IBM T220/T221 LCD monitors

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The IBM T220 and T221 are LCD monitors with a native resolution of 3840 x 2400 (WQUXGA) on a 22.2 in (564 mm) screen. This works out as over 9.2 million pixels, with pixel density of 204 pixels per inch (80 dpcm).

1 IBM T220 (9503-DG0)
2 IBM T221
3 History
4 Rebadged models
5 External links

[edit] IBM T220 (9503-DG0)

In order to support such a high resolution, it features an unusual connector arrangement. On the rear of the display are two proprietary video connectors. A pair of cables supplied with the monitor attach to the connectors and each terminates in two single-link DVI connectors, for a total of four DVI channels. 1, 2 or 4 of the connectors may be used at once.

IBM T220 comes with a Matrox G200 MMS video card, and 2 power supplies. To achieve native resolution, the screen is sectioned into 4 columns of 960x1200 stripes. Under DOS mode, the monitor/card combination only supports 960x1200 screen mode running at 56 Hz. The monitor's native refresh rate is 41 Hz.

[edit] IBM T221

This is a replacement model of IBM T220. Notable improvements include using only 1 power adapter instead of 2, supports more screen modes, out of box Linux driver support. However, power consumption is increased from 111 to 135 (111 to 150 at maximum) watts. It is initially available as 9503-DG1, and 9503-DG3 models. The 9503-DG1 model came with a Matrox G200 MMS video card, and 2 LFH-60 connector cables. The 9503-DG3 model included 1 DVI cable.

For 9503-DG1 model, when used with the video card, T221 only runs in maximum resolution in 4 960x1200 stripes (with 1920x1200 tile mode on later firmware).

The officially supported maximum refresh rates at native resolution depends on how many TMDS links are used. Single, double, quad-link support 13, 25, 41 Hz respectively. With reduced blanking periods single, double, and quad-TMDS-link can obtain 17.0, 33.72, and 41 Hz respectively. The monitor's native refresh rate is 41 Hz. The product is withdrawn with the introduction of DG5 model.

9503-DG5 model has native refresh rate of 48 Hz, did not come with video card, but included an external converter box that accepts a dual-link DVI signal and splits it into two single-link signals - one carrying odd pixels and the other even pixels - for the monitor. Using just the dual-link DVI interface through the converter box allows a refresh rate of 24 Hz or 25 Hz. When this converter box is used with the third single-link DVI input, refresh rate of 48 Hz can be achieved. In this mode, the dual-link DVI drives the left 2624x2400 portion of the screen and the single-link DVI drives the remaining 1216x2400 portion. Two converter boxes can be used simultaneously with a dual dual-link DVI card to drive the DG5 as 2x 1920x2400 @48 Hz. For video cards with only 3 TMDS channels (such as most cards based on NVIDIA Quadro FX 3000 or NVIDIA GeForce 6), the converter box is needed to get the maximum refresh rate. With 4 TMDS links, the monitor can be driven at maximum refresh rate at any resolution using 4 1920x1200 tiles. The converter box does not work with earlier revisions of the monitor.

The IBM T221-DG5 was discontinued in June of 2005.

[edit] History

IBM T221 started out as an experimental technology from the flat panel display group at IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center. In 2000, a prototype 22.2" TFTLCD, code-named "Bertha", was made in a joint effort between IBM Research and IBM Japan. This display had a pixel format of 3840x2400 (QUXGA-W) with 204 ppi. In 2000-11-10, IBM announced the shipment of the prototype monitors to U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California. Later in 2001-06-27, IBM announced the production version of the monitor, known as T220. Later in Nov. 2001, IBM announced its replacement, IBM T221. In 2002-03-19, IBM announced lowering the price of IBM T221 from $17,999 to $8,399. Later in 2003-09-02, IBM announced the availability of the 9503-DG5 model.

IBM and Chi Mei Group of Taiwan formed a joint venture called IDTech in 2001 to manufacture the T221 in Japan. ViewSonic and Iiyama OEMed the T221 and sold it under their brand names. IDTech was sold to Sony in 2005 and the fate of the T221 is unclear. Chi Mei has since demonstrated a 56" 3840x2160 QuadHDTV display.