Dual monitor issue x220

I don't know if this is the right place, but I'm not sure where else to put it. I just bought a x220 and I am trying to setup an external monitor and I am having some issues. When I extend the desktop onto the external monitor, the display on the laptop screws up. Basically there is extra space "outside" the laptop screen so when I move the mouse to the top of the screen it moves the screen up instead of the mouse stopping/disappearing. Also if I move horizontally sometimes the icons on the laptop will move over to the external monitor like it doesn't know where one stops and the other starts. I am having a hard time explaining the issue but it is incredibly annoying. Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

The resolution on the external is 1920x1080.

 

I had the same issue but dont know how to fix it, is this the hardware limitation of the HD3000 vga interface? (can not align the screen correctly when connect to external high resolution monitor)

 

I'm actually using a displayport -> hdmi cable...I got aggravated with it so I left it alone, came back a few hours later, booted everything up and now it appears to be working fine...not really sure what's going on

edit: and there it goes again...this is really annoying. I hit the show desktop button in the bottom right and it did it again.

 

It's called panning and I believe the Intel GPU advanced options have a setting for it.

You need to run each display at their native resolution or smaller to prevent panning.

 

The problem is that you are cloning displays with different resolutions. Either choose the lowest horizontal and vertical resolution of each display and use that (with borders) - or don't clone.

This can also happen if you extend your display (virtual desktop) to another monitor when each monitor is running a different resolution.

If you run independent displays, each one can have it's own resolution, but you will not see the same thing on both displays. However this does work pretty good for watching videos (with video overlay).

See if the following link is any help.
FedoraForum.org - View Single Post - Can't keep KDE panel on laptop screen when using dual monitors

 

With the docking station, I had weird behaviour with display port + DVI both 1900x1200 and all problems went away when I used DVI for both monitors.

 

Both are at native resolution.

So all of those people out there running an external monitor with varying resolution compared to their laptop display, they just deal with this issue or is it common to just use the external monitor as a single display while you are "docked"?

I'm not sure independent display would really work for me.

 

In that case you want to use Extended Desktop instead of Duplicate.

 

I am using extended desktop lol that's the problem.

 

I use a Dell 22" (1680 x 1050) and, when in 'Extend' or 'Projector only' modes, it automatically adjusts to its native resolution of 1680 x 1050 and keeps the internal screen exactly as it should be. It all seems to work smoothly.

Annoyingly, there is some motion lag in 'Extend', which is not present in 'Projector only'. On my other monitor, a Sharp, which incidentally has a 5:4 aspect ratio, there is no problem with lag in 'Extend'.

I assume the lag problem with the Dell is due to a (lack of appropriate) driver issue rather than anything to do with resolution.

I use a Displayport to DVI cable.

So, I would recommend experimenting with another monitor to see if your issue repeats itself.