Possible to Add Docking Port to 1705/9400?

My only complaint so far about the E1705 is the lack of a real docking solution that includes DVI. Well, I was looking at the bottom of the E1705 today, and it looks like their is a hatch covering the location where the Precision M90 and the Latitude 820 have their docking ports. I believe these chasis are all the same. I wonder if the E1705's motherboard has the appropriate connectors to add the docking assembly to these Inspirons?

Anyone know? This would make one heck of a hack!

 

I highly doubt it is possible. Dell does alot of crazy things, but it doesn't make sense to have the 9400 set up for a docking station, yet they don't do it. You could use a USB docking station.

 

The 1705 should have DVI out. Look closely.

 

@gosman - I think PROcrastn8er means there's no docking station with DVI for the e1705.

 

kegobeer is correct. Right now, everytime I come to work with my laptop, I have to plug in power, LAN, DVI (for lcd monitor), and USB (hub for mouse, keyboard, printer, external hdd).

If I get a USB port replicator, I only get to lower this number of inputs by 1...the LAN cable. This certainly is not worth $50-100 to me.

A buddy of mine actually made his own replicator from thin plexiglass. He traced the port openings from the back of his XPS, then routed the shapes out in an oversized piece of plexi with a dremel. Next, he placed the plexi behind his laptop and plugged all of his devices in. Once the fit was correct, he superglued all of his cables to the plexi. Lastly, he gently heated the plexi until he was able to bend it under his laptop as a base. Now, he has the plexi "replicator" velcroed under his monitor stand and he just slides his laptop into place.

But back to the docking port, I think it's actually reasonable to assume that Dell left this out on purpose. If you notice, Dell goes out of their way to separate home office and business customers. I think each division budgets for what they are going to have in each laptop under a given price point.

If the the duo core Precision M90 has the same motherboard as the E1705, I really don't see any reason why a docking port could not be added with the available parts. As long as the interface with the motherboard has not already been occupied by another component.

We could find out real quick. Any M90 owners want to run a diagnostic and find the product number for your motherboard?

 

Dell is pretty well-known for getting a lot of mileage out of a single design. For example, the Inspiron 8200, Latitude C840, and Precision M50 all used the same motherboard. the i8200 would not work in a C/Dock, but the C840/PM50 would. The i8200 and C840 only "supported" 1GB of RAM, the PM50 supported 2GB.

Except their configurations are identical. By flashing the i8200 with the C840 BIOS and removing a metal bracket, the i8200 becomes a C840 and works flawlessly with a C/Port II Docking Station. I can also report empirically that all three support 2GB of RAM with no modifications at all.

This actually makes a fair amount of economic sense for Dell. By getting multiple uses out of components, they reduce their ODM costs. By limiting supported configurations (i.e., by only allowing one or two video cards in the Precision series) as users move up the model scale, Dell reduces their support costs.

Now, I told you all that so I could tell you this:

The E1705/9400 and the Precision M90 appear very much to be the same base configuration with a few, mostly cosmetic modifications. With respect to D/Dock compatibility, both appear to have the same motherboard, including solder points for the docking station connector.

Have a look:

Here's the 9400.
And here's the PM90.
​

What we cannot tell from these images is whether the actual docking station connector is installed on the 9400. Given that my own 9400 is only a few days old, I'm not quite ready to punt the warranty by opening the case.

Anyone else?

 

kegobeer- yes I know what he is talking about. I just know that he should be happy that he has DVI out! Most of our lappys don't.

 

DeComposer,

Thank you for the information. That makes total sense, and hence, the reason why I posed the question. If I can find someone to verify the existence of the docking station connector in the 9400, how would I order the bracket? Also, the bios may not include the required "stuff" necessary to give the port connection it's functionality. And if I flash the bios with the one meant for the M90, I may lose other functions. Right?

 

I can't answer your BIOS question specifically, though the i8200 --> c840 BIOS flash cost me nothing in terms of function and gave me port replicator capability, so I presume that's where those capabilities are defined.

Aside from the port replicator hardware, about the only obvious differences between the i9400 and the M90 are the network controller (both broadcom, I believe, but the M90 is gigabit where the 9400 is 100Mbit and the SmartCard reader is built into the M90; the 9400 has none.

Remember, we still don't know if there's a port replicator socket on the i9400 or not. Until we determine that, the other questions are kind of beside the point. >

I'm a bit too busy with work to risk taking my i9400 apart just now, but I'm getting tired of plugging and unplugging all those cables twice a day.

 

Slightly off topic here, but with regards to those pictures in the disassembly guides of the 9400 and M90, it seems they have the pictures backwards with regards to having integrated or add-in video cards. Seems the picture of the 9400 with integrated video has the add-in video card (but no cooling fan assy) and the one labeled as having add-in video has the cooling assy but no add-in card! Same for the M90, which I believe always has the add-in Quadro FX card, shows a picture with no cooling assy.

Like I said, doesn't matter, but thought it was interesting!