Building Photography Workstation
September 27, 2013
Connecting Sony Vaio Z2 Ultrabook to Dell U3014 Monitor
Modern 'ultrabooks' such as Sony Vaio Z2 have enough processing power for most photography tasks. Upgraded 1920 x 1080 13.1 inch screen is a very good one but one would prefer using larger monitor for photo processing. This particular model can be ordered with "Power Media Dock" (PMD) external docking station containing AMD Radeon HD 6650M and HDMI output. Maximal resolution for external monitor appears to be limited to 1920 x 1200 according to company specifications.
Fortunately, with a little bit of creativity, it is possible to connect monitor with higher resolution. Limiting factor remains the available bandwith of the provided single HDMI/ DVI link: this requires to sacrify some refresh rate for increased resolution.
The following worked for me to successfully drive Dell Ultrasharp U3014 monitor via PMD's HDMI connector:
- Install Dell U3014 driver from Dell website
- Download and run "Custom Resolution Utility" (CRU)
- Create new 'detailed resolution':
- 'Automatic - LCD'
- 2560 x 1600 at 35 Hz (this is probably near the 165 MHz pixel clock limit of a single HDMI/DVI link)
- Click OK to save changes and reboot
- New resolution 2560 x 1600 is now available for the monitor. You can simply change display resolution to this new detailed resolution.
I have not noticed decreased refresh rate during routine office/ photograpy work.
Follow these instructions at your own risk :-)