The Dell forums didn’t offer any help. They’d probably just tell me to buy a newer laptop anyway.
Inspiron 5150. No docking port. Yet it has a VGA port for connecting to an external monitor. I want to use it as a desktop replacement but it looks like I’ll have to open it each time I want to power it on, then close it back up to use the external monitor. Is there any way around that?
Thanks.
I hate to say “Get a Mac,” as it doesn’t solve your Dell problem, but Mac OS X accommodates dual displays. No opening/closing nonsense needed to boot, reboot or deboot.
I’m running a 20" Planar monitor off the PowerBook G4 I’m writing this on.
Just about every laptop computer has a VGA output, whether or not it’s designed as a “docking” computer. The VGA ports are used more often to connect to data projectors for Powerpoint presentations than for evternal monitors.
Sorry, your compter isn’t designed to dock with anything. You may not have any keyboard ootions either – do you have USB ports? Ywa, you’ll need to open and close it, I’m pretty sure.
If it makes you feel better, you can turn off the built-in monitor if you plug it into an external one. It’s usually Fn-F7 or Fn-F8. One of the dunction keys is probably labeled with a small monitor icon, or an “LCD/CRT” label.
Ywa, you have no ootions. You do need to Get a Mac.
You won’t have worry about them damn dunction keys anymore, either. 
FYI, the only reason she needs to open the notebook system is because the power button is inside. Once she opens it and turns it on, it should automatically display the signal on the external monitor. Strictly speaking, it’s not necessary to close it after, but she may wish to.
Perhaps the Macintosh power button is located so that you don’t need to open it to power it on. I wouldn’t know, as I don’t own a Mac (but then I avoided becoming one of those annoying Mac fanatics who answer every computer question with “Get a Mac”).
But to answer the question posed in the OP, Kensington sells a “Notebook Expansion Dock with Video” that appears to connect via the USB port and allows one to connect an external monitor at up to 1280x1024. You’ll still need to open the system to turn it on.
I also found a generic docking station from Targus as well, and seems to cost a bit less than the one from Kensington.
I’m using my Dell laptop with no docking port right now in the following setup:
USB Keyboard + Mouse, and a main 21" exernal LCD. I use the laptop in the open position as a secondary monitor to which I move things like Winamp and stuff.
I don’t see the problem? I mean you can configure windows to “Do nothing” when you close the lid, but I am not sure how you are going to turn it on without opening the lid even momentarily. You can close the lid when it boots and the secondary display comes on if configured properly.
Docking stations are mostly obsolete at this point as modern notebooks have tons of easily accessible ports on board. If it’s the accessibility of the power button that’s bothering you simply keep the unit on continuously and let it hibernate, clicking the mouse or keyboard should bring it back to life.
It’s a shared workspace that presently has two laptops, which means pretty much double everything. I want to run then through a KVM switch and into a single 21" LCD panel which I already have. I was hoping to be able to squirrel both laptops under the desk or some other out-of-the-way location and only need to reach for the power button on the docking station of each laptop to start them up. Having to pop the 5150 open to power it up isn’t a huge deal but I was just wondering if there was any way to avoid it.
I did play around with the hibernate feature but could not get the machine to wake back up with a jiggle of the mouse. The only way to get it out of hibernation is to (sigh) open the damn lid and press the power button.