T420 docking stations

[staruszek]

The T420 has a possibility to attach a docking station. I found some station but two of them made me confused.

There is a simple 4336, which is more than obvious.
I found there are two station the 4337 and 4338 which came in several options, some of them have a USB 3.0 connector.

My question is, if I will connect the T420 to a station with USB 3.0 will the port act like 2.0 or 3.0 or will it not work at all?
There is also a DVI connector, will it work if the T420 is equipped only with a HD3000? Does it need to work to have NVS on the ThinkPad?

Thank you in advance for helping me out.

[ansible212]

USB 3.0 is only available if the laptop itself supports it (limiting its use to Ivy-bridge equipped ThinkPads, e.g. T430). My understanding is that the USB 3.0 port on the dock will behave as USB 2.0 on such laptops.

You should be able to drive two monitors from the dock (e.g. DisplayPort and DVI simultaneously) on the T420 (or laptop screen and either DP or DVI). This increases to up to 4 simultaneous displays if your laptop has NVIDIA Optimus technology.

[Sense]

USB 3.0 is only available if the laptop itself supports it (limiting its use to Ivy-bridge equipped ThinkPads, e.g. T430). My understanding is that the USB 3.0 port on the dock will behave as USB 2.0 on such laptops.

You should be able to drive two monitors from the dock (e.g. DisplayPort and DVI simultaneously) on the T420 (or laptop screen and either DP or DVI). This increases to up to 4 simultaneous displays if your laptop has NVIDIA Optimus technology.

Yep. Don't pay extra for the USB 3.0 feature. It will be downgraded to 2.0.

Everything you want to know about docks:
http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/ThinkPad_Dock_Series_3

[staruszek]

Thanks a lot.