When it comes to Laptops these days manufactures are releasing them with fewer ports to connect gear. Often time you will need to buy either a limited expansion device by the manufacture or you have to make do and constantly unplug and plug in gear.
When Accell sent me their new UltraAV Mini DisplayPort Y-Cable Docking Station I was contemplating where to do the test.. With two Dell XPS 15 inch laptops in my home with my daughter owning one, I knew this would be a great opportunity for her to experience the benefit of having a dock for her mobile / home life. For the past two weeks she has had it setup in her bedroom, along with a couple of my display port monitors. Today when I asked for her comments and the dock back, she gave me that look ad said your not taking this away from me are you dad? My answer was yes it has to go back to the company, and she decided at that moment I was going to have to order her one she could keep. I think this is the first review that has cost me money but it is a testament to the dock.
With the Docking Station plugged into just her Display Port & USB 3.0 port she was able to take advantage of the docking stations features. She loved being able to have three monitors, 3 USB 3.0 Ports, and have the Lan and other peripherals connected to it. Accell has packed a lot into this docking station making it one of the most robust after market docking stations I have seen in a long time. The docking station specs are below.
- Provides two Mini DisplayPort 1.2 output ports
- Expands a USB 3.0 port to three USB 3.0 ports
- Includes one Gigabit Ethernet RJ45 port
- AC adapter with US, EU, AUS and UK power plugs
- DP 1.2 max link rate: 5.4 Gbps (HBR2) per lane
- DP++ enabled Mini DisplayPort outputs
- Supports DP 1.2 Multi-Stream Transport (MST)
- Ethernet supports Wake-on-LAN technology, crossover detection, auto-correction
- Supports USB 3.0 Charging Downstream Port (CDP)
- Compliance: DisplayPort 1.2, 1.1a, VESA DDM, HDCP 1.3, DisplayID and EDID 1.4
In a small compact package about the size of your hand you can place it anyplace on your desk or hidden for cable concealment. Priced at $149.00 you cannot beat the price if you have a computer with a display port dock the best part is the ability to quickly unplug the two connections from the Y cable and go mobile all the while leaving everything on the desk hooked up.
