W700 with Dual monitors

[RAnderson16]

I have the advanced mini dock and I want to run both monitors using DVI not VGA. What are my options? So far I found a $17 splitter which I think would only split the same monitor, and the other is the USB to DVI item. Can I use the Displayport to convert .to DVI? I haven't been able to find a connector for this. The USB to DVI sounds like to might work, but I question if it will be fast enough.

[fmyhr]

Hi RAnderson16,

Welcome to the Lenovo forum

EDIT: W700 and W700 dock DisplayPort do not support Dual-Mode, and thus do NOT support simple DisplayPort -> DVI converter dongles or cables. (See posts below.)

You can use a DisplayPort -> DVI-D cable to run a 2nd DVI monitor from your W700's DisplayPort. The W700's GPU can run at most 2 displays at a time, so you will have to turn off the integrated screen to drive both external monitors simultaneously.

Here is a DisplayPort -> DVI-D cable you could use. I bought one on eBay that looks the same, and it works fine with my T500 and external 1920x1200 monitor.

As you mentioned, another option is to use one or more USB-to-DVI monitor adapters, like Lenovo's. lead_org reports this works well with his W500. Using one or more such adapters will allow you to use multiple external screens at the same time as your W700's integrated screen. I don't know the limit of how many USB-to-DVI adapters you can connect at once! (If you find out, please share.)

Best regards,

Frank

Message Edited by fmyhr on 2009-07-21 11:18 AM

[RAnderson16]

Thanks for the answer. According to lenovo the docking station won't support a Displayport to single DVI connection, how can I tell if the connector is Dual link or single? or is it just the lenovo cable that won't work with this system?

[fmyhr]

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RAnderson16 wrote:
According to lenovo the docking station won't support a Displayport to single DVI connection.

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You and Lenovo are correct, I am wrong. Sorry! That will teach me to make assumptions about the W700 based on T500 or W500 experiences.

Here's what Lenovo says:

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?sitestyle=lenovo&lndocid=MIGR-71686

"The ThinkPad W700 DisplayPort is a DisplayPort-only source, not a Dual-Mode source, and thus cannot support the DisplayPort to Single-Link DVI Monitor Cable."

From Wikipedia's DisplayPort page:

"Optional Dual-Mode support generates DVI/HDMI signal with a simple line-level conversion dongle."

Lenovo's DisplayPort->DVI cable, and I'm guessing all or most of the 3rd-party cables, contain such simple line-level converters, and rely on DisplayPort Dual-Mode support.

There may be DisplayPort->DVI converter boxes or cables with more sophisticated conversion circuitry, but I'm not aware of them. (And I'd guess they'd likely be expensive.)

[penguintamer]

I bought a DisplayPort->HDMI adapter from StarTech ( http://www.startech.com/item/DP2HDMIADAP-DisplayPort-to-HDMI-Adapter-Converter.aspx ) which works great with my T500 and only cost about $20. They have all kinds of adapters, like DisplayPort->DVI, etc.