anyone using sony docking station for SZ?

I am looking to buy the new SZ360 and would need to get the Sony docking station to go with it. Right now I have a Dell Latitude D500 and Dell D/Dock station that allows me to dock the laptop with the screen closed.

My question is whether or not the Sony docking station for the SZ models will allow you to dock with the screen closed. I have seen some docking stations that require the laptop to be open. I don't want to see two screens at once, just the big screen attached to my docking station.

As a side note, has anyone experience any issues with the Sony docking station in general?

Best,

-Bill

 

I bought the SZ110 last week and purchased a refurb VGP-PRRSZ1 on ubid for $119+shipping. I am not sure about the answer to ur question but just thot of letting u know about the cheapest prices on those SZ docking stations. Refurbs on sony website sell for $149 and carry the same 90 day warranty. U might as well buy here and save 20 bucks! Here's the link:

http://www.ubid.com/Sony_VAIO_SZ_Series_Docking_Station_-_VGP-PRSZ1/a10773954-rsearchall.html

Aution ends in about 10 hours!

 

How much was shipping from ubid?

 

$10 to Dallas. Probably something similar to other places within the US. U can type in ur zip code on the auction page to check it out!

 

With regard to using the docking station with the notebook closed, the answer is yes. We use it this way all the time. One benefit of the docking station is that it provides a DVI interface - many notebooks and docking stations do not provide a DVI interface.

The controls for turning off the computer so you can remove the computer from the docking station are a little confusing. For example, if the computer is off and you press the UNLOCK button, it turns on the computer. It would be nice if you could remove the computer from the docking station while it is in Standby or Hibernate, but we haven't been able to get things in a state where this seems safe. The technical information provided by Sony does not seem to address this case. Does anyone have more information?

 

There are a few things I dislike with the docking station/SZ
-You can only use the nvidia card to enjoy the DVI output
-When you use the nvidia card, if you undock your computer from the dock, it will not detect it and must put the SZ to sleep or turn it off then turn it on for the screen to be reconfigured
When I put the laptop back on the docking station, the DVI screen (I use a Dell 24" monitor) isn't automatically configured, I must go into the nvidia settings, say that I want to use the 2 screens independantly from each other, then readjust that the laptop screen is at the left of my Dell screen.

I haven't found a way to make those steps automatic.
When using the Intel GPU things are a bit easier, as you can use profile, but it still require that you manually select which profile to use. Like when you undock the computer, if I don't want to do ON/OFF, I have to select the profile where I configured that only the SZ screen is going to be used.

If anybody has a better solution, it will be more than welcome. Each time I waste 2-3 minutes to reconfigure the screen. And having to turn off the laptop after undocking is *really* annoying. I use the Dell as the main screen, so when I undock the SZ screen stays as the secondary one.

 

I use Ultramon for my display profiles.

When I'm undocked, it uses one profile, and when I'm docked it uses another profile. This allows me to hibernate and undock from a docking state, or hibernate and dock from an undocked state... I haven't really played too much with the undocked to docked or vice versa while powered on.. If i undock, I'm often heading out anyways, so no need to keep the SZ powered on.