m17x R3 and Desktop use

I'm new here, so be gentle. I just ordered an M17xR3 w/6970M. I would like this to replace my desktop, and I'm trying to find out what others are doing to make it easy to transition back and from from mobile to desktop-ish use, without having to plug/unplug a million cables.

I have a ton of different questions, so let's start with one first - external monitor use.

On my current desktop, I use two monitors - a 24" and a 17". Ideally I'd like to plug in the 24" in some manner and use that as the primary monitor while the M17x's screen acts as secondary - but I realize that might not be possible, since I of course then need the M17x's screen to become primary if I unplug the 24" monitor.

Another option I could live with would be have the 24" be the only monitor when plugged in (and the laptop's screen would be off), if the laptop then becomes primary again when the 24" is unplugged.

Thoughts on this?

 

Congrats on your purchase and welcome to NBR

As a short answer to all your concerns: YES, you will be able to plug your monitors to your new laptop and use them the same way you used to on your desktop with the help of HDMI,VGA etc..

cheers

 

Welcome to NBR!

If you use the HDMI, Display Port, and VGA, you can have a whole bunch of monitors plugged into your laptop. I do it, so I will verify it works. That's with an R2 though. I know on the R2 FN+F6 changes what display mode you're in, using the on screen display to guide you. I frequently run my laptop through my 52" TV via HDMI so my wife and I can watch movies. Congrats on your purchase, I hope you enjoy it!

 

Excellent! So, I could plug in both monitors, hit the FN+F6 (or whatever it is on the R3) and use those monitors.

What then happens, though, if I unplug the monitors? Can they be hot-unplugged or would I need to shut the laptop down first? If I can hot-unplug them, do I just hit FN+F6 to switch back to the laptop screen as the only monitor?
(excuse all the questions, I'm a long-time desktop IT guy and build my own desktops, but laptops are a whole new ballgame to me).

 

You don't have to turn off your machine to be able to plug/unplug the monitors, don't worry
It's no different than how it is with desktops, you'll see

 

Thanks! I'll defer more monitor questions then until I get the beast and try it out myself.

Now for another question - at my desk I have a nice setup of Logitech 5.1 speakers, which uses 3 cables to connect to the desktop. I'd like to minimize the cables I have to plug/unplug. I believe I can do SPDIF to drop that to one cable - but what I'm wondering is if anyone is using the HDMI out to get audio to speakers AND video to a monitor. If so - how?

I know an A/V Receiver can do that (take in the HDMI...send the audio out to the speakers...pass-thru the video to an HDMI out that goes to the TV or Monitor). I'd rather not have a huge A/V receiver to do this. Any nifty devices or speaker setups that do something like that?

 

there are also some advance monitor setup features in the ccc, audio through hdmi should be automatic if your monitor/tv has built in speakers, if not you can just set it in the idt control panel.

 

I'm assuming a simple HDMI splitter would work. Surely it wouldn't need amplification for a job like that. Something like this should do the trick: HDMI Male to HDMI 2 Female Audio Video Splitter Y Cable | eBay
Obviously there are more expensive options if you prefer, though I'd argue that thing will do the job just as well!

 

Looks like that just takes the HDMI output, and gives you - two more HDMI outputs (though one might be audio?) I'd still need to get that into my speakers somehow...

I need to verify if my old (but still VERY nice) Logitech 5.1 speaker setup takes an optical or spdif input, if so I can just use that instead of three cables (center/woofer, front, rear).