Laptops - used as desktops

[Joshua Conner]

the problem with usb3 dock is most if not all also require a power plug so its not a true one plug docking station.  which that may bother some and not others. 

Yes deb I work off a laptop and anywhere I can get internet you could connect to TOL.  Depending on how they serve the rest of things you might be able to work from anywhere.

[DebAmstutz]

Thanks for the info, I appreciate it!   

[Jeff Golas]

I got the Lenovo USB3 dock in last week, and found one big flaw - the power button on the dock doesn't power on the laptop, it turns the dock off and on 

So while it works fine, as far as I can tell, it will not let the laptop run closed like the other docks too. GRRRR!!!!! 

the problem with usb3 dock is most if not all also require a power plug so its not a true one plug docking station.  which that may bother some and not others. 

Yes deb I work off a laptop and anywhere I can get internet you could connect to TOL.  Depending on how they serve the rest of things you might be able to work from anywhere.

[Jeff Golas]

Quick update to this incase anyone finds it or cares; the Lenovo USB3 dock does work ok with a laptop closed - but it's cludgy. You have to open the lid, turn on laptop, then close the lid immediately. If you have a bitlocker pin enabled, you won't see it get prompted on the screen, but you can type your pin on the keyboard and hit enter to get it to boot regardless.

If the laptop goes to sleep, keyboard/mouse seems to work well to wake them up.

On the other hand, the standard style dock that literally just pushes USB plugs into the side of the laptop has mostly worked but also glitch on video; not sure if that's my actual laptop or the dock, but I use 3 screens and often when waking up from sleep, one of the 3 (DVI) comes up scrambled eggs. Undocking/redocking fixes it.

[Joshua Conner]

Interesting I have usbc docks for my lenovos and you can just plug the laptop in closed and push the dock power button.  It doesn't need the laptop open at all.   It is a single plug too everything flows through the one usbc cable.

Now the docks arent 100% stable which is a real problem but they are normally workable.

[Billy Welsh]

Just got a ThinkPad T580 with an "Ultra" docking station.  I am not yet using it daily in the office because I have to inventory what software I'm using on the desktop that needs to be installed on it.  But this is a standard setup for us, and I know from others that the video through the dock can be wonky.  Lady who works for me regularly has one of her 3 displays blinking off for no apparent reason.  They've changed cables and tried other stuff, none of which has completely eliminated the issue.