Thinkpads Forum

Does anyone know for a fact how many screens the "Mini Dock Plus Series 3 with USB 3.0" can drive when a W530 is docked? I know the W530 itself can drive 4 screens though the miniDP port (using a non-existent MST hub, or daising-chaining DP monitors (which only Apple displays support so far)), but what about through the dock? I know it has 2 HDMI and 2 DVI, but can they all be used independently? Or is it just ((HDMI1 OR DVI1) + (HDMI2 OR DVI2)) for a maximum of two?

I don't actually need to drive 4, but I'd like to know if anyone has driven 3.

Thanks!

I have 4 External LCD + 1 Internal W530 screen independently working with the Dock you mentioned.

The Dock uses, DVI, DVI, VGA, or you can substitute the 2 DVIs, with Displayport for DP, DP, VGA, or the combination there of. The 4th monitor is driven through the Displayport on the laptop itself, and only the Displayport works. the VGA on the laptop Does not allow 4 external monitor setup to function independently.

Hope that works. I'm sure if you want 2, 3, or 4 will work if you follow what I suggested.

Thanks. My goal is to drive 3 displays using only the dock (so I can easily grab the laptop when I want to go somewhere). I suppose I can use two DVI and one VGA.

I kind of suspected that the DVI and the DP were ganged on the same interface. That's unfortunate, but not surprising.

Thanks!

Just be careful when planning to attach screens with >1920x1200. For as far as I know, the DVI's on the dock are single-link only. For connecting a DVI 2560x1600 monitor you need an active DP > DVI converter at around $70 a piece.

Thanks for the heads-up. Fortunately (unfortunately?) that won't apply for me. At least not for now.

The display connectivity on that docking station is kind of disappointing considering that graphics processor is supposed to be able to drive four displays. I guess the only way to do so would be with a nonexistent DP MST hub (or with Apple's cinema displays which can be daisy chained on DP).

Has anyone confirmed if the DP on the dock can be used with a MST hub? Now that they exist I'd love to buy one but don't want to be the first guinea pig.

I have tried daisy-chaining two Dell U2413 monitors attached to a DisplayPort connection on this dock (with W530 docked). It works to a degree, but not to an acceptable degree for my purposes. One of the displays will allow full native resolution of 1920 x 1200 @ 60 Hz. However, the other one will only allow 1920 x 1080 @ 24 Hz. This would be OK for watching a movie, but due to the non-native resolution and low refresh rate it will not meet my needs for work.

So, it seems that at least with these monitors the best that I can do is drive two of them from the dock with each attached to one of the DisplayPort or DVI connectors. I presume I could attach a third display to the VGA port on the dock without much trouble. However, the Dell U2413 does not have a VGA connection so I'd need a VGA to DVI or VGA to DisplayPort adapter (if such a thing exists).

I would say that if it can drive 2560x1600@ 60 Hz, it should be able to do more than what you described.

Are there any reduced blanking settings available?

First, just want to confirm that the dock can drive a third independent display from the VGA port. It is analog, though, so it is not quite as crisp so. Therefore, I don't consider that a great option.

Not sure what you mean by reduced blanking settings. Where would that be? I did try to define a custom resolution (1920 x 1080 @ 60 Hz) for the daisy-chained monitor through the Nvidia control panel, but it refused saying the monitor would not support it.

One thing I have not tried is daisy-chaining off the mini-DisplayPort connector on the computer itself.

Update -- I tried daisy-chaining 3 monitors from the mini-DisplayPort connector on the W530. All three worked fine in full digital glory at 1920x1200 resolution @ 60 Hz. So, the dock is the limiting factor that prevents daisy-chaining from working fully.

Therefore, the best option for anyone who wants to use more than 2 displays and has monitors like the Dell U2413 that support MST for daisy-chaining seems to plugging in to the mini-DisplayPort on the W530. That's a bit of a shame because it somewhat defeats the purpose of the dock. It really calls the value of the dock itself into question since it is actually reducing functionality. In my case, I could plug in 5 cables (power, ethernet, USB 3 hub, mini-DisplayPort, and audio) and get better functionality than I'm getting with the dock even if it is a bit more trouble. I hope Lenovo will give us an updated dock with better MST support.