Dual monitors on T500 through Displayport or dock with DVI?

Hey all,

I'm wanting to get a pair of 20" 1680x1050 monitors to run externally off my Thinkpad T500.

I have a displayport output, and I know they sell a displayport--> DVI cable which I can than split into (2) VGA devices.

I'm also considering getting the docking station that has a DVI output already and splitting that into (2) VGA cables to hook up to the monitors.

Will my graphics card support that resolution? 3360x1050?

Also, can I display that resolution through VGA without it looking fuzzy?

 

I highly doubt you can split it.

 

Do you intend to run two external monitors by themselves or SIMULTANEOUSLY with the T500 display?? If you want to run all three simultaneously you will need a device like the Matrox DualHead2Go.

Otherwise, you can run one monitor off VGA and the other off DisplayPort (with DVI or VGA adapter as desired). I have driven 1680x1050 off VGA and it looks alright. DVI is better, but VGA is generally acceptable at that resolution.

 

Hi mattmcss,

The DVI port on the dock is DVI-D (digital only), so you cannot use a VGA adapter on it.

I think you can run the integrated DisplayPort and dock DVI-D outputs simultaneously, if you turn the integrated screen off. That's what I would try first, to have digital quality on both external monitors. I think combined 3360x1050 should be no problem for the gpu.

Best regards,
Frank

 

I'm no expert but I've never heard of anyone doing this.

To answer this questions you should look at the Thinkpad TA book which lists all the specifications for thinkpads. Notebookreview.com thoughtfully posts the ta book at:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=334616

For the T500 it clearly states
Switches between discrete and integrated graphics (Vista only),
Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD (GMA 4500MHD), in GM45, and
ATI™ Mobility Radeon™ HD 3650, PCI Express x16, 256MB memory,
digital monitor support via DisplayPort (supports single-link DVI-D via cable 45J7915);
Maximum external resolution: 2048x1536@75Hz

So there's your answer.

 

At work I have a DVI output that is split into (2) VGA's to run each of my monitors, but that resolution is 1440x900 each display.

Thanks for the external resolution #'s

 

An alternative to using the Matrox DualHead2Go would be an external USB graphics card like this one from HIS. Cost is around $80.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815136002

Here's some more info on it:
http://www.overclockercafe.com/Reviews/VGA/HIS_Multi-View/index.htm

 

OR the new Vidock2!

 

I was able to get T500 - Windows XP - displaying via X1300 dual dvi in Advanced Dock on 2 external monitors each at 1600x1200 resolution.





Kudos to Jordan_Moss on http://forums.lenovo.com/lnv/board/m...essage.id=3422 for suggesting to set the video card in the bios to Switchable.




Here is my setup:



T500 in Advanced Dock with Lenovo x1300 video card, with the dual dvi splitter plugged into the x1300 and going to .

2 Lenovo L201p monitors.



Running Windows XP SP 2.

Display settings in Bios configured as follows

-- Boot display: PCI - Express

-- Video card: Switchable -- ( < ---THIS was the key setting in getting it to work)

--OS Detection for switchable: Disabled.





Even though I'm running Windows XP, I still set video card to switchable in bios and it seems to work fine.

I initially changed it back to Discrete as mentioned above, but after powering off the laptop , it then went back in the reboot cycle with no video where it fails to post. So I changed the bios setting again to Switchable and left it like that and it seems to work fine.



This is with the laptop in Advanced dock, with laptop lid closed- so no display on the internal LCD- just using the 2 external monitors.



When you first boot Win XP , you will only get display on one of the external monitors. So login to Windows , and go to Display properties , - right click WIndows desktop - properties- display settings- select the monitor #2 -click Extend Desktop to this Display. You will then have Windows desktop on both monitors. Don't use ATI Catalyst to set it up -because it will only detect one monitor.





To install the x1300 drivers

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/si...IGR-68588.html

you might have to undock the laptop , boot into Windows , redock the laptop with Windows running and then run the install for the driver. The driver still didn't seem to install , but Windows said new hardware found VGA adapter - I let it search automatically for driver -locally and internet - and it Windows eventually found the X1300 driver and installed it



Before all of this:

Originally I had one external monitor on the Advanced dock VGA and one on the Advanced dock DVI, but the external monitor on the VGA was noticeably less sharp - a little blurry next to the external monitor on DVI . Using a VGA to DVI-I cable on the VGA port helped this quite a bit , but now that I have both external monitors on DVI-D via the x1300 gives best display quality.



Final note: the fan on x1300 runs on high all the time and is pretty loud, but at least the display is nice and sharp :>)....