External Monitor Help

[PocketNines]

Hi, looking for some info. I am not yet a Thinkpad owner, though I am leaning toward the 2379-dyu. A huge reason is the UXGA 1600x1200 resolution. I play poker professionally, much of the time online, so there is great value in being able to fit as many 800x600 screens as possible, with as little overlap as possible (I play and observe many tables simutaneously).

About 10-20% of the time I'm going to be taking the laptop mobile, to friends' places, or to wifi areas, so there is independent value in having the thinkpad support 4 screens w/o overlap when I'm away from home.

80-90% of the time I'll be in my own place, and I'm thinking I'll want an external monitor. I've been scouting them, and I've decided that the 1920x1200 Apple Cinema 23" and 1900x1200 Sony 23" don't offer enough benefit over the 1600x1200 Samsung 21.3" or Sony 20" at double the price - so the middle 2K-ish 23/24" monitor isn't that appealing.

However, the Apple Cinema 30" is tempting, since its resolution is 2560x1600, which means I can get 9 poker tables up simultaneously with minimal overlap, and I've made the judgment that the extra number of tables holds high value.

Now, the problem is the 2379dyu only supports external resolution up to 2048x1536. I'm not sure if any comparable laptop will support more than that - I just don't know.

This is where my limited research and limited technical savvy ends and where my need for help/advice begins. Do I have to find a docking station and some kind of adapter to make up the difference in external resolution support? Is this possible? What are my options? How much would that cost, etc.? Or is there no way to support that size resolution?

[I realize I could also get two 21" 1600x1200 external monitors to support 8 tables for about 2/3 the approximately 3K asking price of the Apple Cinema 30" (assuming both could be supported via some docking station), and I haven't foreclosed that possibility, but I also value less hardware to have to truck around.]

Thanks!

[PocketNines]

anyone?

[Porsche]

Sounds to me you need a desktop rather than a laptop.

[PocketNines]

Sounds to me you need a desktop rather than a laptop.

I have continued to look for more info... I am guessing from your comment that no laptop can support an external monitor with this resolution? I really need to have a laptop because I can't easily drag a desktop if I want to spend 3 months in sydney, 3 in vancouver, 3 in london, etc. I'm willing to get a case for a good monitor and travel with that, my laptop and a duffel for clothes.

A friend speculated that it had something to do with limited fans in laptops to keep processors cool, and that the high resolution needed a graphics card that had to be kept cool... hmmm. I wish I knew definitively. I am a bit of a neophyte.

Is it possible to hook up two external monitors to a thinkpad? Via some cable splitter? Anyone know?

[Moroner]

You can have both an external Monitor and the notebook LCD running at the same time, thus doubling your screen real estate.

On the other hand, a 30" screen is huge, and weighs 12 kg. If you need a computer with it that is not too heavy, you might actually be better off putting together a barebones system with the right graphics card.

[PocketNines]

You can have both an external Monitor and the notebook LCD running at the same time, thus doubling your screen real estate.

On the other hand, a 30" screen is huge, and weighs 12 kg. If you need a computer with it that is not too heavy, you might actually be better off putting together a barebones system with the right graphics card.

One way to go is just get a 20-21.3" monitor with 1600x1200 and get 4 extra tables. That'd be something like $750-$1000 for the extra LCD. Before I shrug my shoulders and settle for that setup, I'd still like to see what the other possibilities are.

The reason I'm looking at the 30", though large, is that I'd not move it very often. I plan on spending 3 months in Vegas, 3 months in Sydney, 3 in Vancouver, 3 in London, 3 in Chicago, that sort of thing. So I could move the monitor only every so often. But once I get there, I don't want to take the monitor anywhere - just leave it at my place. The notebook would give me flexibility to move around within Vegas, within Sydney, etc. I figure that's 10-20% of the time.

I still don't know for sure whether or not I could make this particular 30" monitor work with a thinkpad (or some other notebook). Is it impossible, or is it just a matter of getting the right combo of graphics cards and adapters? If it is possible, then I need to get educated about how that would work, specifically.