this post was submitted on 24 Nov 2024
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I’m glad I can plug in one port and have a dual display setup, all peripherals, speakers, ethernet, charging, etc connected at my desk in one go.
If I want to leave, unplug one thing and I’m good to go.
Outside the Apple world, a dock connector has been the norm way before USB C was invented.
I miss actual dock connectors. Cramming everything into a single USB-C connection has always been problematic for me. I have a lot of stuff.
My work laptop has a USB-C dock where I have Ethernet (1000mbps), three display port displays, mouse, keyboard, wireless headset dongle, and a dual head USB to displayport adapter.
That's a lot of bandwidth.
I frequently have little problems keeping everything working correctly.
Luckily, I don't push high bandwidth video though any display for work, so generally I don't see many bandwidth problems.
It would be pretty annoying to have to unplug/plug in everything that the previous commenter mentioned every time you wanted to move your laptop. So for something that's meant to be a portable work station, I think it makes sense to use a stationary adapter over a bunch of individual ports on the laptop itself. It would be nice if it was common for laptops to come with an adapter that includes all the ports that are commonly used though.
Counterpoint...if you're so regularly using a dock, you should probably just be using a desktop. And yes, I know a lot of employers assign employees laptops and then tell them to work hybrid and not have an office to give them. (I won't accept "devices should be stupid because bosses are stupid" lol)
You can still use a dock and have enough ports though. You don't lose the ability to use a dock just because you have extra ports, lol
Ehhhh, your "counterpoint" would apply to a laptop that has all the ports too though. If you're plugging so many things into it regularly, then maybe you should just have a desktop instead of a laptop full of ports. But honestly, I don't think it's a very strong counterpoint either way.
When I worked in an office space before getting to work from home, having a dock was super handy for being able to take my laptop to meetings where I needed to access info or take meeting notes. I had multiple meetings like that per day so unplugging and plugging everything in before/after every meeting would have sucked. My work laptop is a Thinkpad with all the ports as well, but I only ever used the USB-C port to connect to the dock at my desk.
Exactly my situation. My laptop has enough ports that I don't strictly need a dock. I still have and use two though, one for home and one at work
Few hundred? What, are you stuck in 1995?
Less than $100 for my current one, and it supports our Dell, Lenovo, and Mac (and I'm no Mac fan).
That said, you'll take my USB A ports from my cold, dead, hand.
It depends... if you have multiple hires monitors, you may need an active dock for £200+.
I'm cheap though so I use a £50 passive dock and just plug in the last monitor separately.
Yeah, mine cost $30 or so and has HDMI, USB-C PD, USB-A x2, USB-C data, and SD/micro-SD. That same one is $25 today, and there are similar options for <$20.
The one thing I really miss is RJ-45. Most reasonably priced hubs don't have it, most laptops don't have it, and I'm going to lose that dongle. I'm keeping my old ThinkPad for now in those rare cases were I need to fix my router because I messed something up.
How much does an Apple-branded one cost?
they start around $10 or $20. don’t think you need to waste hundreds for a few extra ports
For an Apple-branded one?
Apple doesn't manufacture docks. It's entirely third party manufacturers (and some people freely use Dell-branded docks with their Apple laptops).
Ah, TIL!
We bought some for work to trial and they cost 65€, so hardly hundreds
That's how much the official Apple docks cost?
We are trialing off brand docks. Wouldn't be a trial otherwise 😄 these work perfect btw.
Yup, and that's fantastic if you're working at a consistent desk or something. I have a USB-C hub at home and a USB-C monitor at work, which is pretty nice.
However, what's not nice is connecting ad-hoc. Let's say I go to an unfamiliar meeting room, HDMI is the way to go. Or if I'm going to plug in to my TV at a rental property or something. Or I'm at a friend's house and I want to transfer a bunch of data and they have a USB-A drive. I'm not going to bring a hub around with me everywhere I go, I'd prefer to just plug in whatever I need into the laptop directly.
USB-C is great, not having other options as well isn't great. Give me 2-3 USB-C ports that can all do charging, display out, and data, and also give me a handful of other ports (HDMI, USB-A, RJ-45, headphone jack, etc). It's very rare to find a laptop too thin to support it, most "thin" laptops are merely curved at the edge to make it look thin, when really it's plenty thick to support even full-fat RJ-45 (which it doesn't even need to, I've seen thin laptops with a flip-down port).