Docking Station

PoliPuter

Hi there!

Having trouble targeting a docking station for a new home office set up. Have three laptops (all different OEMs), all with 3.0 USB and USB-C port options. Have two Asus monitors with HDMI, DVI and DisplayPort ports/options. Looking for extended monitor capability across the two monitors.

Ideally, would have passthrough charging capabilities to avoid having to worry about the chargers, and an on/off toggle on the station as to avoid opening the laptop every time.

Currently use HP USBC Dock G4 at work and I like that; however, all work products are HP, so compatibility is uniform and not a worry.

Welcome thoughts and advice. Thanks!

Ian

Thank you for the information.

I am not aware of any docking stations with a power / wake up button, but you could wake the PC up from sleep with a mouse etc. plugged into the docking station.

I would look over the following options, they should meet your other requests with some minor differences between each model:

https://www.microcenter.com/product/639565/iogear-usb-c-ultra-slim-docking-station-with-power-delivery-pass-thru-delivery

https://www.microcenter.com/product/618573/manhattan-usb-c-11-in-1-triple-monitor-docking-station-with-mst

https://www.microcenter.com/product/483723/iogear-compact-usb-c-docking-station-with-pd-pass-thru

Ian

Greetings, which Micro Center store would you be nearest to? I would just like to make sure when we are making our recommendations they have the items available.

PoliPuter

Thank you!  I'm in the Washington, DC area.  Rockville, MD or Fairfax, VA would work fine. 

PoliPuter

Thank you!  Appreciate the recommendations! 

Ian

https://community.microcenter.com/discussion/comment/36356#Comment_36356

You're welcome, please let us know if you have any other questions.

PoliPuter

Hi there. One additional question.  

Picked up the Manhattan dock. But noting it has no USBC power source/adapter. On other docks, I could use my laptop charger, but that isn't an option here due to incompatible adapter connection.  

Any recommendation for a USB C plug to power the dock, that won't fry laptops?  

Thanks!

Ian

https://community.microcenter.com/discussion/comment/36438#Comment_36438

Perhaps I misunderstood the specs when I was viewing this item, to clarify it's making you use the USB-C port on the docking station directly to charge? If so you should be able to use a USB-C to USB-C cable to do that.

JoshuaPK

I know it's a month later, but one thing to keep in mind is that there are laptops with USB-C ports that do NOT use Power Delivery. If your laptop has a proprietary barrel jack (or some other power connector) chances are you're not going to be able to use it with a USB-C power delivery brick.

PoliPuter

Thanks for the thoughts everyone! And apologies for the slow reply - have been on travel.

Update:

I was able to use the USB-C power adapter for the laptop to create the power inflow for the docking station, so the pass through power charging was good. I was also able to get the displays working fine too, so was finally getting somewhere

The second challenge I ran into was the SD drive was being rejected by government security protocols (no peripheral storage allowed on those systems). I had to return to the Manhattan Dock.

I tried a Kensington simple docking station, but could not get the displays to work.

Its a shame - the two monitors I bought from Microcenter https://www.microcenter.com/product/632681/asus-vg248qez-24-fhd-(1920-x-1080)-144hz-hdmi-dp-dvi-d-3d-vision-ready-led-gaming-monitor do not allow me to recreate my current in-office set up, at the home office (simple display port daisy chain) .

So, back to square one.