March 2011 -- just an update: my original review incorrectly referenced the "V" unit and not the "U" unit -- thanks to those folks who set me straight. Apparently, the "V" unit doesn't have an Ethernet port, and mine did. I sent the unit back before I wrote my comments... all of my remarks are unchanged, however, based on the "U" and not the "V". Nice, clear branding job, Toshiba, too...
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I bought this Toshiba Dynadock **U** in Nov 2010, thinking that it would help me avoid the headache of connecting my Ethernet cable, video cable, mouse/keyboard cable, and speakers to my laptop each day. This unit has ample USB ports for connecting other peripherals, like my Windows phone and a USB flash drive. And it's compact, which is great.
But here's the real problem, and there are TWO of them:
First, if you have a high-end laptop, which I do for work (an HP Pavillion dv7t quad-core running Windows 7 64-bit OS), the integrated video card cannot keep up with the laptop's display. Every time I pg up/pg down in PowerPoint, or attempt to move objects in a slide, the rest of the slide goes blurry, so you can't see what you're doing. In the end, the real-time imaging is so poor that it is basically useless. You can't have all of this high speed data crawling through a USB 2.0 connection. There's just not enough bandwidth. Bad enough by itself to return it.
Second -- and this one really took me by surprise -- this docking station has it's own MAC address. So what, you say? Well, it means that it appears as a separate device on your network, and in doing so it masks your laptop's true MAC address. Many software packages I use in my work do an online license check when they launch to validate the installation, which is tied to my machine's MAC address. But the software now thinks that I've installed the programs on another machine, and invalidates the licenses! And then they won't launch, even after I disconnect the docking station!! This happened to me with THREE different programs. I had to explain my situation to all three companies so they could re-activate my licenses. Took me hours...
So, if you have an average machine, with a mediocre display, and are running MS Office and nothing else, this might work. But I cannot warn you strongly enough that this unit brings with it a minefield of problems. The folks at Toshiba got this one very wrong. I returned the unit. Toshiba Dynadock V, Universal USB Docking Station with Video
Purchased this docking station to use with my new Toshiba Qosmio X500, and so far it's been very impressive. In the past, I had always purchased laptops with a dedicated docking port, and the matching docking station to go with them. While this has the advantages of being a more direct connect to my peripherals and makes it much easier to undock the laptop for travel, those docking stations cost 2-3 times as much as the Dynadock V, and I've always ended up having to get a new one every time I replaced my laptop. The Dynadock V has all the same ports as my old docking station, but connects to the laptop through a USB connection instead of a dedicated docking port (something fewer and fewer new laptops have these days).
In comparison to a dedicated docking station, the Dynadock V has several advantages, as well as a few minor disadvantages. Advantages include (1) it's cheaper - a lot cheaper, (2) it's much smaller and takes up a lot less space on the desk, and (3) it will work with just about any laptop that has a USB port. In other words, you won't have to buy a new one every time you upgrade your laptop. The only disadvantages I've noted so far are that (1) you can't power or charge your laptop through it, and (2) video performance is somewhat degraded by pushing it through a USB connection. The power issue is prominently displayed on Toshiba's advertising materials and shouldn't surprise anyone. Basically, you'll have to plug the Dynadock and your laptop in separately. This is only an issue when you need to unplug the laptop to take it on the road. I'll probably just get an extra power supply to stash in the travel bag.
Video performance is also less than perfect. The Dynadock includes an onboard video card to help with the graphic performance, and for most applications this works just fine. However, I did notice that HD video performance was affected when using the Dynadock. The Dynadock only has a DVI port, but also comes with a VGA-to-DVI adapter if you need it. Using a VGA cable to connect to my external monitor, I did note choppy video performance, although this might have been affected by the fact that I'm running the laptop's monitor and an external monitor simultaneously. Since my laptop also has an HDMI-Out port, the simple solution was to run an HDMI cable from the laptop directly to the external monitor and bypass the Dynadock. It's one more cable to unplug when I want to travel, but the increase in video performance is definitely worth the minor inconvenience. It would be nice if the Dynadock had an HDMI port, but there really isn't any room on the unit for any more ports.
Overall, it's a great product and a real bargain, too. Highly recommended! - Laptop Accessories - Docking Stations - Dynadock - Port Replicator'
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