Pair your dock with a stand for your screen, read our review of the best monitor standsĪlthough this is a buying guide for best laptop docking stations, we believe that the Beelink Expand X merits a special mention due to its usefulness and unique characteristics. Having said all that, compared to some of the best laptop docking stations on this list, this dock doesn’t come particularly cheap. The sleek, minimalist, black design will look sharp in most home offices, and if you own a Surface laptop it's easy to see why you would want to stick to the theme. Connectivity-wise, there are two Mini DisplayPorts, one Gigabit Ethernet port, four USB 3.0 ports and an audio-out jack.
It’s compatible with the Surface Pro 3, Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book. The Surface Dock will let you turn your Surface convertible into a fully-fledged desktop PC. If you own one, you’ll be happy to learn that you can also reap the rewards offered by a docking station. The Surface line-up of tablet hybrids demonstrates this perfectly.
Microsoft is a company known primarily for its software prowess, but in recent years, it has been increasingly working on the hardware front.
Read the full review: StarTech Thunderbolt 4 Dock The only catch to this flexible approach is that to connect displays over Thunderbolt technology, additional cables or adapters are needed, adding extra expense to what is already a very pricey option.Ī stylish and well-considered design, the StarTech Thunderbolt 4 dock is excessively priced, and other makers, like OWC, deliver much the same connectivity for a fraction of the price. The designer aimed to make it sufficient for the needs of every user, irrespective of if they need to connect displays, storage, or any other peripherals. With 96W of power available for the host system and 15W each for the three Thunderbolt downstream connections and more for triple USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports, this dock is hardly underprovisioned. So perhaps HDMI Org's compromise solution may well be cheaper which isn't a bad thing.StarTech already makes some handy equipment for those that use Thunderbolt and USB technology to its limits.īeing slightly late to the Thunderbolt 4 party, StarTech has created a dock that delivers maximum flexibility for users and enough charging power to handle the most demanding laptops. I do wonder though whether a mDP-HDMI adapter dongle + a regular HDMI cable will be cheaper than a dedicated mDP-HDMI cable? Certainly a dongle + regular cable combination will be more versatile since it's not a single use case solution and regular HDMI cables can be had cheaply now due to economies of scale. The question is whether there is a legitimate demand for mDP-HDMI cables and how fast HDMI Org can develop a spec to meet this demand. The problem is not HDMI Org speaking up to declare mDP-HDMI cables out of spec, since this is apparently the truth, and is certainly their right and responsibility to do so. Obviously, it's unlikely an A/V cable is going to do something disastrous, but if there is ever a fire with one of these cables, it's going to fall on HDMI Org's shoulders since it's their logo on it if they don't bother enforcing their spec. What's the point of developing specifications and standards if nobody follows them and nobody enforces them? Especially if people are slapping on your logo on something you otherwise have no involvement in.
If not, sit and watch the eBay/Chinese import world circumvent your licensing income.
The language they use makes it sound like the laws of physics are preventing them licensing these cables. I assume they spend their days watching HD films and nodding their heads etc.) thinks this is sane. Nobody outside of the HDMI Group offices (they exist, presumably.