Just need a simple home office docking setup
January 24, 2018 3:04 PM Subscribe
Having some difficulty figuring out which components to buy to allow either me or my husband to dock with dual monitors. Bonus points if it will also allow my macbook pro to dock.
I (will) have an HP 840 G4 (will be running Windows 10).
My husband has a Lenovo T460S.
I also have a Macbook Pro.
Ideally we'd like to be able to just dock our respective laptops and then have dual monitors, a keyboard and a mouse that works with everything.
Sounds like it would be simple enough but I'm getting super confused with all the possibilities and the bad reviews for some of the docking stations. Can anyone provide specific guidance and tell me exactly what to order? What has worked for you?
I (will) have an HP 840 G4 (will be running Windows 10).
My husband has a Lenovo T460S.
I also have a Macbook Pro.
Ideally we'd like to be able to just dock our respective laptops and then have dual monitors, a keyboard and a mouse that works with everything.
Sounds like it would be simple enough but I'm getting super confused with all the possibilities and the bad reviews for some of the docking stations. Can anyone provide specific guidance and tell me exactly what to order? What has worked for you?
Response by poster: Macbook Pro was bought about two years ago.
I'm fine with plugging in a couple of cables.
And that's a bummer about the video ports.
posted by peacheater at 4:47 PM on January 24, 2018
I'm fine with plugging in a couple of cables.
And that's a bummer about the video ports.
posted by peacheater at 4:47 PM on January 24, 2018
This or this is probably worth a try if you're ok returning it to Amazon if it doesn't work. Can't vouch for it personally; I have a different Plugable dock that's working well so far, but I have had simpler StarTech adapters go bad on me over time. I'm surprised to see dual monitor video coming over a single USB output.
posted by supercres at 5:23 PM on January 24, 2018
posted by supercres at 5:23 PM on January 24, 2018
I have the Plugable dock to which supercres linked and have had no problems. I’m the only one who uses it so can’t say whether there’s any issue with switching. To keep from having to fish around for cords, I use Velcro ties to attach the laptop’s power cord and the Plugable’s USB cable to the legs of the little stand where the laptop lives when docked.
posted by lakeroon at 7:26 PM on January 24, 2018
posted by lakeroon at 7:26 PM on January 24, 2018
Response by poster: lakeroon can I ask which monitor or monitors you use?
posted by peacheater at 4:55 AM on January 25, 2018
posted by peacheater at 4:55 AM on January 25, 2018
I currently "dock" my laptop at work by just having a bunch of cables that run to the same place on my desk. I can then, quickly, plug in a USB cable (to a USB hub, where I have my keyboard and mouse plugged in), a display cable (Mini DisplayPort, in my case), a power cable, and, optionally, a headphone jack. This has worked great for me. Unless you are docking and undocking 10+ times a day or have many more peripherals, I can't imagine the expense of a docking station being worth it. It is also the case that this is way more "universal" and is likely to support your three computers separately in a way that a traditional docking station wouldn't.
So, the dual monitors raise two issues:
1. Dual monitors, in general, need dual video outputs. In other words, if you want to connect two monitors to your laptop, you need a setup that has two output ports. The exception to this is monitor and computer setups that support "Daisy chaining" the displays (i.e. computer --> display 1 --> display 2). Depending on your age of your Macbook Pro, it may support daisy chaining, by my understanding (which is, admittedly, a little dated) is that it will only do this on Thuderbolt displays. The DisplayPort 1.2 port on your new HP should support this on a wider variety of monitors (including some nice monitors made by Dell). I think it's unlikely that the Lenovo will, but I can't tell from the documentation if the Mini DisplayPort on that computer supports it.
2. As pointed out above, the ports in common don't totally overlap. That said, Thunderbolt ports on the MBP are just what everyone else calls Mini DisplayPorts (assuming that you don't have a recent MBP where they've been replaced by USB-C ports). So, assuming you can't DaisyChain I could imagine a monitor setup where you have a HDMI cable and a VGA cable coming from one monitor and a DisplayPort and Mini DisplayPort cable coming from the other monitor. Annoyingly, you will probably have to switch inputs on the monitors when you switch machines, but that shouldn't be too bad if you're not doing it much.
posted by Betelgeuse at 7:23 AM on January 25, 2018
So, the dual monitors raise two issues:
1. Dual monitors, in general, need dual video outputs. In other words, if you want to connect two monitors to your laptop, you need a setup that has two output ports. The exception to this is monitor and computer setups that support "Daisy chaining" the displays (i.e. computer --> display 1 --> display 2). Depending on your age of your Macbook Pro, it may support daisy chaining, by my understanding (which is, admittedly, a little dated) is that it will only do this on Thuderbolt displays. The DisplayPort 1.2 port on your new HP should support this on a wider variety of monitors (including some nice monitors made by Dell). I think it's unlikely that the Lenovo will, but I can't tell from the documentation if the Mini DisplayPort on that computer supports it.
2. As pointed out above, the ports in common don't totally overlap. That said, Thunderbolt ports on the MBP are just what everyone else calls Mini DisplayPorts (assuming that you don't have a recent MBP where they've been replaced by USB-C ports). So, assuming you can't DaisyChain I could imagine a monitor setup where you have a HDMI cable and a VGA cable coming from one monitor and a DisplayPort and Mini DisplayPort cable coming from the other monitor. Annoyingly, you will probably have to switch inputs on the monitors when you switch machines, but that shouldn't be too bad if you're not doing it much.
posted by Betelgeuse at 7:23 AM on January 25, 2018
Oh! Or if you're able to get your HP to work with daisy chaining, you can ditch the VGA cable. So, Monitor 1 will have a DisplayPort and a MiniDisplayPort cable coming out of it, and monitor 2 will have an HDMI cable coming out of it. The two monitors will be connected to each other by a DisplayPort (or mini DisplayPort cable).
HP -> Plug in to DisplayPort cable on Monitor 1 (daisy chained to Monitor 2)
Lenovo -> Plug in to Mini DisplayPort on Monitor 1 and HDMI on Monitor 2
MBP -> Plug in to Mini DisplayPort on Monitor 1 and HDMI on Monitor 2
The Dell Ultrasharp monitors are great. Here's a link to a 24 inch and here's a link to a 27 inch.
posted by Betelgeuse at 7:33 AM on January 25, 2018
HP -> Plug in to DisplayPort cable on Monitor 1 (daisy chained to Monitor 2)
Lenovo -> Plug in to Mini DisplayPort on Monitor 1 and HDMI on Monitor 2
MBP -> Plug in to Mini DisplayPort on Monitor 1 and HDMI on Monitor 2
The Dell Ultrasharp monitors are great. Here's a link to a 24 inch and here's a link to a 27 inch.
posted by Betelgeuse at 7:33 AM on January 25, 2018
Sorry, peacheater, I should have mentioned that I don’t actually attach any monitor to it at present, just use the docking station to avoid separately attaching a mouse, keyboard, and external hard drive, so my experience is not that helpful for you. I used to connect a monitor and speakers and had no problems but am not at home right now to say what kind of monitor. Definitely an old one, and just the one.
posted by lakeroon at 8:49 AM on January 25, 2018
posted by lakeroon at 8:49 AM on January 25, 2018
This thread is closed to new comments.
Do you want an actual dock (which tend to be specific to a single model of laptop), or is plugging a cable (or probably two) into whatever laptop ok?
Judging by the ports on the two PCs, you'll need an additional adapter for at least one of them-- they don't have any video outputs in common.
posted by supercres at 3:34 PM on January 24, 2018