Any laptop video card natively supports more than 2 external monitors?

Hi All,

Not sure if this is the right forum to post, but I was wondering if you guys know any laptops with video cards that supports more than 2 external monitors?

P.S. I know that the Sony Z series have some kind of "Media Dock" as an accessory where it can support 3 external monitors through it, I can't seem to find the same options for Asus/HP/Lenvo.....

Thanks,
-K

 

The Dell M6500 workstation notebooks do (I think with the docking station though...).

 

That's a great laptop...although in Canada we only have M6600 which is fine. Not a cheap laptop but it does offer a load of stuff. I really like their E-port docking station, seems like you can run both DVI ports on two external monitors at the same time.

It's expensive if I want i7 and 8G of RAM

 

You can use up to 4 monitors with the Lenovo thinkpads (Optimus enabled) and the Advanced Dock that goes with them.

 

Thx! Lenvo W520 is another good choice too, seems cheaper than M6600.

 

in addition to all of the dock solution, check out the matrox 2go adapters.

Smaller than a dock, needs just one hookup to your laptop, monitors plug into the 2go adapter.

 

Agreed for just work I use Triplehead to go units myself. natively with the advanced dock I have run 5 simultanious screens off my Elitebok 8740W ( 4 plus internal LCD ) and have added 6 more with a pair of triplehaeds just for giggles. a good number of business class units with proper docking units ( not these cheap USB things ) can support a number of screen options

as for latop GPU's almost all AMD/ATI 5000 and 6000 series have supported eyefinity ( 6 screens ) but it has been up to the manufacturer to impliment it or limit it

 

I believe the W520 will only drive three monitors, even with the dock.

Double check the situation before you buy...

 

Yes, I've used these in an unsupported manner to drive up to six external monitors on a Lenovo W700 laptop. And some more, via ViDock, but that's another story.

Note that if you want to go DVI to DVI, then you need to use the TripleHead2go Digital splitter. The DualHead2go splitter has only VGA for input. TripleHead2go can drive either two or three monitors(different resolutions, depending upon config).

If plugging into a DP(DisplayPort) on your laptop, then you -can- use the DualHead2go DP version.

Confusing, as there are a BUNCH of Matrox splitters out there - analog, digital, dual, triple, blah, blah, blah and you have to get the right one for you config.

 

The advanced dock:


In the 15.6" family 8560w can do that too.

HP EliteBook 8560w Mobile Workstation overview - HP Small & Medium Business products

 

Dell's M4600 can do it. There was a comparison somewhere on the site or Dell's site showing a table with the possible multimonitor configurations available with each GPU and docking station.

 

What are the disadvantages of this adapter vs the OEM lenovo/Dell docking stations?

The matrox 2go adapters have their own video card to do the splitting? And it is connected through USB ? Do you guys experience delays?

 

for basic work and line drawings they are great, they do lag for gaming and some fast refreshes in CAD for me.

and yes they have their own mini video card in them

 

So does the matrox adapter have its own power adapter?

Meaning if I move my laptop to my work station, not only do I need to plug in my laptop to the adapter (via USB?) I also need to bring my power brick to my work station and power my laptop?

 

Spidey, most of them use the USB power from your laptop, there are OPTIONAL power kits for when you wind up in a low power situation such as too many devices on an unpowered hub or with unpowered USB ports.
I run Dual tripleheads just off of my USB 2.0 ports off of numerous systems.

short answer for 99.9% of people is no, no power brick needed

 

You are right....according to this:

NVIDIA Optimus - ThinkPad Multiple Monitor Configurations

W520 can only support 2 external monitors and T520 can support 3 external monitors. Am I understanding that site correctly guys?

 

That's what I was referring to. I didn't get into the specs too much, as I would only be interested in the W520, but there was some consternation amongst users as to why the W520, being the top end model, wouldn't support as many monitors as a lower model.

 

Depending upon how many monitors you wanna run, there can be several issues using Matrox splitters. I run a lot of monitors off of a Lenovo W700, and here's a -few- of the issues I encountered:

* usb - power and control data are run through the usb ports. You may end up needing a separate, powered usb hub, depending upon your situation.

* interfaces - Matrox makes many different models, and until you understand how they hook up, it's easy to get the wrong model. For example, as mentioned in an above post of mine, DVI to DVI is ONLY available via the TripleHead2go, even if you just want to drive two monitors. DP is different; it has a DP port on it, so you can use either the dual or triple model.

* Mixing/matching/number of splitters OFFICIALLY supported is very limited. Turns out you -can- run a bunch of splitters off the same box, but you have to fiddle with configs and software setup to get it all to work. Real PIA, but once it's setup, tends to be stable and work well.

* Gaming - I don't do gaming, so can't address that. You'd wanna check performance of these for that environment.

* Messy - lots of wires, cable, heat, etc.

* Cost - each splitter is gonna cost you...

I prefer the ViDock approach, but that has it's problems too:

* ExpressCard interface, which is being phased out.
* Most current laptops have only one ExpressCard port, which means max of one ViDock. Some older laptops have two ExpressCard ports, which doubles the capability.
* No word yet on whether ViDock will be migrated to USB 3.0 capability.
* Cost - $200-ish for ViDock + video card cost.
* Two/four/six port video cards are affordable; eight port is very expensive.

At some point, a cube 'puter or small desktop/mini-tower becomes a more viable alternative.

 

Take a look at the eGPU thread for a cheap(er) alternative to the ViDock, same principle but DIY so it saves quite a lot of money.

If you don't need the monitor support too soon, just find a laptop with USB 3.0 and wait for displaylink to finally release their stuff. (preview)
Keep in mind that their USB 2.0 solution also work, but for pathetic resolutions unless you mostly display static stuff as anything dynamic on say 1680x1050 is going to lag.

 

Interesting video on what's coming down the pike from displaylink. My past experience with their usb display adapters was poor, but I'd be interested in something new that would actually work -and- have higher resolutions.

USB 3.0 has enough bandwidth; now, it's up to someone to provide an external monitor gizmo of ViDock type box to go with it.