Did you buy a laptop but found that most of the time you work from home, and you don’t get to take it out or somewhere else as much as you thought you would? We understand you. Laptops are meant to be mobile, but not necessarily -constantly- on the move. There is a time and a place for movement, and like most of laptop owners, you find yourself working or using it in the comfort of your own home, with your desk and accessories. We want to show you how much your life and productivity would improve with a dock station for your laptop. Read on.
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Why should you buy a laptop docking station
In the quest for a better desktop it is customary to obtain all the adequate parts that make the whole (read: battlestation) look better, feel better and most importantly, improve productivity and remove clutter.
Laptop dock stations are the best way to improve your desktop, on many different ways.
Better cable management
Keep everything tidy and organized. With a laptop docking station you can make sure that everything that used to be connected to the sides and back of the laptop (imagine the mess) now is going into the back of the docking station, so that each cord and cable can be easily organized later on now that everything is going into the same place/direction.
Port extension
Docking stations for laptops have more than two (2) HDMI ports and also DisplayPort, hence allowing you to connect many more monitors that you usually could that if you were to use your laptop without dock. Docking stations also allow for additional ports such as USB, thunderbolt, audio, microphone, ethernet, etc.
Plug-out and play
Want to take the laptop away? Just plug it out and forget. The days of having to unplug every single component or peripheral are long gone. Are you running late to your meeting? Just un-dock your laptop by pressing one button (in many cases) or unplug the single USB cable with to which the laptop attaches to the docking station, and you are good to go.
We are particularly fond of the ThinkPad docking station, as it is the one we own and are absolutely IN LOVE with it. See below in the recommendations.
The 5 best docking stations for your laptop
And without further ado, let us dive right into the list of recommended docking stations for your laptop:
External pluggable docking station. Just plug it to your laptop and everything will be connected instantly.
External docking station manufactured by Dell. Boasts of two HDMI ports, ethernet, DisplayPort, 3.5mm jack and two USB 3.0 ports.
These two below are recommended by Microsoft and Lenovo, respectively.
External pluggable docking station by Microsoft, with 100% compatibility with Microsoft Surface devices.
The best dock for any Lenovo Thinkpad user. Just plug it and play. Plenty of ports plus security lock and satisfying 'click' sound upon push. What's not to like?
…and if you own an Apple Macbook:
In contrast to the horizontal dock, the guys at HengeDocks have created the ultimate aesthetic addition for any Apple Macbook owner. This vertical dock allow you to save desk space and remove clutter while giving a great appearance to the overall picture. 100% recommended.
We sincerely hope you enjoyed this buying guide, and if you did, share this article to whomever you think might be useful for!