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    Best Laptop Dock w/o Breaking the Bank

    Discussion in 'Accessories' started by bernieyee, Feb 27, 2015.

  1. bernieyee

    bernieyee Notebook Evangelist

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    What's the best laptop dock that won't make my wallet cry?

    I currently have a mouse, a USB charging cable, and my speakers connected to my laptop. It's a bit of a mess having wires all over the place. It would be nice to have the cables all connected to some kind of dock, and then having just one USB cable from the dock to my laptop.

    Everything seems to cost over $150.. are there cheaper alternatives?
     
    bernieyee, Feb 27, 2015
    #1
  2. Kent T

    Kent T Notebook Virtuoso

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    No true docking stations unless you buy business class laptops from medium of the range to higher. Otherwise, it is USB universal models.
     
    Kent T, Feb 27, 2015
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  3. tijo

    tijo Sacred Blame

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    Sounds like all you'd need is a powered USB hub with a small USB sound card if all you want is one cable. It will be cheaper than having a USB docking station. The powered hub is just to insure decent amounts of power go to the charging cable even with other peripherals plugged in.

    If I remember correctly, there is currently no way to pass video and audio directly through USB, so those docks need extra hardware to perform just that.
     
    tijo, Feb 27, 2015
    #3
  4. Starlight5

    Starlight5 Yes, I'm a cat. What else is there to say, really?

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    berniebennybernard, there are numerous offers on eBay, new and used, starting at $5. Modern universal docking stations, while offering USB3.0 connectivity and more advanced video interfaces, do cost a lot indeed - and you don't need that functionality anyway.
     
    Last edited: Feb 28, 2015
    Starlight5, Feb 28, 2015
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  5. shea2812

    shea2812 Notebook Consultant

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    I was at that stage then. Got meself a dock... used for less then USD20 equicalent. Now that laptop is permanently sitting in that dock and bought meself anothe smaller laptop for me to lug around! Both of them are Latitudes though.
     
    shea2812, Apr 17, 2015
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  6. Kent T

    Kent T Notebook Virtuoso

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    And except for Vostro/Latitude 3000, the Latitude line has real docking stations available. Universal docking stations are not true docking stations, that is business class midrange and higher only.
     
    Kent T, Apr 21, 2015
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  7. HTWingNut

    HTWingNut Potato

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    The video from those USB docking stations use a cheap video adapter inside them to generate the video signal. Unless you're just doing basic desktop work, it will stutter and lag like crazy. Best solution is a business grade laptop with associated dock that has a dock connection on it, so that way direct signal goes to LCD from the onboard GPU.
     
    HTWingNut, Apr 21, 2015
    #7