Other Laptop Docking Stations to Consider
We test a lot of laptop docking stations and, quite frankly, most of them are … fine. They’re fine! We get into the nitty-gritty for specific use cases to find the best, but that leaves a bunch of devices that are great options even if they don’t make our top picks. Here’s a selection of some of our favorites, past favorites, or just alternatives to our picks above.
Courtesy of Luke Larsen
Sonnet Echo 13 Thunderbolt 5 Dock for $440: Sonnettech’s Echo 13 was one of the first Thunderbolt 5 docks out on the market. As it turns out, it’s also one of the most unique offerings out there, including not only just about every port imaginable, but also an integrated M.2 storage slot with a Kingston SSD inside. While handy, I don’t like that the drive isn’t user accessible. The cheap plastic chassis is disappointing for the price, too.
Anker 568 Docking Station for $350: This docking station excels at powering all your other gadgets. The two front-facing USB-C ports are capable of putting out 30 watts of power each, which is more than enough to rapidly charge most phones or tablets. And the USB4 port that connects to your laptop supports a whopping 100 watts of power delivery. I normally charge my phone at my desk and typically need a separate charger for my laptop, but with this docking station, I can power everything while only taking up one outlet. The problem is, it’s quite expensive.
Satechi Multimedia Pro Thunderbolt 4 Dock for $350: If you do any heavy video editing, game design, or other types of work that involve huge amounts of data, this dock has all the bells and whistles for you. It’s a thick dock, made of sturdy aluminum, and it can either lie flat on your desk or stand upright on its side. I prefer the former, but it’s nice to have the option to take up less space. The docking station uses a Thunderbolt 4 port to connect to your laptop, which has plenty of bandwidth to handle a lot, though it’s now been outdone by Thunderbolt 5.
Plugable UD-3900C Dual Monitor Docking Station for $100: This was our top pick for a while, but it’s a little long in the tooth. It has two HDMI ports for dual-monitor setups, but it doesn’t come with a power supply and has fewer USB 3.0 ports than many of our other, more modern picks. It is fairly inexpensive, though, if you need a cheap dock.
Plugable 13-in-1 USB-C Triple Monitor Docking Station for $180: This was our previous triple monitor pick, but the Anker 568 improves on it in almost every way, including price. However, if you find this one on sale, it’s still a solid pick.
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