Acer ezDock II Worth It?

Its now time to replace my 4+ year old Acer Aspire 2000. It has given faithful service with little issues. The kids are looking forward to getting it

As I search for a replacement, one thing I want to have is a docking station as I have a lot of stuff attached and would also like a nice 19" LCD monitor for the half a year I work at home. So I am looking at an Acer Travelmate 6592 as it is one of the few Acer's that supports a docking station and meets my other givens and druthers.

But I have not seen any discussion on the Acer ezDock II docking station. Any thoughts on it? Any users of it here?

Some questions:

Does the USB portion act like an original or a hub? This is a big deal as I am now running several things that like to be connected directly, not through a hub. Can you access the computers USB ports even when using the docking station?

Can you run the 6592 closed if its hooked up to the station and an external monitor?

Thanks for any insights on this. The 6592 looks perfect for my needs and the docking station would be the icing on the cake for sure.

 

glad to hear of your long term acer success...

as for your questions reguarding the docking station... i haven't a clue

 

One thing I just don't understand, is why, when people want to dock their machines, they want to close the lid and still only use a single monitor? To me one of the best parts of having my EZ-Dock 1, is so that i could use a second monitor, giving me a bunch more real estate to work, Althought i still could do this without the dock.

Just a question, what do you see is the benefit of closing the lid instead of using 2 monitors, thus doubling your workspace?

As for the USB question, sorry don't have an answer. The USB ports on my dock quit working a couple of months back. I have to send the thing in, i have a 3 year warranty on it.

 

I use a Dicota docking station with my Acer(s). Originally with a 5003 XP SP3 and more recently with a 5920 Vista SP1. It's a fraction of the price of the Acer version and seems to work as well. I use it s USB2's for connecting my Smartphone (WM6), Samsung CLP300 and Mustek Scanner. It also has a very usable LAN connection as well as PS/2(2), RS232, Parallel and Monitor connections. Even though mine is some years old it seems to have stood the test of time and the Vista driver worked without any problem.

 

Well, in my case I do not have the room to have the laptop open and a monitor as well unless the laptop is off to the side quite a bit, which is what will happen regardless. But makes it sort of useless unless you like to swivel about 120 degrees to view your screens


And dms05, thanks for the heads up on the Dicota station, I will look into that option for sure.

 

Gday
To answer some of your questions:
Yes you should be able to run a keyboard, mouse and screen and all the other jazz with the lid shut.
not sure about how the USB ports act, i think they should act as individual ports and not as a hub.
I incorrectly ordered one of these (I needed a ezdock 1) so if you want to buy a brand new in the box EzDock2 id be more than happy to sell it to you at a reasonable rate
cheers