A31: Support of external widescreen (1680 x 1050)

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Rene.Lochmann · #1 Post by **Rene.Lochmann** » Mon Nov 26, 2007 4:06 am

Does anybody know (or have experience) whether the Thinkpad A31 (2652-M5G) supports an external widescreen with a resolution of 1680x1050? In particular, I would like to use the Samsung 226BW widescreen model.

I'd be grateful for any help on this.

Best,
Rene

fasterbybike · #2 Post by **fasterbybike** » Wed Nov 28, 2007 4:36 pm

The tawbook says "External monitor support via analog DB-15 connector / up to 2048x1536x16.7M colors at 75Hz / DDC2B / supports external digital monitor via the Digital Video Interface (DVI) port on either of the optional docking solutions"

Does the 226BW have a DB-15 input, or just a DVI input ?

crg7 · #3 Post by **crg7** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 7:10 am

If you go to Display Properties, Settings you will see that the supported resolutions are 1400x1050, 1600x1200 and 2048x1536. My impression is that widescreens were not around when the A31's were designed.

Hope this helps

Reddy

PS: Best is to go to a computer store and hookup a widescreen monitor

FrankK-F · #4 Post by **FrankK-F** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 11:04 pm

My setup ... A31p with UXGA native monitor and a DELL WUXGA ... is just peachy.

These displays, 1600x1200 and 1960x1200 resp, make an extended desktop in my setup, with both displays are run at their native resolution.

To get there you might consider an Omega driver (Omega 3.8.291 works on my model, with all features installed), in addition Ultramon (ultramon.com), and MultiRes (entechtaiwan.com) are helpful utilities to manage your workstyle.

Keep in mind however that if you need color calibration (for photo editing, etc.) only the primary display responds to a calibration profile, the secondary(ies) are at factory default.

crg7 · #5 Post by **crg7** » Sun Dec 30, 2007 12:51 am

Hi FrankK-F,

The first poster owns an A31 and I do too. Do you know if the ATI Radeon driver supports widescreens? Are you using the drivers supplied by IBM/Lenovo or 3rd party drivers?

Best
Reddy

FrankK-F · #6 Post by **FrankK-F** » Sun Dec 30, 2007 10:50 pm

Reddy, et al...

I see you are also A31(p) users ... so let me share the rest of my experience with Displays.

First ... YES, yes, the Radeon Omega driver support wide screen on the A31 series.

What I am using is NOT the IBM/Lenovo driver (as a matter of fact just recently I updated my TP driver set via the TP "System Upgrade Utility".

After completion I rebooted ... but my external monitor would not display properly ... so I rolled back to the previous, which is
"ATI MOBILITY FIRE GL 7800 (Omega 3.8.291)". This has run OK for the past 2+ years. You can get at:

http://www.ngohq.com/home.php?page=File ... _cat_id=14

The present posting exchange prompted my looking for the latest update:

"RadeonOmegaDriver v_3.8.421(fixed)"

For me this worked only if I chose the native monitor on the A31p (same issue as with the Lenovo update) for my primary display .. not what I want to do. So I rolled back to 3.8.291. To be sure there are some intermediate upgrades ... but I just don't have the time right now to chase it.

A couple of additional comments:

The Dell WUXGA runs best via its DVI connector ... I have the Dock-II which has that connector.

My next goal is to be able to run a QWXGA (2048x1536) 30" monitor ... but this needs a dual DVI connection. If anybody has found a solution within the A31p / Dock-II environment, I would appreciate hearing about it. The problem as I see it is to find a card that fits and one that works.

Frank

crg7 · #7 Post by **crg7** » Mon Dec 31, 2007 7:59 am

The card in A31 is ATI Mobility Radeon 7500. Good news if this can support widescreen LCDs with the driver you are using.

A31: Support of external widescreen (1680 x 1050)

A31: Support of external widescreen (1680 x 1050)

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