Submitted 4 years ago
By Cupcake
From undisclosed
Submitted as part of a sweepstakes entry
Reviewed at
belkin.com/us/I have really enjoyed using this dock although I experienced some hiccups along the way, however these were all software and hardware/firmware related rather than related to the dock itself.
There are many things I enjoyed about this dock. One of these is the two full-sized DisplayPort connectors on the back. I like that they used these instead of using HDMI connectors since DisplayPort connectors are much more flexible and can be adapted to more other types of display connections from VGA, DVI, to HDMI. Another big plus of this dock is you get a full complement of USB ports. You get two USB-C ports and three USB-A ports and all five ports support USB 3. Having a front USB-A port perfect for thumbdrives was a great design choice since I did not need to reach behind to plug in thumbdrives or card readers. The front headset port which is supported by an internal USB DAC is also very helpful since you can plug in a headset whenever you need it without reaching around the back or trying to find the headset jack on your docked computer.
This dock has a gigabit ethernet port which can be very useful since many laptops don't come with a built in ethernet port anymore. I am glad they chose to implement this through the Realtek RTL 8153. This particular chip connects via USB 3 internally and has very wide software support from OSes such as macOS, Windows, ChromeOS, and Linux. For all of these OSes, it is plug and play out of the box which is a huge plus.
The dock itself is made of plastic and has a medium weight. It is not so light that it moves all over the place, but not so heavy that it is difficult to transport. The fit and finish is excellent and it looks great sitting on the table. I would take this over quite a number of the metal docks I have seen just based on the way it looks. It does not have the cheap look and feel of some of the docks I've tried (even those made from metal). There is venting on the sides to allow for ample cooling since the dock does get somewhat warm when operating. The power brick is quite weighty since it delivers a fair amount of power and it comes with a velcro tie to help wrap the cord and cable manage so you can have a neat workspace. It also allows you to wrap the cord if you are taking the dock somewhere with you. I also appreciate the Kensington lock slot since it makes this a viable option for a dock one can install in a meeting room or library for public use.
Power delivery works excellently. I tested this with a larger 2017 15-inch MacBook Pro with touchbar, and it was able to charge it and power it even when the computer was running power hungry tasks (although very slightly slower than the 85 watt brick that comes with that computer).
I do like that Belkin provides a short Thunderbolt 3 cord with this dock. It is long enough that you can place the dock under a monitor and use your laptop as a third monitor next to your two full sized monitors, but not long enough for it to get in the way. I think it is one of the most perfectly sized cables I have seen.
Overall, this is one of the most well rounded and designed docks I have used. It really allows for a one cable solution where you can plug in your computer, power your computer, connect wired input devices and storage, connect to a wired network, and use two monitors even if you are using a Mac which does not support DisplayPort Multi Stream Transport.
The only drawback to this dock, as with all docks is spotty hardware and software support. This is mostly evident with the dual monitor support on the dock. The only computers I tested that could recognize and use both monitors connected to the DisplayPort connections on the dock consistently were Macs. I even tested with a MacBook Pro 15-inch from 2017 (running Catalina), this is original touch bar MacBook Pro and one of the first Macs to come with USB-C/Thunderbolt 3 ports. That computer recognized and could use both monitors without any issues. It even was able to run as a three display setup with the computer open to use the built in display as a third monitor. Macs do not support DisplayPort Multi Stream Transport, so ordinarily you can only connect one monitor per port. This dock goes around this limitation. As far as the PCs I tested, I tested both in Linux and Windows 10. Some of them had a hardware/firmware issue that prevents them from seeing more than one of the two displays connected to the two DisplayPort connections on the back of the dock. This is because not all computers implement Thunderbolt the same way. Oftentimes these computers would only see one display even if you asked it to detect displays manually. Even on the same hardware, Linux (OpenSuse Tumbleweed) often fared somewhat better than Windows did. Many PCs support DisplayPort Multi Stream Transport, so the workaround with this issue was to connect only one display to the dock and daisy chain the second display to the first one using a DisplayPort cable. When this is done, most all of those PCs were able to connect, detect, and use two monitors both in Linux and Windows 10 when connected to this dock. The other issues I observed was that oftentimes when waking up a Mac from sleep, it would not remember the arrangement of the two displays, especially if the lid is closed. That would be more of a software issue. Also, on some Macs, there is a problem where if the computer goes to sleep, it has difficulty putting the ethernet port to sleep properly causing others connected to the same network switch network issues. All of these issues are software issues and are common experience when using ThunderBolt 3 docks. I spoke with someone who works in an office that provides docks to all users, and they reported the exact same problems, and these users use different docks from different companies (not Belkin).
Overall, if I needed a dock, whether I had a Mac, PC, or Linux computer, I would get this one based on the excellent connectivity, well thought out design, and the fit and finish. These software and hardware support issues are common with all ThunderBolt 3 docks. Hardware-wise, this dock is here. It is ready. The software and hardware/firmware support need to catch up. I think it would be good if Belkin was able to compile a list of known working computers that can handle two displays on both ports on the rear of this dock. That may alleviate some of the frustration that users have when they are searching for a dock and temper customer expectations.
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