that worked fine.

This is the one that I bought that works: Monoprice DisplayPort Male to HDMI Female Adapter
I will admit I am not crazy about the adapter sticking out the side of the X220, but it works. It would be preferable to have an actual Display Port to HDMI adapter cable.

I imagine the above adapter would probably work with the Display Port on the Ultrabase Series 3. And although I have the Ultrabase Series 3 for my X220, I have not tried using the Display Port on it.
DKB

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