Advice and Tips on Docks, Monitors, and Fans?

[redleaderone]

Hi All, and Happy New Year!

Just today getting to test out one of my xmas presents from my Mrs. - an advanced mini-dock for my t60.

The Advanced Mini-Dock (or perhaps port replicator) Spec says "Supports two external monitors, 1 via VGA and 1 via DVI" - this appears to work flawlessly, as does the Mini-Dock overall.

However, it appears I cannot extend the display to the Thinkpad display as a third and unique screen - appears if 2 external monitors are used, the Thinkpad display must share the same display as one of the external monitors if trying to use all three at the same time.

OK, well I was just trying it out because I happened to have a Lenovo VGA-only monitor sitting around. But if pretty much a duplicate to the thinkpad screen, then don't see the need to take up the desk space and will just run 1 external monitor and extend to the Thinkpad screen.

The next part was that the Mrs. guessed (trying to surprise me) which model (full vs. mini dock) after I muttered one day I was thinking of getting a dock. Problem is I hadn't had the chance to research the options yet. Looking around the forum now, it appears my options are:

1. Keep what I have - it works - so what if I can't use the 3rd monitor
2. Return the Mini and get the full Advanced Dock - Advantages are PCI Card, Ultra Bay and Memory card readers

SO... if I get the Advanced Dock and a PCI DVI card and run the external DVI on that, and the VGA on the Thinkpad, can I extend the display across the three screens (including the thinkpad screen) then? I realize the PCI card could be multi-DVI, but will the VGA work to recycle that monitor to good use as a third monitor?

I'm thinking for about the same price, return the mini-dock, and get the advanced dock.

* I upgraded the T60 to an SSD drive, so I do have the original 120GB SATA 7200 RPM drive
- I could get the Serial ATA Hard Drive Bay Adapter and re-use the old HD for backups, right?

* Except some folks say the Advanced Dock fan(s) are very loud and more noise I don't need?

* And trying to replace the fan to a much lower db fan is very hard?

Advice welcome!

Thanks!

[JMvS]

You won't be able to use a 3rd Monitor, as graphics in T60-era only support two screens, be them two external, or one external and the laptop's one.

Changing for an Advanced Dock won't change a lot regarding multiple screens: from what I've read in other threads, compatible graphic cards are difficult to find (and I'm not even sure there are any compatible ones which allow for more than 2 screens), and might have driver problems running if your laptop has a discrete graphic.

I recently purchased an Advanced Dock for my T61, and unless you are definitely gonna use the ultrabay, PCI Card and Memory card reader, I'd advise against purchasing it: the fan really is noisy, and it is much more cumbersome than the advanced mini dock.

[dr_st]

While the Advanced Dock will allow you to have more than 2 screens by using an external video card in the dock, together with the laptop's built-in video, JMvS may be right in the sense that it is a cumbersome solution, and might be difficult to manage.

You can find additional tips on how to add the option of using more than two monitors in RonS's thread:
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=84844

[JMvS]

While the Advanced Dock will allow you to have more than 2 screens by using an external video card in the dock, together with the laptop's built-in video, JMvS may be right in the sense that it is a cumbersome solution, and might be difficult to manage.

You can find additional tips on how to add the option of using more than two monitors in RonS's thread:
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=84844

My bad, it's true that you can use the Advanced Dock to run an additional graphic to get one or several additional screens.

As better explained in the linked thread (and video), it can be quite tricky, for you have to find one which physically fit the dock, doesn't require more power than it can provide, and which driver is compatible with the one of your discrete graphic (or go tinkering with "externalizing" the graphic and its power supply). From what I've read and heard, there are also a few additional subtleties depending on the OS you are using.

Again, if you are gonna use all it's feature, have enough room, are ready to cope with the fan noise, and prepared to look for the right graphic to put into, upgrading for an Advanced Dock is not too unreasonable.

If you only want to get a 3rd screen and are not too keen on performance, the simplest solution may be to stick with the Advanced Mini Dock and get a Lenovo USB-to-DVI Monitor adapter. The video in the referred showed that it worked with a T60, despite not being referred in the Lenovo official page, so maybe there are things to check. For me, given what you currently have, that would be the more practical, as well as possibly the cheapest solution.

http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/cont ... 7343AFFB25

[deforest]

plus +1 on using usb/dvi adapter.

I'm using the Diamond BVU195 HD USB Display Adapter just fine connected to my dock. Use main monitor for games, and this for secondary information, like spreadsheets, browser, mail, etc.

[JMvS]

plus +1 on using usb/dvi adapter.

I'm using the Diamond BVU195 HD USB Display Adapter just fine connected to my dock. Use main monitor for games, and this for secondary information, like spreadsheets, browser, mail, etc.

Is the dock power supply enough? Or would you recommend using a powered USB hub?

[deforest]

The dock should be able to handle it easily.