They don't do ultrabases anymore, right?

For the last few years I've been happily using my X220 docked using the X200 ultrabase. I really like the combination of a thin and light (OK, at least for it's time) laptop with a docking station that includes an integrated optical drive. I haven't kept up with things for the last few years, but a coworker is in a situation where her needs are pretty similar to mine, she wants something lightweight and portable, but wants an optical drive since she thinks she is finally going to get around to ripping her music collection this year. I suggested a thinkpad/ultrabase solution before looking around and realizing that they don't seem to offer that kind of setup on newer models. Just want to make sure I'm not missing something? I know there are external drives that can be plugged in, but she doesn't like the extra mess of the cords.

 

@dylanemcgreror most Fujitsu business-class offerings have a hot-swappable modular bay, which takes a second HDD / optical drive / second battery.

 

That's a swappable bay in the dock, not the machine itself right?

 

@dylanemcgregor no, that's a swappable bay in the machine itself. It can be ejected even when the machine is docked. I am not aware of anything similar to good old Ultrabases, but Fujitsu's approach is next best thing.

 

Thanks. That's not the perfect solution, since she would ideally like a 12" laptop that is thinner than what would be needed to have a swappable bay. But if that is what is available I'll let her know. What are the docks like on these devices? My experience with non ultrabase type docks is that they are too light and small and so the weight of all the cords plugged into them wants to drag them off the desk, which is another advantage of the slice solution. Now I'm just worried about what I'll have to upgrade to when I finally start thinking about it in the next year or so.

 

@dylanemcgregor these docks weight over 0.5kg and sit on rubber pads - not as heavy as Ultrabase, yet still solid. I only have 4x usb populated, however.

Sadly, it's either thin or modular bay indeed. On bright side, thinner Fujitsu machines without modular bay are also compatible with these docking stations - maybe it would be acceptable, especially since your friend won't need a DVD after she's done ripping her collection.

 

Good point. I'm passing along the information to her to see what she wants. She's trying to decide between two desktops and an ultraportable laptop vs. 2 laptops and 2 docking stations.

The only experience I have with the smaller docking station/port replicator solutions are from a number of years back when we used a few at work. I found the weight of the monitor cables and splitter (VGA back in those days) had a tendency to pull down on the docking station and lift up the front edge. And any bumping of the cables messed things up and would sometimes pull the dock off the back of the desk. Even when things worked right people would always end up putting down papers in front of the dock when the laptop wasn't there, so you always needed to clear out space before you could connect. I really hated those things, which is why I've been such a fan of the ultrabase design (had a Gateway computer from many years ago that had a similar type of base as well). The vertical dock for the Surface Pro line I think is probably the next best thing for me, as the optical drive isn't as needed for me (although I still hate to give it up entirely).

 

@dylanemcgregor I personally prefer the old-school docks Fujitsu offers because it is faster and more convenient to dock/undock by inserting/removing the machine, than by plugging/unplugging a cable like in current Lenovo & most other docks - but the both designs are quite good and way better than not using any dock at all.

What about your friends requirements in terms of laptop power? There are some very nice yet compact devices with decent docking capabilities e.g. 12.5" HP Elite X2 1012 - with Thunderbolt 3 port for both power and docking; more powerful 12.5" Thinkpad Yoga 260 is good, too - but like all Thinkpads, it relies on proprietary dock instead of TB3.

Wireless docking is sadly very immature at this point, and pretty much pointless since it raises power consumption noticeably, and thus requires a notebook to be plugged anyway - removing all incentive to use it.