Dear fellow subnotebook owners, you know me, I’ve been here awhile, and I need URGENT assistance from an external monitor expert. For two years I have been using the clearbrite mini screen as a primary monitor and I am about to go blind, so one of the goals of this trip to Bangkok is to get an external monitor. My hope was also to get a lcd tv combo, but that looks difficult considering the market at the moment. (they are either too big or of low resolution). But what I need is some help with:
1) specs, I understand most but response time confuses me - I have read both that faster and slower is better argh more on that in a moment
2) tr3 behavour with external monitor using the lasted release of the intel extreme graphics monitor is CRAZY. 11/2/2004 or it may be the nature of the monitors I am testing out at IT malls in BKK. When I switch to external, I usually get a bluescreen when trying to change resolutions.
3) But I don’t understand resolutions in the sense a- does the native of the monitor have to match the setting of the notebook? And what native resolution in a monitor should I be looking for? The highest? Will the TR support something like 1280x1024?
4) So far I have settled on Samsung 173p silver cause of the design and specs. But is has 25ms response time which I cant figure if is good or bad. The rest of the specs are better than most other 17” monitors, it looks gorgeous and it even rotates portrait. But it does not have any hardware controls but the power button which worries me. All the settings are thru software, and if I ever were to use this monitor as a tv, well, it may be a hindrance.
5) What is the best TV box out there? I want get one that has a remote with total control, PIP, and hopefully not requiring a pc to operate. Is. The wife want to watch TV and I have the laptop out of the house ( I am wall mounting with VESA mount)
Okay, so I guess my main question is about resolution of external and tr, can u mix and match, and when u power off the tr will it remember monitor settings? Oh yes, and 6) is DVI-D a requirement, I mean do all dvd players out there now support it? Is it better? Thanks! Please reply asap as I only have a few more days of shopping here.

Ps. Thanks to all who responded to my post about bkk IT shopping. For future reference, the best IT malls are now PranTips and Fortune City, the latter being even better than Prantip as far as prices go. Believe me, I know, I’ve spent days at both.

Jigs

i have the 173p. in case you haven’t heard, samsung announced it’s new zero tolerance policy for dead pixels . you adjust the 173P by means of MagicTune software. the drawback is that it’s one more thing to start up when booting. other than that it works fine. as for for response rate.. there were no ghosting observed(watching dvd’s.)

[quote author=“jiggy”]
1) specs, I understand most but response time confuses me - I have read both that faster and slower is better argh more on that in a moment
2) tr3 behavour with external monitor using the lasted release of the intel extreme graphics monitor is CRAZY. 11/2/2004 or it may be the nature of the monitors I am testing out at IT malls in BKK. When I switch to external, I usually get a bluescreen when trying to change resolutions.
3) But I don’t understand resolutions in the sense a- does the native of the monitor have to match the setting of the notebook? And what native resolution in a monitor should I be looking for? The highest? Will the TR support something like 1280x1024?

No, the native of the external monitor does not have to match the TR’s native 1280x768… You dont really need to look for a monitor with any one specific native resolution however, proportions must be taken into account… like you said, a 20” LCD Monitor.TV combo that runs at 1280x768 is kind of a waste of money… howeve widescreenr, a 15” at that resolution would be perfect…

4) So far I have settled on Samsung 173p silver cause of the design and specs. But is has 25ms response time which I cant figure if is good or bad. The rest of the specs are better than most other 17” monitors, it looks gorgeous and it even rotates portrait. But it does not have any hardware controls but the power button which worries me. All the settings are thru software, and if I ever were to use this monitor as a tv, well, it may be a hindrance.

Yes, this would definitely not be good for a TV because its only inputs are D-SUB and DVI-D… niether or which are very common as an output medium for cable set-top boxes, DVD players, or VCR’s. And i know that I HAVE to use my Dell’s resize buttons when I am viewing my xBox on it… but it is mostly because of the widescreen.

Okay, so I guess my main question is about resolution of external and tr, can u mix and match, and when u power off the tr will it remember monitor settings?

Yes you can mix and match as much as you want… the TR’s external port supports up to, I believe, 1600x1200 external resolution.

Oh yes, and 6) is DVI-D a requirement, I mean do all dvd players out there now support it? Is it better?

I have to say… no it isnt a requirement… as answered above, most DVD players dont support it unless you get top-grade where it is already assuming your in the clientbase where HDTV is the norm… However, yes… the quality is slightly better but it is mostly the responsiveness… Main question, i guess, is… are you a videophile?

Hello…

On my TR3AP2, I get a variation of that blue screen jiggy describes. Here’s what happens…

1. Machine is asleep
2. I plug in (coincidentally) my Samsung 173P
3. I wake the system up
4. I switch sources from LCD to VGA.
5. Machine reboots itself

After the reboot, I’m prompted to submit an error report, which I have done. The automated response on the error was to update the driver.

I tried upgrading the intel driver, but that proved a mess. Terribly unstable. So at Sony’s urging, I went back to the driver from the recovery DVD. This is not a factory install of XP Pro, though…its a clean install from an MS CD. Everything else works perfectly, but clearly there’s something wonky about the intel driver with a clean installed XP Pro.

By the way…after the crash/reboot, the system works fine and switches sources properly. Its just that first one thats so bad. I’m rather baffled.

Would you guys happen to have any thoughts on this?

Thanks!
-oy

[quote author=“Mike”]hi,
i have a similar problem, i posted it on the T series forum without receiveing much of a helpful reply.

My problem is as follows i have a T series and i would like to know what maximum external resolutions can be achieved by this machine as i am intending on purchasing a large widescreen monitor, rounghly 23”, the optimum resolution by most are 1920x1200, does anyone know if this attainable by the intel graphics adapter?

thanks

ok mike it looks like its you and me: here is what i discovered but its confusing as hell. it seems like the intel extreme graphics driver can be linked to any other monitor and it detects the possible resolutions. these settings seem to be independent of the notebook settings. for example, i just got a samsung 720B (new model, not yet in many countries) and it is set at 1280x1024, which is not a resolution that the TR supports (i think).  I think the highest there is 1280x768?

however, the notebook is blank when connected (which is ok for me). i think there is a way to make the notebook one resolution and the monitor the other, and have them both display, but not sure how to do.  Oh my, i just noticed that the setting selection in Intel Extreme Graphics has now exceeded my samsung monitor’s rated resolution! there is now a listing for 1600x1200 but i have to scroll up and right to see the area outside of the frame of the monitor! i wonder if samsung goofed in the monitor driver?

anyway, i have not used/configured and external monitor on a laptop in years and it sure is confusing now!

so as i originally posted, we need a monitor expert here in TR world to help us!!!!
jigs

[quote author=“oyster”]Hello…

On my TR3AP2, I get a variation of that blue screen jiggy describes. Here’s what happens…

1. Machine is asleep
2. I plug in (coincidentally) my Samsung 173P
3. I wake the system up
4. I switch sources from LCD to VGA.
5. Machine reboots itself

After the reboot, I’m prompted to submit an error report, which I have done. The automated response on the error was to update the driver.

I tried upgrading the intel driver, but that proved a mess. Terribly unstable. So at Sony’s urging, I went back to the driver from the recovery DVD. This is not a factory install of XP Pro, though…its a clean install from an MS CD. Everything else works perfectly, but clearly there’s something wonky about the intel driver with a clean installed XP Pro.

By the way…after the crash/reboot, the system works fine and switches sources properly. Its just that first one thats so bad. I’m rather baffled.

Would you guys happen to have any thoughts on this?

Thanks!
-oy

well oyster, sorry to hear that but that is the situation that was happening to me with not only the samsung 193p, but many other brands.  i was testing them all out in the it malls here. thats why i settled on the 720B which i think is so new there is no info in english about it on the web! but no bluescreens.  still, the intel driver is wanky in the sense i have not figured out how to display both screens at the same time with independent resolutions - see last post.

maybe u can help me with this: the pivot software that comes on the CD is really screwed! i installed and it set everything to 640x480 with vga res, and i had to system restore to get things right again.  did the 193P come with that? Pivot is supposed to I guess automatically rotate image based on screen orientation?! you and i both have a stand that rotates to portrait.  there is no update anywhere on the web or any info that i can find!

well, good luck - darn, just noticed one dead pixel after 24 hours of operation:(
jigs