Someone uses X61s with multiple monitors and Vista Aero ???

[ComputerMinder]

I also wrote a thread on the T6x forum about my hard choice between choosing T61p to choosing X61s.

But here I am asking only X61s users who use at least 2 external monitors at high resolutions and prefarably also the notebook's own 12.1" screen.

I know there are some workaround but the claim is that they are all too slow to run Vista Aero smoothly when more than 1 external monitor is connected.

Anyway uses Vista Aero with 2 external monitors at high resolutions with the X61s ??? Please reply. I am not looking for any super fancy 3D or gaming, but I do waht smooth Vista Aero performance and two big monitors like 1920x1440 or even just 1680x1050 doubles.

Any help is appeciated.

[tomh009]

It's not just the speed. If you want to run Aero across multiple video cards, all those cards must use a common driver. Since the X61 uses the Intel X3100 integrated graphics, you would need to find a CardBus- or USB-based solution that is also based on X3100. And that's not an easy thing to find.

[ComputerMinder]

It's not just the speed. If you want to run Aero across multiple video cards, all those cards must use a common driver. Since the X61 uses the Intel X3100 integrated graphics, you would need to find a CardBus- or USB-based solution that is also based on X3100. And that's not an easy thing to find.

I see your point. Thanks. So maybe I will ditch this whole Aero !@#!@$ thing. Becaise it seems that even if I se T61p or X61s I amy still not be able to run Aero in multiple screen configuration due to the difference in graphics card.. bummer

[tomh009]

With a T61 or T61p it might be possible to find a Nvidia card for the Advanced Mini-Dock that can share a driver with the built-in Nvidia chipset.

[ComputerMinder]

OK I contacted two companies Matrox regarding DualHead2Go and Magma regarding their card. I remind you all I am looking to connect minimum of two monitors 1680x1050 plus the X61s own screen. (I would love higher rez. but that would do).

The X61s that I am investigating in buy right now is:
http://www5.pc.ibm.com/europe/products. ... enDocument

You would see they state this:
Video RAM std/max: -- / --
Graphics chipset: Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3100
Graphics type: --
Video RAM type: DVMT
Max resolution (with max video RAM): 2048x1536 16777216 colors
Max colors (with max video RAM): 16777216
Graphics bus interface: PCI Express

Does that mean that using the MatroxDualHead2Go I won't be able to use two External screens of 1680x1050 each? I mean 2048x1536 seems too low rez in order to use with the Matrox to drive these screens or am I wrong here?

I also contacted Magma about their solutio which looks promising:

This is what they replied:

"Thank you for your inquiry. I am not sure if the Lenovo X61 has an ExpressCard or PCMCIA slot – if it has an ExpressCard slot, then you would be able to use the ExpressBox1 with an external PCIe graphics card for gaming use. "

I was unable to find if the model that I am interested in buying supports PCMCIA ExpressCard slot or just PCMIA ?

This is the product I am talking about:
http://www.magma.com/products/pciexpres ... index.html

Thanks for any input.

[ComputerMinder]

Can some X61s user do me a huge favor and try this program from Matrox:
http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/gxm/s ... l/home.php

It's a compatibility test to see if the system is capable of using the Matrox DualHead2go to TripleHead2Go. I would like to know what is the max rez per monitor that program reports as possible with your sytem.

PLEASE report your findings when choosing DualHead2Go, DualHead2Go Digital edition and TripleHead2Go Analog and digital edition.

That would help me a lot thanks.