Having one device to rule them all is an increasingly realistic dream, especially if that device is a laptop paired with a capable docking station like the IOGEAR GUD3C05. Here’s our take after putting it through the paces.
That one device lifestyle has been a dream of mine for ages—just a laptop that I can drop in and work from a desktop-like setup when I want, but something that’s super easy to grab and take with me, too. That dream is very easy to make a reality these days, as there are tons of great laptop docks floating around out there. I recently got a chance to check out one such dock, the not-so-cleverly named GUD3C05 from IOGEAR. They just call it “USB-C Docking Station with Power Delivery 3.0,” which doesn’t really roll off the tongue (and is honestly really vague). But let’s but aside the lackluster name and look at the hardware itself.
The Details: A Bunch of Ports and PD to Boot
A good dock is only worth what it can do for you, which means the more it can do, the more useful it will be. The IOGEAR USB-C dock is packed with all the useful stuff you’d want for your USB-C equipped laptop—especially at a price of $180 (it’s currently on Amazon for $155).
Here are all the ports:
- USB-C Power Delivery Pass-Through (100 watts)
- VGA
- HDMI
- Mini DisplayPort
- Ethernet
- SD slot
- MicroSD slot
- 3x USB-A ports
- 1x USB-C port
- 3.5mm audio jack
This dock has more ports than any other IOGEAR dock before it, so all in all, it covers pretty much every base out there, all with one little USB-C port. With the included video ports, you can run:
- VGA: 1080p
- HDMI: 4K
- Mini DisplayPort: 4K
- HDMI + Mini DisplayPort: 1080p
IOGEAR claims that the latter option only works on Windows machines, but I’m currently staring at a Pixelbook docked into two 24-inch 1080p displays and it’s working flawlessly. Yeah—a Chromebook is pushing (technically) three displays right now: the internal panel, and two externals using just the IOGEAR dock.
The overall footprint of the dock is decent. It’s not the smallest I’ve seen, but it’s also not meant to be. This isn’t a dock that’s designed to be tossed in your bag and used like a USB hub or SD card reader—it’s meant to stay on your desk with all your junk connected to it.
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Source : IOGEAR USB-C Docking Station Review: Piles of Ports and 100 Watt Power Delivery
