T61 Advanced Mini Dock DVI support

Can someone tell me if the T61 (15.4" with Intel X3100) supports DVI while docked to the advanced Mini Dock?

Thanks

Jeff

 

Yes. That's why there's a DVI port on the dock in the first place.

 

my t61 14.1 is running on the advanced mini dock with dvi pluged in....

 

See my sig

 

Whats the best way to care for the battery when docked? I plan on having the docking station on my desk, connected to a 24" LCD. When I go to another part of the house with the laptop, use it for an hour, come back and plug it into the dock, will it damage the battery over time?

thanks

Jeff

 

I have a suggestion... use the SEARCH and you will find just about any question that has been answered before... also GOOGLE is your friend.

 

I did search the forum and Google. What I found was only information for the T60 and DVI with the advanced dock. I found that certain combinations of integrated graphics did not support DVI with the dock.

There wasn't clear information either way whether the GMA965 X3100 solution supported DVI.

Don't assume that I didn't do a search. I am asking for real world experience not a spec sheet.

Jeff

 

But whether or not X3100 supports DVI is not a real world experience. It is part of a spec sheet. In fact, there are many laptops out there that have X3100 AND DVI outputs on the laptop, like the Sony FZ series. The Apple Macbook had the older GMA950 and had a DVI output. So what makes you think the GMA965/X3100 can't even support DVI?

Use the battery threshold settings in power manager. Because each time you undock, you'll starting using a bit of battery and then when you get to another outlet, it'll charge again. You'll waste cycles and the constant "topping-off" of the battery is unhealthy. Set the battery to only start charging when it gets to about 30-40% and stop charging at 95%.

 

I would think that you'd want to treat a laptop battery like a cell phone battery, at least that's the word from one Lenovo rep I talked to. That means drain the sucker, then recharge it fully. You probably then don't want the battery plugged in while on the docking station unless you're charging it, because you won't need the battery since you're on AC.

It seems like it could be a pain and hassle to assure that you are maximizing the battery's lifespan as well as it still being useful for coffee shop visits etc. e.g. if you went to Starbucks with a 20% full battery, you'd technically not want to charge it unless you dropped under say 5-10% to maxmize your battery's life. Course this may be a pain, as having only 20% of battery life and then draining it at Starbucks means you get like 15 minutes of time. One solution is to have multiple batteries, which is my plan.

Currently, I have on order my T61P w/ 9-cell, plus ultray bay, plus an additional 9 cell. Thus at any given time, I'm going to be invested in running one battery completely out, and keeping the other battery freshly charged, and rotating between the two. I'm thinking the ultra-bay battery will win me an extra hour or two in case both of my batteries are half charged.

Good luck?

 

Actually, one of the few useful things hypertrophy has found out for us is that there is a bug where if the battery isn't plugged-in, there is an issue with maximizing CPU frequency.

 

Because all the other Thinkpads before the T61 could not output via the DVI connector unless they had dedicated graphics cards even though some of those integrated graphics cards could support DVI....

This was a question that many had before and never got an answer too, I have tried searching and looking for it many places and never found a solid answer...even in the spec sheets.

 

I was referring to the battery question.

 

So if you never found a solid answer, how do you know that this information is right?

 

I am interested in possibly making my T61 my main machine (replacing an older P4 2.2 Ghz Dell Tower) so I have been looking at the advanced mini-dock (250410U?)

Is the DVI signal that is produced, is it any different in quality that a regular DVI output would generate?

Those of you who have used this mini-dock have you been happy with it?

In addition to the DVI output to drive my dell LCD (both vga and dvi) I am also interested in the serial port since I would like to share my MS ergo keyboard with the laptop and a Linux box.

Thanks!
Esmail

ps: does Lenovo ever put these on sale like the laptops? I guess I could look on ebay too, but it's a bit hit-and-miss with sellers there.

 

The DVI output works fine using my Advanced Mini Docked, pre-T61 Z61t with integrated GMA950. I am running at 1600x1200.

 

He doesn't. His information is wrong.

However, I do agree that the Lenovo-provided documentation isn't very clear, and Lenovo salespeople are close to useless when it comes to questions of this nature. I had to search on forums like this to determine whether my particular setup (Z61t, GMA950, Advanced Mini Dock) would support DVI while docked. The review even claimed DVI is not supported, though the specific video card reviewed is not mentioned.

 

I'll take the oppurtunity to drop a question in here as well.
the Advanced Mini Dock, will it fit under the T61p (15in wide) with a protruding 9-cell battery mounted?

And how do you feed the Advance Mini dock with power, is it autoswitch as well? The latter is elevant since i live i Sweden an plan on buying from the US.

thanks anyway,

 

You are right, the specs and world experience are hard to find and is not clear. I went through this same battle before I purchased our last lot of ThinkPads. I'm not sure why some are choosing to harrass you rather than help you, that's what a forum is for right?

I have bit of useful, real world, information for you. We are currently using 20+ T61 w/ the X3100 + advanced mini dock combo at our business, most using the DVI port. On top of that, several of them are actually running dual monitors with one on 1680x1050 and the other at 1280x1024. (I have run dual at 1680x1050) So to answer your question, yes it supports it and very well at that. We were concerned that dual monitors would be out of the question, but the x3100 supports it. I have found the x3100 to be a huge leap in the mobile intel graphics cards.

As far as your battery there is a battery care guide that can be found with a quick search, but I'll save you some time.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=91846

We've had no issues so far with longevity of the 9 cell batterys, I'm not sure which you're using... However I tend to use my battery several times a week, so many mornings when I dock it, it is charging. On the other hand, others at our business very rarely used their batteries and have experienced no problems to date. The advanced minidock is designed very well to help with cooling and tends to keep it cool enough, by a long shot, to avoid heat damage.

Hope this helped. Feel free to ask me any further questions as I have a load of experience with this graphics chip and the mini docking station.

 

The 9 cell fits perfectly into the dock. If anyone wants pics let me know.

The power is actually supplied from a standard ThinkPad 90w adapter. No power supply is actually integrated into the unit. So, if your notebook power adapter supports it like mine does (and it should), then you're good to go.

 

I've seen no problems with the DVI signal, though I have no equipment to test if it deviates from the norm.

Extreemly happy with the 20+ I currently support.

Serial seems to work flawlessly. We use it for connecting to cisco routers and switches via the console all the time.

Sometimes you get get them discounted with a notebook purchase, it would show so when you do a custom build. If you can't get it for a discount when you purchase your notebook, your best bet is to get it from a reseller. However you're not likely to get it for less than $150-170ish. I'm fortunate enough to be dealing with a local reseller who shares his cost with me.

 

Here are some pictures of the Advanced Mini Dock:
http://www.notebookforums.com/post2569113-1.html

Is the 5th picture of the underside?

 

This is actually the ADVANCED DOCK not the advanced MINI dock. I know, it's confusing. You'll note the big huge arse on the one you posted. That is for housing PCI-X card, optical drive etc. The advanced mini dock is similar, but without the junk in the trunk.

Note that the poster stated: "I really was wanting the Advanced Mini-dock, as all I needed was DVI & USB ports, but for roughly the same price as a new retail dock..."

It's a simple mistake. I just wanted to clear that up before there was any confusion.

 

Ahh ok, you're absolutely right.

 

i've a question re the mini dock. when using an external display, peripherals etc. does the T61 need to be kept open? that is, does closing the notebook in the dock put it to sleep, as it would normally?

i'm thinking of using the external monitor as the sole/primary display (rather than extended), and wondering how easy it is to switch between the two when docking. e.g. do you have to go into display properties and make the switch or will it auto recognize the external display?

 

The T61 does not need to be open when using an external display. You can set the action when you close the lid (I have it set to do nothing, aka turn off monitor). I don't have a dock, but I use my old CRT monitor about 70% of the time easily. No problems. I don't there would be a difference if it was an a dock. You should configure it using the same method.

 

It works open or closed. I use mine open as I like to be able to easily access the fingerprint reader, but most of my users keep theirs closed.

 

Does anyone know if the mini dock DVI support will enable different (more) external display resolutions?

I'd REALLY like to have 1680x1050 working on an external monitor with the nvidia quadra card on the t61. Unfortunately, the closest I get is 1600x1200 when using the analog out.

 

I am able to reach up to 1680x1050 on either DVI or analog using the docking station. As I mentioned in my earlier post I have run dual 1680x1050 one on analog the other DVI. I've never had a higher res monitor to try anything higher though.

**You should be able to run 1680x1050 if you have your monitor plugged in during the boot or do a monitor detect within windows (sometimes the monitor detect is buggy though). Also, try updating to the latest drivers. I have found this to fix issues with missing resolution settings. Secondly, the newer nVidia Control Center allows you to set custom resolutions (you need to enable advanced settings), I haven't played with it, you may try try that however.**

 

Thanks for the advice - I actually had to turn on the checkbox for "show modes that might not be supported" (or whatever it is) to get the...native resolution...to show up. Strange, but now I'm in good shape.