Which Docking station to get for a E1505

I have been looking at the Dell Website for a decent port replicator or docking station. I am interested in using my laptop as a PC replacement with my own monitor vs. the laptop screen..any thoughts on the below? My main concern is the first two don't have a video out..apparently the laptop is slightly elevated for cooling purposes..when this exposes the back of the laptop to utilize the VGA out, will I be able to use with an external monitor and not have to have the lid open? Just curious to see if anyone is in a similiar boat.

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&sku=A0181323

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&sku=A0414276

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&sku=A0457578

 

I'm having the same problem... just purchased a Dell e1505 desktop replacement laptop with Windows Vista. I'd like to be able to plug it in to a docking station when using it at our office desk, if only to make the transition easy (plug in one wire rather than many). However, I'm not able to find a good solution out on Dell's accessories site. The Dell support person I spoke with recommended their Belkin Expansion Dock with Video (she said whatever I chose needed to have video capability spelled out in the product description), but even the Belkin has negative customer reviews, including the fact that it doesn't work well with Vista. The Targus and Kensington Expansion Docks with Video received terrible product reviews.

Am I simply out of luck here? Should I just wait until someone makes something that will work out of the box with Vista?

Any advice will be appreciated.

 

Here's what I did... Underneath the notebooks is two USB powered fans I ripped out of one of those "notebook" cooler platforms. There's one on FleaBay right now for 1 cent plus $10 for shipping. Hook them to a powered USB hub so it doesn't tax your notebook's USB power so much... I have the left one pulling air down and the right one pushing air up. Keeps it nice and cool with the drawer closed and the notebook display turned off.

Position the fans such that they are directly under your notebook's fans to improve performance.

See the attached pics.

 

I'm running an external 19" wide screen display, external keyboard and speakers, a DVD burner, webcam and 3 USB external hard drives in the cabinet to the left. Right behind the monitor is a 2 inch hole to run the wires to the drawer along with a 2 inch hole on the side of the adjacent cabinet to run the wires for the external hard drives. Also keeps them quiet being in the cabinet. You don't even hear them. Don't know what else you'd need except maybe a scanner. But who needs one if if you have an 8 megapixel digital camera?

 

I have experience with three different docking stations:

1 - Kensington that includes the stand. I use this with my E1505.

2 - Belkin that goes into the ExpressCard slot and includes external video.

3 - Targus that sits under the notebook. I'm not sure if it has video.


Here are my comments on each:

1 - Works well if you want to use the E1505 as your display. Comfortable, adjustable, and you can even hide an external HD under the stand.

2 - Terrible if you want external video. Even with the docking station using the ExpressCard slot, the video was slow for general usage. You could see the Start menu draw on the screen, and everything seemed washed out.

By the way, I'll sell this to somebody if they want it. I held on to it too long to return it to Dell, but it does work and has all of the original materials.

3 - Works well -- has the same networking chipset as #1, and has a powered USB port that will keep things like your iPod charging without your laptop being turned on. For external video, I just plug the monitor into the external VGA on the laptop... plugging in a USB and a VGA is better than the poor quality of #2.