Targus Universal Notebook Docking Station with Video - [email protected]

Hey all!

buy.com has: Targus Universal Notebook Docking Station with Video (Silver), ACP50US - OEM (white-Box) - Reg. Price $149.99, Sale Price $22.99 + free shipping!
*Note: This one, has video output!

http://www.buy.com/prod/targus-univ...-video-silver-acp50us/q/loc/101/10396164.html



The Targus Universal Notebook Docking Station with Video is the first USB based docking station with true video output capabilities. This "One Touch" interface allows users to quickly and easily connect to an external monitor, keyboard, Ethernet, mouse, printer, speakers or other devices in a matter of seconds. This product is also the first docking station to allow users to connect through a single USB connection. The Universal Docking Station provides greater flexibility to commercial users and consumers because it is not notebook platform dependent.

Please see link above for detailed Tech Specs

Hope this helps someone!


Cin

 

That's looks like an incredible deal! MSRP is $150~!

http://www.targus.com/us/product_details.asp?sku=ACP50US

 

Thanks..it appears to be nice..and it has the Vid' output, etc.


Cin

 

Oh would you look at that! 25 dollars sitting in my bank account for me to piddle away!

 

Hey it has video this time! Wow that makes it a really good deal! I'm not sure if this is the same dock or not but it's similar, but here's NBR's review.

http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=2537

 

Oh..I think you better do it! You know you want to spend that money!

I'm thinking it might be...????

And, ah yes....Video Ouput....tripple checked myself on that!


Cin

 

I bought it soley because its cheaper than usb hubs at local stores. Although Kevin is badgering me to get the lenovo dock now...

 

That's cool! I'm curious how long it will take to get to you. I ordered a MP3 player from buy.com last week...ESD is this Friday..but I did the free shipping!

How much is the Lenovo dock?


Cin

 

I cannot help but wonder if one would experience a bottleneck in transmission speeds due to the sheer number of connections through 1 USB cable.

 

Probably, especially if there is video being constantly streamed. That would be my worry.

 

I've checking out the user reviews on this and they're pretty mixed--probably leaning more toward the negative side. One thing I caught in the specs that should be considered before buying is this:

"Video resolution: supports resolution up to 1024 x 768 16-bit color"

That's not a great res. I went over to Targus's site and their specs say:

Video output will support the following resolutions and color quality:
- 640 x 480: 8, 16, 32 bit color depth
- 800 x 600: 8, 16, 32 bit color depth
- 1024 x 768: 8, 16, 32 bit color depth
- 1152 x 864: 8, 16, 32 bit color depth
- 1280 x 768: 8, 16, 32 bit color depth
- 1280 x 1024: 8, 16 bit color depth
- 1600 x 1200: 8, 16 bit color depth
* The recommended Video/DVD playback is at 640x480 resolution. Higher resolution playback will result in lower video performance

While they say it supports higher res. it seems if you plan to do anything remotely video intense you need to use a low res. Also note that it doesn't support widescreen only standard 4:3 ratio.

The user reviews tend to confirm this as they reported that it doesn't work with widescreen. Also they say doesn't work well on larger screens (19 inch and up). There were also many reports of poor video quality. So if you've got a small standard monitor and aren't planning on watching a lot of videos or gaming or anything your probably good. If you don't, you might want to think twice about it before buying and read some reviews.