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    thinkpad advanced dock (z60) - multimon capable?

    Discussion in 'Lenovo' started by cturkstra, Feb 13, 2006.

  1. cturkstra

    cturkstra Newbie

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    I've been searching for this information and even called Leonovo who had no answers whatsoever. I'm trying to make a decision on whether to go with a z60 or another laptop and I hate that I may not buy the z60 due to a lack of prepurchase information.

    I need to be able to use 2 external monitors when my laptop is docked. I also need to be able to preform informed undocking (aka hot docking) such that I can remove the laptop from the dock without powering it off or hibernating. I don't mind pressing / clicking a button to undock.

    So the question is, does the thinkpad advanced dock (the one that works with the z60) allow me to do this? I see it has both a DVI and a VGA port on the back - can I just plug in 2 monitors?

    It also has a PCI-E slot, which is useful for a graphics card, but I doubt that I can do informed undock / dock if I have a PCI-E card in the dock...

    Does anyone know the answer?
     
    cturkstra, Feb 13, 2006
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  2. cturkstra

    cturkstra Newbie

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    Bump. Anyone with a Z60 dock? Please give this a shot and reply!
     
    cturkstra, Feb 15, 2006
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  3. wmessenger

    wmessenger Newbie

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    I don't have my Z60m dock yet. Certainly you can hot undock my A30, and that's the typical situation with docks.

    It would be extremely unusualy for you to be able to connect 2 external monitors to a dock. The connectors are irrelevant, it's the graphics processor that counts, and that's onboard the computer, not the dock. I'd figure that any device that doesn't say it's good for two monitors, isn't.

    Sorry I don't have any answer about whether the PCI_E card affects the hot undock. What if you put a graphics card in the computer instead of the dock? You can certainly disconnect a video cable (a VGA at least) without hibernating the computer.
     
    wmessenger, Feb 15, 2006
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  4. serpico

    serpico Notebook Enthusiast

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    With the advanced dock, you can add a video card which will allow you to drive 2 monitors. Some folks have claimed to be able to run 2 monitors with the mini-dock (not sure exactly how they're doing this with only the laptop's video card). But you can certainly do this with the advanced dock + video card.

    Go to the Thinkpads Forum website and do a search on "dock monitor dvi vga lcd".
     
    serpico, Mar 14, 2006
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