Questions about docks

My dad has worked for Compaq/HP my whole life, so outside of playing with my friends laptops (which at college, means just about every different kind) I have no experience than anything other HP. He was recently layed off however, and seeing as my friend can get me a 17% employee discount on top of whatever Dell is already offering, I'm probably going to get a Studio XPS 16 (seeing as my old laptop finally bit the dust)

My question is that with HP I had good experiences with their docks, and was looking forward to using their Quickdock 2.0 with a new hdx. Obviously it's not a problem that it's proprietary because I wasn't using it with anything else, but now that I might get a Dell I have no idea what kind of docking situations are out there. I'm in colllege, so I really enjoyed being able to plug in just the one cable on my desk and have all my accessories, ethernet connection, and power connected. Is there anything like this out right now? A laptop cooler/dock would be great too. Edit: I also have no need for an external monitor, so that won't factor into the equation (desk space is at a premium!)

And yes, i tried searching. I kept pulling up reviews of things from 2006, discussions about the Dell Dock, and whether or not the Win7 taskbar is like the OSX dock. I'm willing to read any past threads provided they're relatively current. Thanks in advance guys.



- Go IRISH!!

 

Dell has docking stations for their Latitude business models and their Precision mobile workstations (there are some good options in those two lines to consider). For the Studio and Vostro notebooks, you can look at aftermarket docks that use either USB or the expresscard slot, but those do not provide power, and the ones that carry video are not that good compared to using a HDMI or displayport connection. You will still be looking at 2-3 cables to connect.

 

I guess I'd be ok with plugging in power separately. That's about it though, I wouldn't want more than 2 different cables to plug in, or it almost becomes a moot point. Thanks for the reply!

Links to products/threads would be appreciated, though not necessary. (I guess just references to specific products so I know what to look for)

 

Dell offers several docks for their laptops without proprietary dock connections. They generally connect via USB or ExpressCard, and most include USB, serial, and other ports. Some also include VGA or DVI video as well.