any decent laptop docks?

I would like a laptop dock with these characteristics:

1) connects to laptop via a truly highspeed interface (e.g. ExpressCard; I have a dv6000t)

2) has at least one DVI output port

3) has an adequate graphics card; in particular, I want it to drive a widescreen monitor (e.g. my Gateway FPD2185W 21" flat panel monitor, with 1680x1050 resolution)

4) would allow me to put a large capacity, high performance, SATA hard drive inside it (e.g. an existing 400 GB WD4000KD drive currently located inside my desktop), or have a eSATA port so I could connect a high speed drive that way


I am aware of NO model on the market that comes close to having all of the above features, but am praying that someone points out one that I missed!

I am aware of the recent models from Belkin and Targus, which at least have DVI. Alas, both have crap video cards which don't support widescreen monitors, let alone SATA hard drives...

 

Laptop docks have graphics cards in them? I've never heard of that.

 

>Laptop docks have graphics cards in them? I've never heard of that.

I thought so!

What else would be responsible for causing the Belkin and Targus docks to state that they only support maximum DVI resolutions of 1600x1200?

If those docks simply passively pass on whatever video your latop internally can put out, then they should have no such spec, right?

I do know for sure that my HP dv6000t can certainly drive my Gateway FPD2185W at its full 1680x1050 resolution when I directly hook up the monitor via my laptop's vga port.

I'll be curious to know what other people with better knowledge report...

 

I am pretty sure that the Belkin and Tagus docks don't actually have a graphics card in them. I think they are passive, but the restriction on resolution has to do with the bandwidth needed to run every device without compromise. They are supposed to be able to run audio, USB, and tons of other devices, and video, so the easiest way to guarantee that this will work is to limit the video. Current ExpressCards run at 1x, which is no doubt fast, but until we see something like 8x we won't get graphics limited video.

 

The Belkin dock (and I think the Targus one too) do have a graphics card, but only in the most mild of senses. Laptop sends compressed video data, and the "graphics card" decompresses and displays. At least that is how it appears to work. If there is no compression, the "graphics card" still would have to decode the data...and regardless that chip will have a hardware limitation on how high of a resolution it can support because it can only decode/decompress transmitted info so fast. It has to decode simply because the signal is not being sent over the traditional VGA/DVI connection.

I could be wrong on some of this, but the 1600x1200 limitation is definitely a limitation imposed by the hardware capabilities some how. It isn't a software thing at all.

I think the 1600x1200 resolution really only describes the maximum number of pixels the display can drive. It might work with 1680x1050 (which is less pixels), but I'm not 100% certain.

 

I can't really help you with the laptop you have now, but I think you can put graphics cards in to the docking bays that Dell uses for its Latitude line up. Graphics cards or Hard drives, not sure if they do both at the same time.

 

The graphics cards are only for allowing another monitor to be driven. While that is perfectly fine, do not expect to gain performance with respect to 3d applications like games and rendering. The bandwidth is not there.

 

Wow. Sounds like you want the new XG Station by Asus that was recently revealed at the CES 2007. Whic is the first dedicated external graphics for notebooks. Doesn't have highspeed harddrive support like SATA, but that can easily be solved with external drives like firewire or usb 2.0 since hard drives don't take that kind of bandwidth.

 

Thanks much for all of your responces, guys.

I especially appreciate the education on dock graphics.

So, it looks like nobody makes quite what I want.

Altho that Asus XG Station is a huge step in the right direction: if it supported an internal 3.5" SATA drive at full bandwidth, I would pay up for it. Having to buy an additional external USB hard drive enclosure is the final annoyance at holding me back from buying it.

Speaking of hard drive enclosures, my understanding is that USB 2.0 does NOT really deliver its alleged bandwidth. 480 Mb/s = 80 MB/s seems like it should be sufficient to handle any single drive, but I read several reports yesterday from people reporting real world usb drive performance to be 3+ times lower than that. Intel must have screwed up USB's design somehow, since firewire and eSATA external drives deliver their full performance.

I am going to probably buy a USB/eSATA hard drive enclosure, even tho my current laptop has no eSATA connector, simply for future compatibility.

Some models that I am considering are:

VANTEC NST-360SU-BK 3.5" eSATA + USB2.0 Aluminum External Enclosure - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817145167

Thermaltake A2395 Aluminum 3.5" ESATA + USB2.0 External Enclosure
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817145026

AZiO ENC311SU41 Aluminum 3.5" eSATA + USB 2.0 External Enclosure
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817106097

If any of you have any further insight into any of those models, or an even better one, please lemme know ASAP since I want to order from Newegg today.