Question Laptop docking stations

[ptammaro_3]

Hello all.

I’m in need of your help as I’m getting pretty confused!

Currently my work laptop is a Dell Latitude E7470 and I’m able to use a Dell Eport replicator dock to drive my dual screens and other periphals which worked flawlessly. Unfortunately the laptop has come to the end of its life and my work has replaced it with a HP Elitebook 2570P. This has meant my laptop dock is no longer compatible with the HP therefore I’m in need of a replacement.

Where it gets complicated for me is that I’d ideally like to get a dock which also works with my personal laptop, a Dell XPS 15 which has a thunderbolt port.

So, my question is... is there a universal dock out there that will allow my to use thunderbolt with my Dell while also having another way of connecting to my work laptop (which could be replaced with anything in the future)?

FYI - below is what I’m plugging into the dock.

1. 2 x 4K monitors via display port
2. 2 x USB connections to power the USB hubs in the monitors
3. Logitech light speed keyboard and mouse both requiring USB ports
4. USB headset and mic
5. Ethernet

PS - I’d love if the dock was able to charge each laptop while in use.

Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

 

[jimscreechy]

Thunderbolt 3 and USB 3 look the same and the connectors will fit each others sockets without issue. You should can use them interchangeably and they should work just fine. Underneath, the specs are slightly different with Thunderbolt-3 being somewhat faster, but as I said, they should work just fine from one device to the next with either USB-C or Thunderbolt-3.

Docks can be a little tricky, and indeed I've had occasions where both a dell laptop and docking station didn't work properly with the docker HDMI & Displayport. Even though both were USB-C and specified by dell as being compatible... but that wasn't down to the USB-C spec, just the docker firmware.

 

[ptammaro_3]

Thanks Jim but where the problem arises is that my work laptop is ancient and doesn’t have USB-C.

This convo might not be relevant anymore as the replacement they sent me isn’t working so they’re sending another one.

Im praying it’s something a bit newer than that HP Elitebook which looks like it hasn’t been in production for the last 6 years.

Fingers crossed for me!