W530 Quad Display Options

Question

Hey Everyone, 
So I just recently learned that the lenovo docks cannot display 3 independent external displays with the w530 as the 4th.
One rep even told me that if I were to try to set up a quad display, that one of the displays would merely be a clone of what's on the laptop (unacceptable).
Does anyone have a good work around for this?
For example, what if I combine the lenovo dock with a ViDock 4 ? 
Or perhaps a DynaDock 3.0 ? 
Are these solutiions "overkill" when combined with the lenovo dock?
Is there a more efficient/cheaper solution to be had?
Ideally, I would like to just stick the w530 into the lenovo dock and have 3 independent external displays working along with the laptop as the 4th display, and then eject the w530 from the lenovo dock without any fuss.
What do you think? Any help or suggestions on this matter would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you very much.   

Answer 1

The DOCK cannot drive more than 3 external displays, but the W530 can indeed drive four external monitors the same way as the T420/T520 series was found to support by accident and the newer ??30 series machines support by design:
The readme for the Optimus video card drivers is enlightening, as is the Intel HD Graphics readme:
??30-series machines: http://download.lenovo.com/ibmdl/pub/pc/pccbbs/mobiles/g5de33ww.txt
??20-series machines: http://download.lenovo.com/ibmdl/pub/pc/pccbbs/mobiles/83de44ww.txt
Intel HD Graphics: http://downloadmirror.intel.com/21430/eng/relnotes_gfx64_2761.pdf
Scroll down to "Display Topology" in the Optimus driver readme's and you'll see this:
For the T?30's *EXCEPT* the T430s/T430si models, the Intel chipset controls the VGA ports and the NVidia NVS controls all the digital ports, and the Intel HD Graphics chipset controls all the VGA ports.
For the T430s/T430si models, the Intel HD Graphics chipset controls EVERYTHING.
For the W530 models, the Quadro K-series controls everything _EXCEPT_ the build-in LCD screen on the laptop which is powered by the Intel chipset.
The K-series Quadro cards can all drive 4 displays from what I've found. These are found in the W530-series.
The Quadro cards in the W520 could only drive 3 displays.
The ??30-series-used "3rd Generation Core" Intel HD Graphics options can drive 3 displays.
The ??20-series-used "2nd Generation Core" Intel HD Graphics options can drive 2 displays.
This means that the T430s/T430si can possibly only drive two external displays.
The W530 can drive four external displays + the internal (Quadro: 4 of your choice between the dock and laptop ports;Intel laptop's built-in screen)
The T530/T430 can possibly drive FIVE external displays though this is theoretical and 100% unsupported/untested by Lenovo even if it works so a later BIOS update may well disable this somehow. (Quadro: 2 digital on the dock, DP on the laptop; Intel: VGA on the dock, VGA on the laptop,  laptop's built-in screen)
NONE of the options can drive more than 3 external monitors digitally however. And the dock cannot power more than 2 digital screens of those three, because the DVI/DP ports are actually paired, effectively DP->DP+DVI repeaters/splitters inside the dock.