t61 & 24" LCD Monitor

Hello All,

Don't flame me please, I did use the forum & google search but still couldn't find the simple answer I am looking for (or at least I think it's simple).

I am receiving a new t61 laptop and advanced mini-dock from my employer as a replacement for my t41 that has seen its day. As far as the display is concerned, it's the WS version but I am not sure if it is the 14 or 15" variety (and our IT dept. isn't great about answering/returning phonecalls). I'm also not sure if it has the Nvidia card or the Intel video card, but since these are business machines I am going to assume that it will have the Intel version that is perfectly fine for text/email/web apps/etc. I was shopping for a 22" WS monitor yesterday at Best Buy, and came across a SCREAMING deal on an Acer x241w 24" monitor (half off!) and I bought it. It has the DVI input and even came with the cord included which was a nice touch.

Here's my concern - will my new t61 allow me to run the full 1920x1200 resolution on this monitor? I should also mention that we use XP Pro as opposed to Vista. I've been reading the tech sheets from Lenovo and am a little worried seeing how the listed resolutions don't approach that level. The dock does have a DVI output, so if I just plug in the new monitor to the t61/dock and power up will it allow me to adjust the resolution to where it needs to be? Or will I need to download a different driver? Or follow some other procedure I am not aware of?

Don't get me wrong, I'm not a complete n00b, but I've never owned a monitor this big and had to worry about resolutions. My last LCD monitor was a 4:3 17" which worked fine with the old t41.

Thanks in advance for any help/guidance/experience...

RPC

 

Welcome to the forums!

You shouldn't have issues running that resolution. Hook it up and give it a shot. You should be able to change the resolution to the external display without any issues. If you can't, we will find a driver that will allow you to, but you should be fine.

Good luck.

 

All worked out just fine - what a great machine compared to my t41. And, as a bonus it has the nVidia video, 15.1" screen, and my IT guy upped my RAM to 2gb for me! All that jazz, and a big-azz 24" LCD monitor on my desk makes RPC a happy guy!

 

Congrats! I love my mini-dock too. I'm running a 21" Gateway monitor at 1680 x 1050 (same resolution as my 15.4") via the DVI output. I bet that 24" is awesome!

 

I think it will work O.K with DVI connection as well as VGA. I tested my T61 with VGA out to 46" LCD on 1080p resolution (x1920) in the conference room. It works perfectly, but due to analogue connection, you cannot expect too much as digital connection: some grains and not sharp...Hope so in the future, IBM will have DVI or HDMI in their laptop products.

 

VGA looks terrible IMO on a 24"; it's good you are using the minidock + DVI.