received new i7 x201t - external monitor and battery ?'s

[leland]

1. I have two external monitors hooked up - one DVI (via displayport) and another VGA. However, I can only use one at a time. How can I enable dual external monitors? Do I need to close the lid? Change a bios settings? Can I hot dock/undock? I'm using Windows 7 (Enterprise).

2. I don't suppose anyone has tried using one of those external video cards to enable dual monitors with good performance ... Something like a ViDock2?

3. The battery that sticks out the back is pretty ugly and makes the machine hard to fit in my bag - is there a flush battery available? Or is there a denser (more cells) battery available that sticks out the back? What are the portable power solutions that you're using?

4. That's about it - great machine. Would love any tips.

[ZaZ]

Do you have you tablet open when you're trying to use both monitors? I believe you can only use two at a time. Either the tablet + an external or two externals, but not all three.

I would assume you have the eight cell battery on the X201t cause it sticks out. There is a four cell battery, part number 43R9257, but it gets half the battery life. Personally, I like the larger battery. You get twice the battery life and it make for a good handle when carrying it around, at least on mine anyway.

[leland]

Thanks, maybe I'll see if the 4-cell is practical, but battery life with the 8 isn't great so I bet you're right that the cut in size isn't worth it.

I've managed to now get my two external monitors working, but the only way to do it is to first make one of the other monitors primary. I'm not sure I'll be able to automatically have this be the default behavior when docked. I have a bitlocker pin that loads up on boot, which I haven't been able to fill using my usb keyboard when in the ultrabase dock. Maybe the solution is one massive LCD instead of two old 19" ones. It would be really annoying if I could use my USB keyboard to do the boot pin, though. Pain in the neck, really.