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Docking station/hub recommendations?

Dougmeister

New Member
Starting a new job and the employer is providing a Surface Pro 7 and a docking station when in the office. I don't know what brand/model they will use, but it will probably be more expensive than I want to spend to purchase one for my home office.

I thought this one would work, but then a friend pointed out that it specifically says it will not work with a Surface Pro 7 for some reason?

No-name brand hub at Amazon

Can anyone help me find an inexpensive dock, or even a hub, that would work with the Surface Pro 7 and provide:
* Dual video output (not mini-display port if possible)
* USB for a full-sized keyboard
* RJ-45 for hard-wired Ethernet connection
 

Plantje

Active Member
I can give you "some" insight, but I have some questions myself as well. I have a Surface Pro 2017 Advanced LTE (so, a SP5 actually). I have tried the Surface Dock (1st gen), but for some reaon it didn't play well with my two screens. At that time, I was planning on replacing my desktop with my Surface Pro, but later on I decided to upgrade my desktop after all.

At my previous client I worked with a Dell D3100 and I really liked it! Two 24" screens, keyboard, mouse, RJ-45, mini jack.... everything connected all at once!

So, now I am looking at a D3100 for my home setup as well. Actually, I want to connect everything to the D3100 and then connect the D3100 to a USB with a switch. That way, I can easily switch between using my devices with either my destkop or with my SP with a flick of the switch.
However, Dell and a lot of others have different shapes and sizes in these docks and I don't know which is better. There is also the D6000 that has USB-C, but I haven't found a USB-C splitter with switch yet.

Main thing that I am wondering about: does a dock have some sort of graphical card built in? Or does it just use the graphics card of the computer connected?
 

Turbo4AWD

Active Member
2nd gen Surface Dock is probably the best, however, Belkin makes a really nice one but it requires you to detach the keyboard and have an external one. It turns the Surface Pro into a "Surface Studio-Like" device.
 

mjblazin

New Member
Surface Dock 2 is the only one that offers 2 monitors connected to a dock at 4K/60hz. I had one of the cheaper variants ($35 on Amazon) and it worked fine offering HDMI, USB A and Ethernet. I don't know if you can daisy chain a second monitor off the first monitor connected via HDMI to the computer. All the non-MS docks take the USB C and USB ports with a side attachment. That's why each Surface Pro type gets a different cheap dock since the ports on side differ. Only MS gets to use the Surface Connect port. Consequently you lose the USB C to get the other ones you wanted. I don't know the technical reason why a vendor cannot offer a big adapter attached to USB C on a Surface Pro 7/X, powered by own line to 115v, that offers various outlets. It would have to be cheaper than $179. High end monitors, $400+, essentially offer that feature with multiple output ports on the monitor.
 

Plantje

Active Member
Surface Dock 2 is the only one that offers 2 monitors connected to a dock at 4K/60hz. I had one of the cheaper variants ($35 on Amazon) and it worked fine offering HDMI, USB A and Ethernet. I don't know if you can daisy chain a second monitor off the first monitor connected via HDMI to the computer. All the non-MS docks take the USB C and USB ports with a side attachment. That's why each Surface Pro type gets a different cheap dock since the ports on side differ. Only MS gets to use the Surface Connect port. Consequently you lose the USB C to get the other ones you wanted. I don't know the technical reason why a vendor cannot offer a big adapter attached to USB C on a Surface Pro 7/X, powered by own line to 115v, that offers various outlets. It would have to be cheaper than $179. High end monitors, $400+, essentially offer that feature with multiple output ports on the monitor.
I thought the Dell docks also offer 2 monitors at 4K.

I use 1920x1200 screens anyway and I am perfectly happy with those. Still wondering about this one: does a dock have some sort of graphical card built in? Or does it just use the graphics card of the computer connected?
 

mjblazin

New Member
I meant with the Surface Pro 7. The surface dock 2 uses the Surface Connect to extract signal for the dual monitors and power the tablet. I thought that the SP7 cannot push that much video out its single USB connection. That would be the only way for the Dell Dock to connect.
 
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