Expand your productivity with a docking station

By Jeffrey S. Krause, Affinity Consulting

You probably remember your first laptop. You may also remember how difficult it was to use a laptop as your primary workstation. The laptop’s size limited the number of outputs it supported. The solution? A docking station. I still recall snapping my laptop into a docking station designed specifically for that laptop, which was quite expensive and fixed in one place. Well, enough about the “good old days.”

Docking stations are simple devices that expand how you can use almost any computer, whether a workstation or laptop. They also work with many tablets such as a Microsoft Surface, which uses a Windows interface. As the name implies, the main requirement is a USB port. Once connected, a USB dock increases the number and type of peripherals you can connect. For example, the dock I am using as I write this is an ICY BOX USB 3.0 Universal Docking Station, available at Amazon for around $100. It works with either Windows or Mac. It provides HDMI, ethernet, USB, and microphone ports, among others.

In addition to the connections this device provides, the portability and flexibility cannot be overstated. It is essentially plug and play, meaning a desktop, laptop, or MacBook Air can be connected with a single USB 3.0 connection. I have another small USB dock I carry in my laptop bag, allowing me to connect to various devices I might encounter on the road. While most people use these devices to expand a laptop or tablet, they work just as well with workstations, especially when it comes to adding additional monitors.

Docking stations come in many shapes and sizes. If looking for one, I suggest focusing on two things, starting with the video connections. Make sure the dock offers outputs to any monitors you wish to connect. Second, and probably most important, confirm what type of connection it uses. More and more of these devices are connecting via USB-C, so make sure your laptop supports this. If it does not, go with a USB 3.0 model. You may have to shop around a bit to find the right combination of video outputs and connection type.

USB docking stations are a low-cost way to expand your productivity. Depending on the number and type of connections, you can expect to pay anywhere from $50 to $200, with most falling in the $125 range. They provide an easy way to attach additional peripherals to any computing device and utilize those peripherals with multiple devices.