http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1364460
Ultra helpful article that allowed me to manually set a resolution of 1280x1024 on a VGA monitor with the command xrandr --newmode "1280x1024_60.00" 109.00 1280 1368 1496 1712 1024 1027 1034 1063 -hsync +vsync &&xrandr --addmode VGA1 1280x1024_60.00` `
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=81492
Forum post saying the x301 max resolution on the vga / displayport is 2048x1536. Useful.