Studio XPS 16 to drive Dual 2560 x 1600 Displays??

I am about to make a purchase on the Studio XPS 16..

However, my main issue is would it be able to drive my 2 Dell 3007WFP-HC displays??

I am aware that the Studio XPS 16 has a HDMI and DisplayPort built it.. Provided I am able to get all the conversion cables, could this laptop drive my 2 30" monitors at their native (2560 x 1600) resolution??

Also, would the laptop screen still be functional while driving these 2 monitors??

Thank you.

 

Should be able to run both monitors with one via HDMI and the other via Display Port. But the laptop screen won't be functioning. You can only have 2 displays at a time. If you want all screens to function, then you require something like this.

 

But that Matrox DualHead2Go would not be able to drive my 30" display since it requires a DVI-D...

I am looking at Matrox website and have yet to find anything that can support 2560x1600 display...

What a dilemma having these 3007WFP-HC and suitable display adapters..

 

It would be interesting to know whether the Mobility RADEON HD 3670 of the XPS 16 supports the high signal Bandwith 340MHz clock, which has been introduced by HDMI 1.3. If you are stuck at 165MHz then you won't get past 1920 x 1200 (or doing some crazy stuff like 2560 x 1600 @24Hz). Besides that you'd be required to make sure also the Dell 30" display features the high signal bandwith. HDMI -> DVI-D adapters most likely won't work, since DVI-D doesn't have that bandwith requirement. I don't know how those HDMI -> DisplayPort adapters work.

The other chance is that you can daisy chain the display port cable. That feature is part of the display port specification. I don't know how good driver support regarding this is. And I also don't know whether display port provides sufficient bandwith to drive 2 x 2560 x 1600.

Interesting.

 

Yesterday I had a chat with one of Dell representative and he assured me that I would be able to use 2 of my 3007WFP-HC displays on the HDMI and DisplayPort adapter.. He also added that the laptop primary screen would still be functional, thus giving me 3 displays in total..

This sounded too good to be true, because as far as I know, there could only be 2 active displays at 1 time.. Correct me if I am wrong though..

The problem now lies in finding the correct cables for my displays.. DVI-D to HDMI and DVI-D to DisplayPort are so hard to find..

 

A single GPU chip had up to now two RAMDACs or pipes. That meant: Only two different framebuffers could be displayed. Since there are more output ports available (DVI, HDMI, LDVS, TV-out, VGA, ...) with a decent driver you could assign a single stream to any of the output ports. However: As soon as you display on >= 3 displays, two of them have to equal not only regarding resolution and content, but even the exact encoding (vertical/horizontal sync blanks etc.).

Yes this almost sounds too good. However I'm not an expert on those new cards.

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I like being precise: Certainly you are able to use 2 x 3007WFP-HC displays. But also both in their native resolution simultaneously?

 

That is what bothering me now.. Somehow, something tells me that even with the right cable, I would still not be able to run my 2 Dell 3007WFP-HC in their native resolution simultaneously...

1. Dell representative does not know whether the HDMI is 1.3 or older
2. I am worried that when I converted DVI-D to HDMI then the signal would change, not allowing for full 2560 x 1600 resolution..

This is a good laptop, but I will not pull the trigger unless I am certain that it can power up both my 3007WFP-HC...

Any chance that TripleHead2Go will support 2560 x 1600 displays??

 

They should be called 'Dell Misrepresentatives', because I've yet to hear of a single one who actually (and factually) knew an awful lot about what in the bloody hell they were selling. It's immensely frustrating. You ring them for answers and just get a series of 'I don't knows'.

 

Exactly... How bad can they be?? They don't even know whether it is an HDMI version 1.3 or not...

 

Then let's stick to AMD/ATI's own specification instead of what Dell's well educated representives say:
http://ati.amd.com/products/mobilityradeonhd3600/specs.html

. Two independent display controllers: Drive two displays simultaneously with independent resolutions, refresh rates, color controls and video overlays for each display [...] => No third independent laptop display when using two external displays!

. HDMI output support: Supports display resolutions up to 1920x1080 => No digital 2560 x 1600 via HDMI!

. The XPS 16 doesn't have a DVI output and if you use some sort of HDMI <-> DVI adapter you will never (unless playing a lot of money) convey the dual link feature of DVI. HDMI simply doesn't have sufficient TMDS pins to do dual link, but what HDMI supports is the double bandwidth. DVI uses the double amount of TMDS pins to transport > 1920 x 1200.

The way I see it: No way of driving two 2560 x 1600 displays in their native resolution. Research the daisy chain feature of display link though.

 

You should not be pushing output like that on a notebook anyway. Even with limited 3d function that will push temps for a laptop video card high.

 

First post.

As per the XPS 16 Setup Guide, HDMI is 1.2

 

That's what notebook coolers are for..

Your first post already conclude my conquest.. Now I know for sure that this laptop CANNOT drive 2 30" monitors..

Weird, why is Dell still installing HDMI 1.2?? HP is already using 1.3 in their laptops..

 

Werd....my 3 year old 720p projector has hdmi 1.2

 

My guess is that your usage scenerio is something they never even considered and figured they could save money with the lower bandwith chip:

HDMI:
- Drive a TV occasionally and directly.
- 1.2 is fine. 1.3 features such as higher bandwith and HD codec support are not needed since they are prettty much useless if you don't go through a reciever.

DisplayPort:
- Your "permament" monitor connection supporting all resolutions.

 

True, even in my field of work, not everyone uses 30" monitors...

Perhaps Dell should make a docking station just like its Precision line for the Studio XPS laptop...

HERE is the docking station that I am talking about..