SP3 Dock vs Plugable UD-3900

[Jejagua]

If your not interested in the sleek, clean design of the Microsoft Dock then why spend the extra money on the Pluggable.

Mostly for multi-monitor support. Another plus is audio out / in.

 

[rabilancia]

Forgive me in advance (I'm a "bean counter") but here's my financial justification for the dock at $199.99:

• I don't need to separately purchase an extra power supply for $79.99
• I get the wired Ethernet port without spending $39.99 for the adapter
• I get the extra USB ports without spending ~$30.00 for a USB 3.0 hub

$199.99 less ($79.99 + 39.99 + 30.00) = $50.01

$50 for the dock with the dual monitor support (that I may not use) seems like a little to pay for the "grab and go" convenience!

 

[foghat]

Forgive me in advance (I'm a "bean counter") but here's my financial justification for the dock at $199.99:

• I don't need to separately purchase an extra power supply for $79.99
• I get the wired Ethernet port without spending $39.99 for the adapter
• I get the extra USB ports without spending ~$30.00 for a USB 3.0 hub

$199.99 less ($79.99 + 39.99 + 30.00) = $50.01

$50 for the dock with the dual monitor support (that I may not use) seems like a little to pay for the "grab and go" convenience!

While your argument is a little off if you compare to the plugable 3900, I agree on the power supply.

That alone makes pretty much evens out the price between the 3900 and the ms dock. I imagine cheaper power supplies will come out eventually, but until then the ms dock is the way to go imo.

Unless, of course, you are sharing the dock between different types of hardware.

Plus the dock supports monitor resolutions greater then the 1080p max on the plugable.

 

[hughlle]

I'm looking st the dock for no other reason than that is a specifically designed dock. No fiddling with cables, no buying additional accessories, you just drop the machine in there and bingo, you're good to go. Saying that, an advantage of using a wired dock, and in my opinion, a HUGE one, is that you can still use the surface switch the kickstand. All your important documents or work etc on your screens, with an easy to maneuver digital notepad at your hand with the surface dock, note taking and such becomes slightly less viable IMO.

 

[toaf]

i swear by the docking station for the SP2. drop it in, close it, bam your done.
no worries about the poor USB plug you are messing with all the time.
you can even have it set to turn off the SPs screen when you use the dicking station.
Im sure that helps keep it cool. it dose get mighty hot when playing around with 3Dmax or Corel or games.

 

[dstrauss]

...Unfortunately, like my Power Cover, it will be obsolete when the SP4 comes out (more than likely)

I wouldn't bet the farm on that one. Like the SPro 2, I expect the SPro 4 to be a spec upgrade (Broadwell; perhaps USB 3.1; 512GB option for i5 and 1TB for i7) all in the same form factor.

It will be the SPro 5 that sports an iPad Air thin form factor, with fanless design.