Dual monitors T61p

[richardhallgren]

Hi,

Will I be able to have two external monitors connected to a T61P (I use the advanced version of the docking station).

Here's a similar question but I find the answer very unclear and I'm not really that keen on buying a second external monitor just to find out that's in not working.

Question:
http://episteme.arstechnica.com/eve/for ... 4009587831

The dock I use:
http://www.costcentral.com/proddetail/L ... 0U/H16739/

[yak]

I don't have a T61p but I would be greatly surprised if that worked (connecting two ext. monitors, one to VGA, one to DVI).

[RonS]

It works just fine, as long as you have a dock (either the Advanced Mini Dock or the Advanced Dock).

One screen will come off the DVI connector, and the other screen will come off the VGA (analog). When you drive two external displays, the Thinkpad's internal LCD will be dark. To use the computer with the lid closed, you can also go into Windows power settings and have it "do nothing" when the lid is closed.

If you put a video card in the Advanced Dock, you can drive more even more monitors. I'm doing it right now.

[hueb]

Well, I'm glad this topic came back up (since I didn't want to do it myself). Richard, from everything I've read, Ron is 'the man' when it comes to multiple monitors on a T Series. He is correct.

However, I found something that you might want to know about before you do this. The RGB output from my mini-dock (same as advanced) is definitely sub par in output compared to the HDMI. I recently purchased (2) Hanns G 28" monitors and set them up one at a time. Native resolution on the monitors isn't great, 1900x1200 but I wanted to match the internal resolution of the laptop. Besides, the price made this hard to beat compared to some no-name brands. I was having headaches with the first (RGB) while trying to read. The problem turned out to be the signal driving it. Flip monitors, it followed. So on a larger monitor, RGB just doesn't have the contrast and sharpness that the other output has. I run VMware and love not having to switch screens now. The contrast problem could be lived with (but why).

My solution, I bought a third monitor a couple of days ago and want to try the following card in an advanced dock. Ron, I don't know if this will work but was going to PM you to ask. I've checked the electrical characteristics of the card (around 35w) and it seems to be OK, size wise. I know you like your cards/docks without fans running but I can live with this if it will work. For me, not having to mess with other Graphic drivers would be of great benefit. Your advice would be appreciated.

-Hue

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications ... VqHCjCdwwp

[RonS]

Hueb - I would avoid that card. I bought an FX570 card a while ago. I tried it with every combination of two Advanced Docks, two machines (T60p and T61p) and XP/Vista. It would not work on any of the eight combinations. If I remember right, I could boot with either the FX570 or the internal adapter, but not both simultaneously. Even when it booted with just the FX570, it seemed flakey.

I've never had a minute's problem with any the ATI FireGL V5200 cards that I have. As long as they're installed in a working dock, they are rock-solid in every configuration I've tried, and I've had them in continuously operation of very long time. They're hard to find (discontinued), but still my favorite card. With a T60p, you can use them to run four 30" monitors, 2560x1600 resolution, with Visto Aero enabled. I don't know of any other configuration that will let you do that.

[hueb]

Thanks Ron, I remember reading that you had problems with some NVIDIA based card.

I appreciate the advice and will heed the warning...

-Hue

[yak]

Ok, I'm greatly (positively) surprised then .

Sorry for spreading FUD...