Ultrabook with Dual Monitors

EmidioN

Commendable
Sep 14, 2016
2
0
1,510
Hello,

Here are the answers to the questions:

1. What is your budget? - up to $1400 USD
2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering? - I'm thinking of an Ultrabook.
3. What screen resolution do you want? - 1920 x 1080 (more is okay)
4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop? - Portable.
5. How much battery life do you need? - At least 2-3 hours.
6. Do you want to play games with your laptop? - No gaming.
7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? - Spreadsheets, document editing, email, web browsing, coding and code compiling
8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need? - 4TB HDD; if two drives are possible, 4TB HDD, ~500GB SSD.
9. If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links. - N/A
10. How long do you want to keep your laptop? - It depends, but two years is generally how often I replace a laptop.
11. What kind of Optical drive do you need? - Not necessary (though, (e.g.) DVD ROM/Writer is okay).
12. Please tell us about the brands that you prefer to buy from them and the brands that you don't like and explain the reasons. - No real preferences, but I do like Lenovo's keyboard design.
13. What country do you live in? - United States.
14. Please tell us any additional information if needed. - Below.


The setup that I would like to have is two monitors (side-by-side, dual monitor) driven by an ultrabook via a docking station. The major question I have is:

Which ultrabook(s) would be ideal for this? I am looking for an ultrabook that has a docking station similar to those of the ThinkPad series (e.g. http://www.lenovo.com/images/gallery/1060x596/lenovo-laptop-thinkPad-t431s-bottom-13.jpg).

Thank you for any assistance.
 
Solution
The only systems with decent docks are business class laptops.

You won't get 4 TB in a small laptop, they don't make drives that large in laptop formfactor and I don't know any laptop that can hold more than 2 drives. Maybe a workstation system with an optional bay to replace the DVD drive can get 3 hard drives in.

T460s is good, http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/thinkpad/t-series/t460s/ I also used the Dell ones http://www.dell.com/us/business/p/latitude-e7470-ultrabook/pd?oc=cto02le747014us&model_id=latitude-e7470-ultrabook

You will probably have to either contact them to get a larger SSD or buy one yourself.

If you need a lot of storage, get a system like ThinkPad P50 or P50s.
The only systems with decent docks are business class laptops.

You won't get 4 TB in a small laptop, they don't make drives that large in laptop formfactor and I don't know any laptop that can hold more than 2 drives. Maybe a workstation system with an optional bay to replace the DVD drive can get 3 hard drives in.

T460s is good, http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/thinkpad/t-series/t460s/ I also used the Dell ones http://www.dell.com/us/business/p/latitude-e7470-ultrabook/pd?oc=cto02le747014us&model_id=latitude-e7470-ultrabook

You will probably have to either contact them to get a larger SSD or buy one yourself.

If you need a lot of storage, get a system like ThinkPad P50 or P50s.
 
Solution

EmidioN

Commendable
Sep 14, 2016
2
0
1,510


Hello,

Thank you for your reply.

Just to clarify: the T460s supports dual monitors (both will be 1920x1080) via the docking station? Also, what is the behavior of the laptop and various windows when it is undocked? That is, if the laptop is driving two monitors (via the docking station), and there are windows displayed on both monitors, what happens when I switch to just the one screen on the laptop? Do the windows get moved over to the main screen?

Thank you again.
 


Any modern laptop will be able to drive two 1080 screens.

When you remove it off the dock. everything will be on the laptop screen.