Author: Michael Crider / Source: reviewgeek.com
There’s nothing quite like plugging in a single cable to turn your portable laptop into a full blown workstation. Here are the docking stations to do just that.
Having a powerful laptop is great, but if you ever think “Man, I wish I could enjoy a desktop experience with a more spacious keyboard and a bigger monitor” without, you know, buying a whole new desktop PC, then a docking station is definitely the solution for you.
A good docking station allows you to seamlessly expand the capabilities of your laptop by offering additional ports for everything from extra monitors to Ethernet connectivity and, of course, USB ports for your favorite peripherals.So what should you be aware of when shopping for a docking station? Most of the options below rely on the new USB-C standard, thanks to its built-in video delivery capability, massive data bandwidth, and ability to deliver power on a single cable. That’s great if you have a newer laptop with a USB-C port, but it complicates things a bit for older laptops. There are USB 3.0 options (and you can use an adapter), but they’re generally far less capable.
In addition to focusing on USB-C docks, we’ve also focused on universal, multi-platform docks from third party suppliers here. Your laptop manufacturer may have made a custom purpose-built docking station, like the Surface Dock or various ThinkPad docks, that works better for your specific model—but remember, if you switch manufacturers or even models you’ll likely need to buy another dock.
Best Office Dock: Pluggable USB-C Triple 4K Docking Station ($199)
Pluggable features heavily on this list, and with good reason: they’ve dominated this particular accessory niche with rock-solid hardware, drivers, and support. Their top-of-the-line model supports three massive 4K-resolution monitors, if your laptop can even handle pushing so many pixels—but don’t worry, it’ll work with lower-resolution displays too.
The external displays are connected via a single HDMI and two DisplayPort connections, with extra functionality offered by four USB 3.0 ports, a single Type-C input port, gigabit Ethernet, and headphone and microphone jacks. All of that runs to your laptop with a single Type-C cable outputting up to 60 watts for power. If you want to save a little dough, or your monitor needs legacy DVI support, a slightly cheaper model offers both.
Best External GPU Dock: Akitio Node
These external PCI-Express-based graphics card docks have become popular as of late for gamers and media producers, allowing them to keep a svelte ultraportable laptop on the go while beefing up the graphical power at home. Curious about the ins and outs of GPU docks? Here’s a How-To Geek article that…
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