Vostro 1700 or Inspiron 1720 Dual Monitor Output

Hi,

Does Vostro 1700 (which is virtually the same as Inspiron 1720) support dual monitor output?

I am specifically referring to modes other than "clone" (where output is the same) or "zoom" (where one output shows a portion of the other's screen). I am interested in what can be called "dual independent" mode where the laptop's build-in screen has one (native of course!) resolution, and the external monitor (LCD or CRT) has possibly another resolution, and both together form part of the Windows desktop.

Dell's manuals have glossary entries for "dual display mode" and its synonym "extended display mode" but don't mention either elsewhere (how clever of them!).

The above laptops can be had with one of the following:

• Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3100
• 128MB NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS ($100 more)
• 256MB NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT ($200 more than X3100)

I have seen references to X3100 supporting dual monitor, but these were rather vague, and Dell does not seem to explain specifically enough which dual mode their laptops support.
NVIDIA mentions DualView or nView (for the above GPUs), but again, does not clarify the supported modes, and it is unclear whether this would be supported on these laptops.

Any specifics would be greatly appreciated (I am leaning towards 8400M GS at the moment since it should be good enough for my modest needs and should have more widespread support than any integrated chipset).

Thanks,

M1chel

 

Hello,

My name is Mike, I’m a Technical Analyst at Dell corporate headquarters in Round Rock, TX. I’m part of an internet outreach team developed to interact with the online community regarding technical questions and issues that customers face with Dell products. I read your question and wanted to chime in.

The Vostro 1700 will accept an additional external monitor via VGA that you can use in conjunction with the internal LCD to utilize the extended desktop feature. Or, in other words, yes it will let you extend your desktop to an external display. Just plug a monitor into the VGA port, turn on the machine. For Windows XP, right click on the desktop and choose “Properties” and then “Settings.” For Windows Vista, right click on the desktop and choose “Personalize.” There should be two displays shown in the settings box, one of them will be grayed out. Just click on the grayed out display and you will see a tic box that says “extend my Windows desktop to this monitor” and then click “Apply.” You will need to uncheck this option when using only the internal display as some windows may try to pop up on the external screen if the option is still active. If you don’t see a picture on the external display after making the adjustments try holding down the <Fn> key and tap on <F8>. I hope this helps.

Thanks,

Mike
Dell customer advocate