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    Docking Station for Dell Vostro 1500? - Running 1920x1200 Monitor

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by HTWingNut, Sep 3, 2007.

  1. HTWingNut

    HTWingNut Potato

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    For my soon to arrive Dell Vostro 1500, I am looking for a decent docking station for it. It doesn't need anything fancy, but it'd be nice to mount the laptop somewhat vertically for saving desk space, and preferably have a DVI port if that's even possible.

    I run a Dell 24" display with 1920x1200 resolution and have a DVI/USB KVM switch that I use between my gaming PC and work desktop (soon to be laptop).

    Is there anything out there that would fit this criteria and still be somwhat affordable (i.e. less than $200?)

    Thanks.
     
    HTWingNut, Sep 3, 2007
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  2. reyemarr

    reyemarr Newbie

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    I guess the lack of reply answer your (our) question. I am in the boat as you are, and have been searching for a suitable docking station unsuccesfully.

    MR
     
    reyemarr, Sep 13, 2007
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  3. Aluminum

    Aluminum Notebook Consultant

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    Theres no docking port on the 1400/1500/1700 vostros.

    There are some (terrible) usb 2.0 video solutions out there on the fringes of the interweb, but don't bother...a high quality VGA/RBG cable on your existing port will work out much better than any of them ever could.

    You're pretty much screwed for digital outputs until someone makes an expresscard video card with a breakout cable to DVI/HDMI. It would only be pci-e x1 so not oriented for anything but the lightest of gaming gpus, but more than enough for regular use. I wonder if its possible to do a ADD/ADD2 type of card for laptops...kindof doubt it though.

    I could even see someone making an oddball expresscard that breaks out to an enclosure with a x16 (physical) pci-e slot (or several) with its own powersupply, but that would only be useful for multiple 2D monitor ports. PCI did it in the past to backplanes for lots of industrial uses, typically a rackmount enclosure for putting in a ton of controller cards for legacy ports to equipment.

    Anyways back to the simple answer: use the VGA/RBG analog out or bust.
     
    Aluminum, Sep 21, 2007
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