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Laptop Docking Stations?

R

Roger Mills

Flightless Bird
About 10 years ago, before I retired, I was supplied with a works laptop
plus docking station - the laptop was a Toshiba Tecra something or other -
running Win95 in those days!

The docking station effectively converted the laptop into a desktop machine,
having ports for monitor, keyboard, mouse, power supply, network, etc. -
which remained permanently connected, and the laptop had a multi-pin
connector - with all necessary connections on it - to connect it to the
docking station. It was thus a 5 second job to un-dock the laptop to take it
home at night, and to re-dock it the next morning.

Are such devices still available and, if so, can anyone point me at a make
and model of laptop which supports this? I want a laptop which I can use -
effectively as a desktop machine - at either of two locations, with as
little setting up as possible. I'm happy to duplicate things like external
monitors, speakers, printers, scanners, keyboards, mice, power supplies etc.
I'm aware that *some* of this could potentially be achieved using USB hubs -
with various peripherals being left plugged into a hub when the laptop is
not present - but that wouldn't cover things like monitors, power supplies,
PS2-type keyboards and mice (if anyone uses those these days - I certainly
do on my existing computers!)

Any relevant information will be greatly appreciated.
--
Cheers,
Roger
_______
Please reply to Newsgroup. Whilst email address is valid, it is seldom
checked.
 
B

BillW50

Flightless Bird
In news:7td7o8FiflU1@mid.individual.net,
Roger Mills typed on Tue, 9 Feb 2010 13:54:05 -0000:
> About 10 years ago, before I retired, I was supplied with a works
> laptop plus docking station - the laptop was a Toshiba Tecra
> something or other - running Win95 in those days!
>
> The docking station effectively converted the laptop into a desktop
> machine, having ports for monitor, keyboard, mouse, power supply,
> network, etc. - which remained permanently connected, and the laptop
> had a multi-pin connector - with all necessary connections on it - to
> connect it to the docking station. It was thus a 5 second job to
> un-dock the laptop to take it home at night, and to re-dock it the
> next morning.
> Are such devices still available and, if so, can anyone point me at a
> make and model of laptop which supports this? I want a laptop which I
> can use - effectively as a desktop machine - at either of two
> locations, with as little setting up as possible. I'm happy to
> duplicate things like external monitors, speakers, printers,
> scanners, keyboards, mice, power supplies etc. I'm aware that *some*
> of this could potentially be achieved using USB hubs - with various
> peripherals being left plugged into a hub when the laptop is not
> present - but that wouldn't cover things like monitors, power
> supplies, PS2-type keyboards and mice (if anyone uses those these
> days - I certainly do on my existing computers!)
> Any relevant information will be greatly appreciated.


Yes Roger! They are still around. Although they are usually found in the
business class of laptops and not often on the consumer line of laptops.
For example, my Gateway M465e offers a docking station (and I have one).
Yet my three Gateway MX6124 are almost the same machine, but they don't
have this option.

Although is a docking station really important? I don't know, as I use
both methods. And I usually only have to remove three cables for a
non-docking laptop (VGA, power, and US8). And I don't see this as a real
big deal. Although you use external speakers and PS/2 devices too, so
that might make the difference.

--
Bill
Asus EEE PC 702G8 ~ 2GB RAM ~ 16GB-SDHC
Windows XP SP2
 
P

Pen

Flightless Bird
On 2/9/2010 8:54 AM, Roger Mills wrote:
> About 10 years ago, before I retired, I was supplied with a works laptop
> plus docking station - the laptop was a Toshiba Tecra something or other -
> running Win95 in those days!
>
> The docking station effectively converted the laptop into a desktop machine,
> having ports for monitor, keyboard, mouse, power supply, network, etc. -
> which remained permanently connected, and the laptop had a multi-pin
> connector - with all necessary connections on it - to connect it to the
> docking station. It was thus a 5 second job to un-dock the laptop to take it
> home at night, and to re-dock it the next morning.
>
> Are such devices still available and, if so, can anyone point me at a make
> and model of laptop which supports this? I want a laptop which I can use -
> effectively as a desktop machine - at either of two locations, with as
> little setting up as possible. I'm happy to duplicate things like external
> monitors, speakers, printers, scanners, keyboards, mice, power supplies etc.
> I'm aware that *some* of this could potentially be achieved using USB hubs -
> with various peripherals being left plugged into a hub when the laptop is
> not present - but that wouldn't cover things like monitors, power supplies,
> PS2-type keyboards and mice (if anyone uses those these days - I certainly
> do on my existing computers!)
>
> Any relevant information will be greatly appreciated.

Dell through their Small Business site offers several.
Take a look at the Latitude and Precision lines.
Docks are listed here;
http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/category.aspx?c=us&category_id=5441&cs=04&l=en&s=bsd
 
R

Roger Mills

Flightless Bird
In an earlier contribution to this discussion, Pen <nospam@nospam.net>
wrote:

> Dell through their Small Business site offers several.
> Take a look at the Latitude and Precision lines.
> Docks are listed here;
> http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/category.aspx?c=us&category_id=5441&cs=04&l=en&s=bsd



Thanks for the link. I'll have a look to see what is available in the UK.
--
Cheers,
Roger
_______
Please reply to Newsgroup. Whilst email address is valid, it is seldom
checked.
 
B

Bill

Flightless Bird
In message <7te5k0F4lvU1@mid.individual.net>, Roger Mills
<watt.tyler@googlemail.com> writes
>Thanks for the link. I'll have a look to see what is available in the
>UK.


For info, about a year ago I bought a Targus docking station reduced in
Tesco for £12.99. It connects by usb to the laptop and provides audio,
ethernet, mouse & keyboard and multiple usb ports, which are left
powered from its power supply when the laptop isn't there.
I haven't actually used it yet, but it seems to me that you would just
bring along the laptop, plug the usb (and perhaps an external monitor)
in and be fit to go.
--
Bill
 
R

Roger Mills

Flightless Bird
In an earlier contribution to this discussion, Bill
<Billaboard@gmail.com> wrote:
> In message <7te5k0F4lvU1@mid.individual.net>, Roger Mills
> <watt.tyler@googlemail.com> writes
>> Thanks for the link. I'll have a look to see what is available in the
>> UK.

>
> For info, about a year ago I bought a Targus docking station reduced
> in Tesco for £12.99. It connects by usb to the laptop and provides
> audio, ethernet, mouse & keyboard and multiple usb ports, which are
> left powered from its power supply when the laptop isn't there.
> I haven't actually used it yet, but it seems to me that you would just
> bring along the laptop, plug the usb (and perhaps an external monitor)
> in and be fit to go.



Sounds useful - thanks. It would get me at least part of the way, for a lot
less money than a normal docking system. Doubt if Tesco have still got any
though, if you bought yours a year ago. I'll do a bit og Googling!
--
Cheers,
Roger
_______
Please reply to Newsgroup. Whilst email address is valid, it is seldom
checked.
 
B

BillW50

Flightless Bird
In news:7ti43rFtbbU1@mid.individual.net,
Roger Mills typed on Thu, 11 Feb 2010 10:22:39 -0000:
> In an earlier contribution to this discussion, Bill
> <Billaboard@gmail.com> wrote:
>> In message <7te5k0F4lvU1@mid.individual.net>, Roger Mills
>> <watt.tyler@googlemail.com> writes
>>> Thanks for the link. I'll have a look to see what is available in
>>> the UK.

>>
>> For info, about a year ago I bought a Targus docking station reduced
>> in Tesco for £12.99. It connects by usb to the laptop and provides
>> audio, ethernet, mouse & keyboard and multiple usb ports, which are
>> left powered from its power supply when the laptop isn't there.
>> I haven't actually used it yet, but it seems to me that you would
>> just bring along the laptop, plug the usb (and perhaps an external
>> monitor) in and be fit to go.

>
> Sounds useful - thanks. It would get me at least part of the way, for
> a lot less money than a normal docking system. Doubt if Tesco have
> still got any though, if you bought yours a year ago. I'll do a bit
> og Googling!


I haven't checked for other models lately. But eBay had a lot of Gateway
docking stations for about $30. I did buy a Gateway 465e from eBay that
wouldn't change from the DC input. It didn't say if it would work from
AC or not. Well I got it and the DC input was plain dead. I was going to
repair it myself, but I saw those docking stations for 30 bucks. At that
price I gambled and it works fine getting power from the docking port.
Plus you get a beefier power supply to boot.

--
Bill
Gateway M465e ('06 era) - Windows XP SP3
 
S

Salvador Freemanson

Flightless Bird
On 09/02/2010 23:23, Roger Mills wrote:
> In an earlier contribution to this discussion, Pen<nospam@nospam.net>
> wrote:
>
>> Dell through their Small Business site offers several.
>> Take a look at the Latitude and Precision lines.
>> Docks are listed here;
>> http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/category.aspx?c=us&category_id=5441&cs=04&l=en&s=bsd

>
>
> Thanks for the link. I'll have a look to see what is available in the UK.




There are some really good deals from Morgan Computers selling off
'obsolete' models for a fraction of the price.


I picked up this one
http://www.morgancomputers.co.uk/shop/detail.asp?ProductID=5944&CategoryID=452&SubCategoryID=471

Once I had sorted out the drivers, it has proved to be extremely useful.
 
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