Sony Vaio Z12 Multi Monitor

I have been exhaustively looking for a solution to pairing my two 23" HD Acer monitors to my Sony Vaio VPCZ12LGX/B purchased from BestBuy. I know there are many posts about multiple monitors and Vaio Z however I wanted to start a thread to talk about all the possibe solutions. I like to start this thread by describing some alternatives that I have found and would love to hear back from anyone that has the same notebook and device.

I don't game however I do watch full screen video, Develop using Visual Studio 2010 and SQL 2008. I also will use the second or third monitor for Photoshop CS4. I am very budget conscience however will pay extra for the right solution.

1. Diamond BVU195 USB - Performance?
2. EVGA UV-19 Plus - Performance?
3. VTBook - Old Technology, Performance?
4. ViDock 3 - Code 12 problems?
5. ViDock 4 - Code 12 problems?
6. ViDock 4 Plus - Code 12 problems?
7. DIY ViDock - Wirey Mess
8. ?

I hope this thread can help everyone that is in the same shoes as I am. $2000 for a notebook was a big stretch for me and will be justified once I get the second EXTERNAL monitors working.

Brian

 

I don't have any first hand experience with the USB cards but for non-gaming purposes I think they should do the trick. Just check that they support your monitors' native res and refresh rate.

 

I am a little gun shy due to hearing about lag issues when dragging windows. I do Photoshop work so I don't want a lag when I am manipulating images. I hope someone can chime in and let us know if the VTBook is better than the Diamond device. I would purchase the ViDock 3 however concerned with the Code 12 problem as I am running 64bit Windows 7 with 4gb ram and will be upgrading to 8gb soon.

 

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but you could get the Sony docking station, connect one monitor via DVI on the docking station, and the other monitor by HDMI from the laptop itself. Would this work?

 

A Z11 has had a successful HD5750 DIY Vidock implemented already here. Latest drivers/Win7 updates meaning you probably wouldn't need to even use DIY ViDock's Setup 1.x software to overcome the error 12.

A low-end ATI HD5xxx DIY Vidock solution is your best bang-per-buck multiple monitor setup until DisplayLink releases their USB 3.0 DL-3000 USB/DVI adapters sometime early/mid next year.

 

Consider yourself corrected. This does not work. The only way currently is with an external video card.

 

I use a ViBook (basically a USB-to-DVI solution using DisplayLink). It cost me around $100. It works.

In terms of lag during dragging, I did notice this when Aero was enabled. Not just dragging, but any mouse movement had a small but perceptible lag.

I'm not sure how I enabled Aero, however. Normally, when I turn on my Vibook-driven external monitor, Windows automatically turns Aero off and I can't enable it. With Aero off, I see no lag at all. The only time I might see a little lag is with full screen video, and even this is hit and miss - sometimes it's noticeable, other times not at all. When it is noticeable, I drag the full screen video to either the laptop screen or the other external monitor (which is connected to the docking station's dvi port).

-Peter

 

Unfortantely the dock won't do anything as the notebook does not have the dual dvi chip. It would be hard to justify $100 to see a lag. I am very interested in going with ViDock 3 however now I need to know what card would work with the ViDock3? I think it might be the best solution.

by the way thanks for the DIY info. I would love to do that as I have a nice power supply and nVidia 8800GTX however I have 2 kids and having an exposed board would not be an option.

Anyone using ViDock 3, 4 or 4 plus that could give us some info on how loud the devices are, which boards can be ran and do you notice a lag?

 

I use the Diamond BVU195 USB-DVI adapter, and have reported that it is a bit slow. However, I also use the Intel video (stamina mode) exclusively. The Diamond adapter performs much better when the nVidia graphics (speed mode) is in use. In fact, I would say there is almost no lag, and that is while driving a monitor at 1920x1200x32 with Aero enabled.

So, most of the slowness I've noticed can be blamed on the Intel graphics rather than the Diamond itself.

I came to this conclusion because I had noticed that, when my USB/DVI KVM was switched to my desktop (Core i7, nVidia GTX8800), the 3rd display (Diamond) was noticeably faster. That led me to turn the Vaio nVidia on and look at the performance there. It is pretty handy to be able to switch my 3rd monitor between the two systems using a KVM that only supports a single DVI monitor.

You can also turn off the "Show window contents while dragging" to improve performance. With the Intel video, that causes the lag to go from very noticeable to barely noticeable.

 

Great info, much appreciated! I might go with a Diamond 195 adapter. I am old school so I don't use Aero so that would probably give me a boost. I will be running 1900x1028 on my acer monitors.

 

Anyone use ViDock 3 or 4?

 

I just heard that a MSI version of the ViDock will be out soon. MSI Gus. Anyone hear of a release date?

 

I finally went out and bought a usb to dvi device and must say that it works fantastic with the Z series notebook. I decided to go with the Sewell Minideck USB to DVI adapter @ sewelldirect.com. At first I was worried because of a screen redraw issue however once I changed back to Aero -- I like the old school classic look -- everything worked perfectly. You tube video plays great. The only drawback that I have seen is full screen video can eat up your processor. Apparently this device is better than the others because it actually uses some of your processor to deliver smoother video. They are also releasing a HDMI version and It might be USB 3.0. Anyone know if we can upgrade the z12 to USB 3.0?

Side Note on Windows 7 Classic:
One thing to note the classic look in Windows 7 seems to not be native because I have lots of screen redraw issues with Silverlight and Visual Studio. I decided to go back to aero and remove the transparency. Works great now!

Hope this helps someone else
Brian