Z12 Two external monitors?

I am sure I have seen a thread somewhere, not sure if on here or not, that suggests it should be possible to run 2 external monitors AND the laptop LCD on the new Z12's.

As it stands I can run extended desktop on one external and the laptops own screen, the Nvida capable of running 2 screens, but always one being the laptops own.

The thread I can no longer find suggested that the VGA port could be run by the Intel graphics and the HDMI by the Nvida. This suggests both video chips being active at the same time which I'm guessing just isn't going to happen....although happy to be contradicted

Any thoughts on this?

 

I believe you can run both the hdmi and vga off the nvidia...+ the internal screen = 3 displays. Intel can't touch the hdmi on the Z.

 

No, that's not right. The only way to get two external displays off the Z is with an external video card - people have gotten both something high end like the ViBook or something low end like the ViBox to work for this purpose.

-Peter

 

^just tested it, you're right. bummer.

 

Wow, cannot believe I can't run 2 external monitors with the Z... My Dell Studio 13 had no issues running 2 LCDs (one from HDMI to DVI, one VGA) and disabling the internal LCD. Thats how I used it in the office each day. Why can the internal LCD on the Z not be disabled?

 

If you disable the internal lcd, yes you can run two external displays.

 

Are you sure? Mine does not allow me to disable the internal display...

 

I'll test again later but I'm 90% certain it does once you set one of the other displays as default.

 

You can always use a Matrox Dual Head to Go. The problem is it only supports the VGA analog output, but if you are OK with two 1280x1024 monitors, it works great. I had one for my Dell four years ago, and it was a good purchase.

There are digital models too, but you'd need a computer with Displayport, which the Vaio doesn't support.

 

Ironically enough, the internal port used to drive the laptop's LCD is DisplayPort.

 

I don't have a second monitor to test right now but can confirm when you close the lid the internal display gets disabled (vanishes from display manager). So I'm pretty certain 2 externals will work.

 

I will be able to test for sure when I'm back in the office later this week. This is a deal breaker for me though and will force me to return this bad boy to best buy if it wont support 2 external LCDs...

 

I just tested it. You cannot use two external monitors at the same time, even if you disable the internal monitor. When I select the two external monitors and click on apply I get "unable to save changes". I used the Windows internal monitor tool to enable two ext monitors and I tried the NVIDIA Control Panel. You can still use one external monitor and the internal monitor (I know it is not the same and very inconvenient).
Looks like the Vaio Z is not really for business use: no dual monitor and no real docking station.

 

I agree... I cannot believe a machine this power and expensive cannot do this. I'm sure its not nearly as nice, but I'm gonna try and 3820tg...

 

An alternative is maybe an USB to DVI adapter:
Amazon.com: usb to dvi
SUPER PC | Multi-Monitor Adapters | USB to VGA, USB to DVI, Matrox DualHead2Go, Matrox triplehead2Go | Multiple Monitors
IOGEAR - GUC2020DW6 - USB 2.0 External DVI Video Card

 

USB video adapters work well although of course they aren't the fastest. The Diamond BVU-195 will do 1920x1200 to DVI; higher to analog vga. I use this both at home and at work with 2 external monitors and a PC and DVI/USB KVM. In both locations I have the second external monitor attached to the Diamond, and the KVM switches it between the Vaio and the PC just like any other USB device. This works seamlessly and I'm happy with the setup.

BVU195|DIAMOND BVU195 USB Display Adapter (DVI and VGA with included DVI to VGA adapter)|GearByDiamond at diamondmm.com

 

I can confirm the same behavior with the Z1290 + stock video drivers and Sony Docking Station. It even states that only one port (DVI or VGA) can be used at a time in the paper manual that came with the docking station.

Pretty crazy since I can run two external displays from an old lenovo + dock combination at home and two external displays from an hp + dock combination at work. I guess its a way to differentiate Sony's product from the competition


I am hoping this is just a driver issue, but I have not tried with the new beta drivers or the various unofficial drivers being developed out there.

 

Maybe the two connections are not the two monitor ports from the video card, it could be only one of the ports and they are chained.

Or as you said the modified driver from Sony just does not allow it for whatever reason. The Sony driver already downclocks the GPU to the level of a 325m.

According to Nvidia the GPu support multiple monitors: The NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 330M GPU hits the sweet spot for mobile users who demand great performance and an awesome multimedia experience.