Determining the proper connections you want on your setup could be daunting, and the complicated, arcane USB terminology solely makes it worse. You possibly can try our explainer on parsing USB phrases in our Best USB Hubs guide. For the brief model, listed here are the fundamentals it is best to bear in mind:
Examine your ports’ speeds, and do not depend on model numbers. For lots of complicated causes, ports labeled as USB 3.0, 3.1, and three.2 can all have the identical pace or wildly totally different speeds. Because of this, docking station producers have just lately began opting so as to add speeds (often written like “5 Gbps”) instantly onto particular person ports. Use these ports for transferring heavy quantities of information, and slower ports for issues like your keyboard and mouse.
Thunderbolt is finest for lightning-fast knowledge transfers, or high-res shows. Thunderbolt is sort of a supercharged model of USB, and it even makes use of USB-C ports. Nevertheless, Thunderbolt ports are able to transferring large quantities of information. This makes it ultimate for issues like shifting uncompressed video information round, in addition to issues like 4K (and even 8K) shows or lower-resolution screens with additional excessive refresh charges.
Bear in mind your energy wants. Most laptop computer docking stations could have some type of energy connector and USB Energy Supply (or USB-PD) that may ship energy via to your laptop computer. You will additionally typically see this known as “passthrough charging.” Most units you join would require their very own energy as properly, particularly if you wish to join screens or cost your telephone and pill. For those who plan to attach plenty of power-hungry units, be certain your docking station can deal with your energy wants.