Agreed, it is so much more. I spent a semester of school coming home each night and hooking up my SP1 to a usb hub, my monitors and speakers, and plugging it in with its power cable. Granted, I only spent about 45 dollars for the usb/ethernet hub and dvi cable, but the inconvenience of daily hooking and unhooking cables, hooking up the power cable and then having to disconnect it all to go back into my backpack, really got to be a pain and hindered me from unhooking once hooked up for casual use. After using the cheaper alternative, I am very excited to have the opportunity to use the new dock. As I'm writing this I DO realize how petty having to hook/unhook cables may be for some and in that case I recommend you go with the cheaper alternative as I have tried. This was definitely a WANT and not a NEED, but am looking forward to the ease of it very much.
why would it all go back into your backpack? if we're doing apples to apples, you still need to disconnect the dock, all the cables and put it in all your backpack. i'd rather carry a hub then a bulky dock?
after a USB hub is initially set up, there's only three cables to connect to have speakers, two monitors, ethernet, keyboard, mouse all hooked up. they are audio, one usb port and one video out. when you;re done, you disconnect and leave them there just as you would the dock. but the advantage of the hub, is the you have the option of taking it with you and using it on the go.
i dont dislike the dock, its a nice accessory, if it were priced around $100. it is just overpriced for what it is in my opinion. I can get the same functionality for $40 and that's what I will be getting.