Overview of Docking Station

In this article, we will discuss the overview of the Docking Station and will discuss its uses, features, working, and finally conclude with its types. Let’s discuss it one by one.

Prerequisite – USB

Docking Station :
A docking station is basically an attachment to extend something. This means get plugged into a computer system (laptop or desktop) directly or via cable. As a result, the capability of a laptop increases to that of a standardized desktop computer. Various dock-able devices are available to switch things up. Depending on the capability of the system portable computers can be docked and undocked. This docking station is also referred to as a universal port replicator or simply dock.

Use of docking station :

• Advancement in all over internet speed and the availability, cloud computing, cloud collaboration tools, etc. in the market has led to an ever-increasing workforce of cell users. 
• Using docking stations instead to get the laptops thinner, lighter, and results more portable and also increases the all over productivity. 
• Docking stations give the modern worker the best of both. Mostly all docking station includes extra USB ports, audio jacks, an Ethernet jack, SD card slots, and display ports.

Working of docking station :
“Port Replicator“ which is referred to as the first generation docking system, these port replicators acts like an extension cable for the existing ports and makes them more convenient to declutter desktop. Docking stations took Revolution around 2014 and 2015 when the USB -C and Thunderbolt 3 were introduced.  

Features :

• It typically includes standard expansion slots, as well as additional ports for connecting external peripherals like local printer, modem, keyboard, larger storage or backup drives, etc.
• The docking is not much space consumer so its portable and plus a great advantage is that they give a great power supply and ports for connecting to many other devices

Type of dock :
Dock means how to plug in an electronic device such as modems, keyboard, large storage or backup drives, etc.

1. Cold /undock –
   Before unlocking, the computer needs to be shut down.
   
2. Hot/ undock –
   The hot dock works while the computer is running.

Type of docking stations :
There are several docking stations are as follows.

1. Port replicator –
   This look and function just as a bundle of cables would do. Some of them even have a pre-built electrical adaptor to carry electricity to the peripherals. These help to expand computer ports.
   
2. Breakout dock –
   Breakout docks are quite similar to a breakout device, it is an addition to a port replicator as not only it replicates the ports, but it also adds more ports by using property connections.
   
3. Docking port –
   These are very similar to the HUB. The only difference is it uses an internal chipset containing USB port converters.
   
4. OEM –
   OEMs like breakout devices are used to produce multiple connections from only one port instead of extracting them from the Chipset. These self-powered docks are mostly created for notebooks.
   
5. Third-party dock –
   The third-party dock is quite similar to the OEM but rather than extracting them from an internal chip, the connections are created inside the dock using converters, primarily USB-C and Thunderbolt. The things that are available are seemingly endless. These are preferred in workplaces mostly or on mixed devices.

Conclusion :
Finally, The use of a docking system has its own additional benefit in that it enhances the capabilities of a simple desktop, and moreover, it also saves from a lot of Hassle which the user faces while connecting and disconnecting. That can be very useful in workplaces, other than that it also saves the time which gets wasted while reconnecting process of PCs. The docking systems are a one-time investment and do not need any additional charges for maintenance. In spite of attaching a lot of cables, a docking station is enough on its own which cuts down the number of cables making the desktop much cleaner.