Docking Stations

[LewRichAIM]

Due to the COVID situation, we are looking to remove fixed PC's from classrooms and moving to laptops, we are looking at putting in docking stations to make it as simple as possible for staff, our laptops are older Dell's so unfortunately no USB-C. So we are looking at Startech ones:

 

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.amazon.co.uk/StarTech-comUSB-Compatible-Supports-Displays-USB3SDOCKHDV-Black/dp/B00DNULJHW&ved=2ahUKEwjk7eSZ0rHqAhVRUMAKHYWMAhoQFjAAegQIBhAB&usg=AOvVaw0byNrchbOF9gtTDyGtn7aK

 

Has anyone given them a go? Or would recommend something else?

 

All the best,

 

Lewis

[Steve21]

What exactly are you hoping for with using docks? It's still plugging in a cable that's touched by other people, so it's not like it's going to be "covid free" as such

 

And if you're using laptops on wifi/without additional accessories like keyboard/mouse etc, then you're basically paying £100+ for a HDMI cable

 

To rephrase, if your projectors/touch-screens support it, just give a HDMI cable to plug into faceplate and boom you have sound/audio etc without needing dock

 

Steve

[6Foot2]

USB-C/Docking stations were considered (and rejected) without my assistance. Now I have to move 70+ desktops, monitors etc out of classrooms into storage (somewhere?) by myself while also carrying out my normal work: e.g.: Changing the password for a member of staff for the fourth time this week, and explain to that member of staff that the reason the password 'is not working' is because they are trying to use an old password after asking me to change it.

 

 

Whoops! That turned into a bit of a rant. Anyway desktop PCs out, laptops in, but no docking stations/USB-C.

[Norphy]

Due to the COVID situation, we are looking to remove fixed PC's from classrooms and moving to laptops, we are looking at putting in docking stations to make it as simple as possible for staff, our laptops are older Dell's so unfortunately no USB-C. So we are looking at Startech ones:

 

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.amazon.co.uk/StarTech-comUSB-Compatible-Supports-Displays-USB3SDOCKHDV-Black/dp/B00DNULJHW&ved=2ahUKEwjk7eSZ0rHqAhVRUMAKHYWMAhoQFjAAegQIBhAB&usg=AOvVaw0byNrchbOF9gtTDyGtn7aK

 

Has anyone given them a go? Or would recommend something else?

 

All the best,

 

Lewis

 

These are likely to be using DisplayLink chipsets. In my experience, these are generally OK up to a point.

 

I’ve tried two different models, a Dell d3100 and some generic thing I bought from Amazon. Both performed similarly, the Dell perhaps a little better but not significantly.

 

You have to understand the main difference between one of these and most USB C docks: Most USB C docks work as Display Port MST hubs or in USBC alternative mode, which means that any external monitor is driven by the internal display adapter of the computer it’s attached to, whether that’s a discrete GPU or integrated graphics whereas a DisplayLink Dock IS the GPU for those external monitors. This means that you’re having to drive those 2m pixels at 1080P, audio, networking and anything else attached to those docks over that 5Gbps USB 3 cable. CPU usage will be higher, performance overall of the laptop will be slower and video may or may not be very good.

 

I used to run these from a laptop running Windows 10 with a 4th gen Core i5 CPU (2c/4t 2.4GHz) and it could just about cope with two monitors at 1440x900. When I replaced those with two 1080p monitors, it couldn’t cope, CPU usage spiked and the whole thing got very jittery. Moving the monitors onto the laptop’s own external monitor ports solved the problem.

 

They were also next to useless on a Mac, if that’s a consideration. You had to disable transparency effects in the GUI to make them usable, plus an update to the driver model in (I think) Mojave gimped them entirely.

 

So in conclusion, I’d say give one a try before you buy them en-masse and check to see how well they work for you. They may be fine, they may not.

Edited July 3, 2020 by Norphy

[LewRichAIM]

What exactly are you hoping for with using docks? It's still plugging in a cable that's touched by other people, so it's not like it's going to be "covid free" as such [emoji14]

 

And if you're using laptops on wifi/without additional accessories like keyboard/mouse etc, then you're basically paying £100+ for a HDMI cable [emoji14]

 

To rephrase, if your projectors/touch-screens support it, just give a HDMI cable to plug into faceplate and boom you have sound/audio etc without needing dock

 

Steve

Hi, yeh tbh I would just get some anti bacterial wipes! Would love to have HDMI but the floor ports only have VGA and it's a concrete ceiling, so would mean runni g trunking across. Some day! Lewis

[LewRichAIM]

These are likely to be using DisplayLink chipsets. In my experience, these are generally OK up to a point.

 

I’ve tried two different models, a Dell d3100 and some generic thing I bought from Amazon. Both performed similarly, the Dell perhaps a little better but not significantly.

 

You have to understand the main difference between one of these and most USB C docks: Most USB C docks work as Display Port MST hubs or in USBC alternative mode, which means that any external monitor is driven by the internal display adapter of the computer it’s attached to, whether that’s a discrete GPU or integrated graphics whereas a DisplayLink Dock IS the GPU for those external monitors. This means that you’re having to drive those 2m pixels at 1080P, audio, networking and anything else attached to those docks over that 5Gbps USB 3 cable. CPU usage will be higher, performance overall of the laptop will be slower and video may or may not be very good.

 

I used to run these from a laptop running Windows 10 with a 4th gen Core i5 CPU (2c/4t 2.4GHz) and it could just about cope with two monitors at 1440x900. When I replaced those with two 1080p monitors, it couldn’t cope, CPU usage spiked and the whole thing got very jittery. Moving the monitors onto the laptop’s own external monitor ports solved the problem.

 

They were also next to useless on a Mac, if that’s a consideration. You had to disable transparency effects in the GUI to make them usable, plus an update to the driver model in (I think) Mojave gimped them entirely.

 

So in conclusion, I’d say give one a try before you buy them en-masse and check to see how well they work for you. They may be fine, they may not.

Cheers for this, we will only be running the projector at low resolution so hopefully it will be ok, we have mostly 4th gen CPUs. I have ordered a couple of these docks to give it a go. Lewis

[mullet_man]

Due to the COVID situation, we are looking to remove fixed PC's from classrooms and moving to laptops, we are looking at putting in docking stations to make it as simple as possible for staff, our laptops are older Dell's so unfortunately no USB-C. So we are looking at Startech ones:

 

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.amazon.co.uk/StarTech-comUSB-Compatible-Supports-Displays-USB3SDOCKHDV-Black/dp/B00DNULJHW&ved=2ahUKEwjk7eSZ0rHqAhVRUMAKHYWMAhoQFjAAegQIBhAB&usg=AOvVaw0byNrchbOF9gtTDyGtn7aK

 

Has anyone given them a go? Or would recommend something else?

 

All the best,

 

Lewis

What model Dell are you using?

 

Do they have the E Dock connector on the bottom?

 

I've got loads of these if they are of use? Free to a good home I'd have to see how many but maybe got 30