Comments on: In pursuit of the dream docking station

By: Carl S

Carl S — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 17:22:49 +0000

Less than a year after this post was written, and it seems nearly all the major laptop manufacturers have decided docks are no longer essential accessories. WHY? The only make that still even seems to support a dock are the HP’s.

Why are manufacturers no longer offering docking solutions?

@Ryan – docks are essential for many users. I have a very high-end laptop that can “handle everything I throw at it” when it comes to processing power. But a dock has little to do with “handling” software… and everything to do with handling your HARDWARE. My laptop has a 17.2″ widescreen display that’s awesome for the road… but when I’m at home, I still have a dual monitor set-up with a full-sized keyboard, separate numpad, a precision optical mouse, and a Wacom tablet… not to mention a flight yoke and joystick for my entertainment pursuits. Trying doing that on a laptop without a dock. It’d take me a good half-hour every time I sat down at my desk just to get everything hooked up.

But now that it’s approaching time to retire this laptop… I’m having trouble finding anything that could replace this functionality in today’s market.

All the manufacturers seem to have decided to let the third-party generic USB docks be their “solutions”. But the USB docks aren’t fast enough to handle anything close to the setup I described above. Not only that, but most don’t recharge your laptop when they’re connected… an essential part of a dock’s mission.

Why have all the laptop makers foregone docks… just when they were starting to live up to their potential??

By: Dave

Dave — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 12:42:43 +0000

I have a Dell Latitude with a C-Dock, it just snaps into it, it allows my laptop to run PCI cards has a 2nd drive, all the conections,
I’m waiting for wireless USB and wireless vidio to come down in price, then who needs a dock.

By: rutinerad

rutinerad — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 22:41:57 +0000

I agree with Chris M, the new Cinema Displays are my dream docking stations. Sadly it is more expensive than it is useful. My DIY solution works almost as good.

By: Chris M

Chris M — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 21:38:59 +0000

I really think the new Mac LED Cinema Displays are essentially one of the best laptop docks I’ve seen. One cable from the monitor that splits out to a power connector, USB and video connector. The monitor has a built in speakers, webcam and USB hub so you can keep any devices attached you would like.

By: Dave P

Dave P — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 19:24:53 +0000

@John — Oh, another thing I remember about the Apple Macintosh Powerbook Duo… Apple demonstrated it in their booth at the show side-by-side to a Compaq docking station that looked similar to the Duo Dock. However, the docking process on the Duo Dock was motorized and guided the Powerbook Duo into the Duo Dock. The Compaq had to be slid into the dock by a human… subject to human error… and they showed the connector pins on the back of the Compaq laptop smashed by people shoving it into the docking station. What a great demo!

By: Dave P

Dave P — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 19:16:21 +0000

@John — I had an Apple Macintosh Powerbook Duo also! At the time I worked for a large high-tech company (Digital Equipment Corp.) and attended a COMDEX awards banquet because I was the PR guy and our company’s product was a finalist for a Best of COMDEX award. I had just purchased my Duo with the Duo Dock about two weeks before COMDEX, and I brought it with me to the awards ceremony. Guess what product won the best hardware design? THE DUO!!! I was feeling pretty good that evening… that I had chosen an award-winning product. Oh yes… our company’s product, LinkWorks, also won a Best of COMDEX award for best software product!

By: anonymous

anonymous — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 18:29:36 +0000

some i’ve considered:
http://us.kensington.com/html/16131.html
http://www.cdw.com/shop/produc.....EDC=741663
http://laptops.toshiba.com/acc.....dynadock-u

By: Ryan Dunlavey

Ryan Dunlavey — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 16:20:28 +0000

Ugh – docking stations are CLUTTER! Just get a laptop that can handle everything you throw at it. I’m a professional artist and every day I work with dozens of photoshop files that are 100 MB or more each, and my 4 year old 17 inch Mac powerbook G4 handles everything just fine. I know people who are professional video editors that get by with just a MacBook. Unless you’re doing high-end 3D animation or editing feature films pretty much any off-the-shelf laptop can handle all your computing needs, so why load yourself down with external monitors, keyboards, hard drives, etc when everything you need is already right there?

My peripherals: a Canon USB scanner, a 6 x 8 inch Wacom Tablet, 320 GB external hard drive, ipod classic. All of them are powered by their USB connections, and other than the tablet I don’t use all of them every day, so they sit in a drawer and I take them out only when I need them. Our laser printer is wifi enabled and sits on a shelf in a closet.

Dock, schmock.

By: Karen

Karen — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 14:51:21 +0000

I’d like a docking station that would keep my laptop out of the way. When I’m docking, I use an external keyboard, mouse and monitor. But I still have to use up desk space for my opened laptop to sit in the dock, even though I’m not using the keyboard. It would be nice to have a docking station that would free up limited desk space and got your laptop off your desk, if you preferred it that way.

However, I don’t think a bigger dock would necessarily mean a smaller laptop. I want a full size screen on my laptop (at least 13″) which means the laptop can’t be much smaller since most of the size is due to the size of the screen. If you got rid of the DVD or processors, the laptop itself could be lighter but not smaller.

By: Paul

Paul — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 13:34:00 +0000

I have an HP tc4400 Tablet. I use it as my main desktop PC with the HP docking station for it which is fitted to a hinged stand (http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc.....14364.html). It’s great, replicates all my ports, allows me to use my big 22″ monitor and the laptop in dual screen mode in the office, but with a single button it’s out and I’m off !

The tc4400′s replacement, the elitebook 2730p doesn’t have any kind of docking station similar, which kind of defeats the point of using it as desktop / mobile, so I passed on an elitebook and am still using my tc4400.

Paul.

By: John

John — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 11:55:52 +0000

Does anybody remember the old Apple Duo laptops & docks? They were the first docking stations (I think) and still the coolest – the station had the form factor of a desktop PC, and the laptop simply inserted into it (with the help of a little motor). The dock itself had a hard drive bay.

I had one back in the day and it was really fantastic.

There’s an image here: http://lowendmac.com/misc/mr07/0904.html

By: Bernardino Lima

Bernardino Lima — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 11:50:40 +0000

I have a docking station for my laptop that is almost like that.

It is good looking. It has multiple connections in the back (VGA, USB, network, speakers, etc.) and even has a space for an external disk built in the docking station.

HP XB3000 – http://www.hp.com/canada/produ....._base.html

The best of all is that it connects to the laptop with only one connection leaving the desk clutter free!