Docking station
A docking station is a notebook computer accessory. It is
similar to a port replicator. A docking station has ports
that may not be present in your laptop.
Features of Docking station
Attach more ports to your laptop notebook. By attaching
your notebook to the docking station, you are attaching ports
to your notebook. With the help of these ports, other external
peripheral devices, like a full sized keyboard, mice, scanners,
printers, or another monitor, can be attached, to the notebook
computer, without creating spaghetti like cable mesh.
Leave the peripherals attached to the docking station. All
the external peripherals are plugged into the docking station,
and the laptop is simply put in place in the dock and it is
connected to all the external peripheral devices. When you
have to go, you can simply disconnect your laptop with a release
latch or button and leave the peripherals connected to the
dock, for future use. Hence, a docking station eliminates
the need of plugging and unplugging the peripherals to a laptop
repeatedly with repeat usage.
Unleash the power of a desktop. The power and functionality
of a desktop can be attained by a laptop when it is connected
to the desktop peripherals like a full sized keyboard, and
a monitor.
Modern laptops may not need a docking station. Modern laptops
have most of the essential ports like a VGA/DVI port for monitors,
Ethernet port for networking, FireWire port for camcorders/digital
cameras, and 2 to 4 USB 2.0 ports to connect to USB keyboards,
mice, scanners, optical drives, hard drives, etc. For such
laptops, a docking station may not be required. However, the
need to constantly plug and unplug the peripherals to and
from the laptop remains, which a docking station can easily
eliminate. If you have a latest laptop with most of the ports,
you may use the docking station as a laptop accessory that
may be used simply for convenience.
Connect your old printer. You may need some obsolete ports
like a parallel port for your old printer, PS/2 port for your
old keyboard, or mouse, for which a docking station is an
excellent choice. However, a compact port replicator, which
has just the parallel port instead of an expansion slot or
port bay featuring numerous ports like a docking station,
may be an economical choice. Similarly, for more USB ports,
a USB hub would be economical than a universal docking station
featuring many USB ports. Used notebook computers and refurbished
notebook computers may not have all the ports that a modern
laptop has, and hence a docking station is useful in such
a case.
Connect PC Cards. Many laptops do not have PCMCIA slots,
which docking stations have.
Manufacturer/Model specific docking stations. Certain branded
laptops like HP, Compaq, IBM, Toshiba, Dell, Targus, APC,
Belkin, Microsoft, ViewSonic, NEC, etc. attach only with their
own branded docking stations. In such a case, the particular
brand docking station would be extremely helpful.
General Specifications
Device Type
- Docking station/ Port replicator
Usual Dimensions
- Width 7 in, Depth 2.4 in, Height 1 in
Enclosure Color
- Usually metallic silver or grey
Expansion / Connectivity
- 1 x network - Ethernet 10Base-T/100Base-TX - RJ-45
- 1 x keyboard - generic - 6 pin mini-DIN (PS/2 style)
- 1 x parallel - IEEE 1284 (EPP/ECP) - 25 pin D-Sub (DB-25)
- 1 x serial - RS-232 - 9 pin D-Sub (DB-9)
- 2 x Hi-Speed USB - 4 pin USB Type A
- 1 x mouse - generic - 6 pin mini-DIN (PS/2 style)
System Requirements
- OS Required Microsoft Windows XP SP1
Manufacturer Warranty
- Service & Support 1 year warranty
Service & Support Details
- Limited warranty - 1 year
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