Docking station

[Damien Symonds]

Hi Brian, I'm asking this on Lara's behalf ... she's looking at getting a docking station, because she's got so many screens and other things connected to her laptop.  Do you have any general advice about what to look for in a station?

Her laptop is a Dell, should she only be looking at Dell stations?

[Brian]

Yeah, I’d recommend getting a Dell Docking station IF you are looking to insert the laptop directly into the docking station. Otherwise, you could get one that I will refer to as a “Hub”, meaning it uses USB-C ports and has its own power. This way you can get the benefits of a dock without risking shorting the laptop if you purchased a generic one. 
 

What Dell Laptop does she have? I’m sure she has three screens going, my wife does at our home. I joke that she has a “Command Center” before I was able to create one. 

[Brian]

Also, what is the interface type of her two displays? HDMI? DisplayPort? Hopefully one of those two and not a VGA port. 
 

The “Powered Hub” Dock that I’m referring to should be around A$60-ish. In the States they go for about $40 on Amazon. 

[Damien Symonds]

2 hours ago, Brian said:

Yeah, I’d recommend getting a Dell Docking station IF you are looking to insert the laptop directly into the docking station. Otherwise, you could get one that I will refer to as a “Hub”, meaning it uses USB-C ports and has its own power. This way you can get the benefits of a dock without risking shorting the laptop if you purchased a generic one.

Oh, good advice.  Yes, I think she'd been looking at one with its own power; and that seems like a very good thing, since her work-issued laptop is a weakling and really labours under the strain of all the things she has plugged into it.

2 hours ago, Brian said:

What Dell Laptop does she have?

I'll have to check on that.

2 hours ago, Brian said:

I’m sure she has three screens going, my wife does at our home. I joke that she has a “Command Center” before I was able to create one. 

She does have three screens, and I make the same joke!

Of the two external screens, one is DVI and one is HDMI.

[Brian]

IF her laptop has a single USB-C port, that would be perfect. This Docking Station is what I had in mind. I'm sure you can find something similar on your side of the planet. For the Display that is DVI, you need one of these cables: DisplayPort to DVI Cable OR if she already is using / has a DVI Cable, you need one of these DisplayPort to DVI Adapters.

What she needs is very standard with today's technology, but at a Cavieat...she needs to have a USB-C (Thunderbolt 3) to obtain the optimum results. We can make things work with a USB 3.0 Port though...but not a USB 2.0 Port.

[Damien Symonds]

Yes, it has a USB-C port, so we're sweet there.

[Brian]

DisplayPort is the most flexible out of all the port types. It's Royalty-Free, which makes Manufactures want to use them. There are all sorts of adapters / cables. DisplayPort to HDMI, DisplayPort to DVI, there is even a DisplayPort to VGA! So if you do get a dock that has two Display Ports, all you would need is to get the appropriate adapter/cable to attach to the existing monitors. If she upgrades her Display, DisplayPort is one of the standard ports going forward. As we've agreed above, just make sure the Dock has it's own power source to help with things. 

Let me know what you get.

[Damien Symonds]

Cool, thanks so much.