Tuesday 26 January 2021

The Kensington SD7000 Docking Station is the best dock you can buy for the Surface Pro (including the new Surface Pro 7) and Surface Go right now, featuring an excellent design, plenty of ports, but at a high price. Even so, you get what you pay for. These docks will be great for those currently working from home, too!

Our pick

Kensington SD7000 Docking Station

$393 at Amazon $491 at Walmart

Brilliant design

For those heavily invested in the Surface Pro or Surface Go, the new Kensington SD7000 Dock is a pricey, but outstanding accessory that lets you have one PC instead of two.

Who should buy the Kensington SD7000 Docking Station?

This docking station is built for people who use their Surface Pro or Surface Go as their only PC. It's a great desk dock that makes it super easy to dock up your Surface Pro to a monitor, keyboard, mouse, and any other USB accessories you might want to be plugged in. If you have the budget for such a dock and think you'll need all its features, it's worth it.

Is it a good time to buy the Kensington SD7000 Docking Station?

Yes! The Kensington SD7000 is compatible with the Surface Pro 2017, Surface Pro 6, and Surface Pro 7. There's also an option available for the Surface Go. It's highly unlikely that a new Kensington dock for the Surface Pro will be out anytime soon.

Reasons to buy:

  • Excellent built quality
  • Articulating hinge allows for different modes
  • Plenty of ports including multiple displays
  • Re-purposes Surface Pro as a desktop PC
  • Perfectly matches Surface line

Reasons to not buy:

  • Very expensive
  • No SD card slot
  • No front-facing ports

A great all-around dock that looks stylish too

The Kensington SD7000 Docking Station is an excellent Surface Pro dock designed to look like the Surface Studio base. It features one USB Type-C, four USB Type-A 3.0, Gigabit Ethernet, DisplayPort++ v1.2, HDMI 2.0, and a 3.5mm combo audio port, making it a jam-packed dock with all the ports you could ever need. It also keeps the Surface Pro connected to power, so you don't need to worry about it running out.

For the best Surface Pro dock, the Kensington SD7000 is where it's at.

It also features a hinged mounted stand, which can fold down and lay the Surface Pro at an angle just like the real Surface Studio. It's super cool, and while it isn't as "magical" as the hinge mechanism built into the Surface Studio itself, it's good enough for what it is. You can also mount the Surface Pen to the side of the Kensington dock, which is super handy for keeping your pen in one place.

Alternatives to the Kensington SD7000 Docking Station

If the Kensington SD7000 isn't to your liking, or you don't want to spend that much on a dock, check out or alternative options for Surface Pro docking stations.

Runner-up

Surface Dock 2

Premium dock from Microsoft

$172 at Amazon

This is Microsoft's own Surface Dock, and it features plenty of ports. It's weighty, giving it a premium feel that you'd expect.

The Surface Dock supports all the Surface devices from the Surface Pro 5 and up. That includes the Surface Pro 6, Pro 7, Pro X, Surface Go, Surface Laptop 1 and 2, and Surface Book 2 and 3. It comes with four USB-C 10Gbps ports, two mini-display ports, one audio port, and a Gigabit Ethernet port. It also powers the Surface Pro while docked, keeping the battery topped up, so you never run out.

Budget pick

WAVLINK USB 3.0 Dock

Docking on the cheap

$79 at Amazon

It features six USB ports, compatible with HDMI, DVI and VGA, and has an Ethernet jack.

This is an excellent option if you're looking to save a few bucks and don't want to shell out too much money for the more premium docks. Compatible with all Surface Pro's with a USB-A port.

Travel pick

Microsoft USB-C Travel Hub

Lightweight USB dock

$80 at Amazon

While not a "true" docking station, the Microsoft USB-C travel hub is a great choice for when you need to connect to a large display or connect multple USB devices at once when on the go.

The Microsoft USB-C travel hub connects up using USB-C on the Surface Pro itself. It sports 1x USB-C port with passthrough charging, 1x USB-A 3.2 Gen 2, VGA, HDMI 2.0, and Ethernet. Since it's not a true dock, it doesn't require its own power supply and doesn't charge your device while in use either.

Bottom line

We think the Kensington SD7000 is the best docking station you can buy for the Surface Pro right now. It's classy, modern, has all the ports you could ever want, and makes your Surface Pro look like a mini Surface Studio. What more could you possibly want?

Our pick

Kensington SD7000 Docking Station

$435 at Walmart

Brilliant design

For those heavily invested in the Surface Pro, the new Kensington SD7000 Dock is a pricey, but outstanding accessory that lets you have one PC instead of two.

Credits — The team that worked on this guide

Zac Bowden is a senior editor at Windows Central, which means he covers a wide array of software and hardware here at Windows Central. Joining Mobile Nations in 2016, you can usually find him playing with new Windows 10 builds or secret unreleased prototype devices. Hit him up on Twitter: @zacbowden.

Daniel Rubino is the executive editor of Windows Central. He has been covering Microsoft since 2009 back when this site was called WMExperts (and later Windows Phone Central). His interests include Windows, Surface, HoloLens, Xbox, and future computing visions. Follow him on Twitter: @daniel_rubino.



0 comments:

Post a Comment

ShortNewsWeb

Blog Archive

Categories

'The Woks of Life' Reminded Me to Cook With All the Flavors I Love (1) 13 of the Best Spooky Episodes From (Mostly) Un-Spooky Shows (1) 1Password Now Generates QR Codes to Share Wifi Passwords (1) 2024 (14) 30 Movies and TV Shows That Are Basically 'Competence Porn' (1) 30 of the Most Obscenely Patriotic Movies Ever (1) 40 Netflix Original Series You Should Watch (1) Active Directory (1) Adobe's AI Video Generator Might Be as Good as OpenAI's (1) AIX (1) and Max Bundle Isn't a Terrible Deal (1) Apache (2) Apple Intelligence Is Running Late (1) Apple Intelligence's Instructions Reveal How Apple Is Directing Its New AI (1) August 18 (1) August 4 (1) August 5 (1) Backup & Restore (2) best practices (1) bleepingcomputer (43) Blink Security Cameras Are up to 68% Off Ahead of Prime Day (1) CentOS (1) Configure PowerPath on Solaris (1) Documents (2) Don't Rely on a 'Monte Carlo' Retirement Analysis (1) Eight Cleaning Products TikTok Absolutely Loves (1) Eight of the Best Methods for Studying so You Actually Retain the Information (1) Eight Unexpected Ways a Restaurant Can Mislead You (1) Elevate Your Boring Store-Bought Pretzels With This Simple Seasoning Technique (1) Everything Announced at Apple's iPhone 16 Event (1) file system (6) Find (1) Five Red Flags to Look for in Any Restaurant (1) Flappy Bird's Creator Has Nothing to Do With Its 'Remake' (1) Four Reasons to Walk Out of a Job Interview (1) Four Signs Thieves Are Casing Your House (1) gaming (1) Hackers Now Have Access to 10 Billion Stolen Passwords (1) How I Finally Organized My Closet With a Digital Inventory System (1) How to Cancel Your Amazon Prime Membership After Prime Day Is Over (1) How to Choose the Best Weightlifting Straps for Your Workout (1) How to Keep Squirrels Off Your Bird Feeders (1) How to Take a Screenshot on a Mac (1) How to Take Full Control of Your Notifications on a Chromebook (1) Hulu (1) If You Got a Package You Didn't Order (1) Important Questions (17) Install and Configure PowerPath (1) interview questions for linux (2) Is ‘Ultra-Processed’ Food Really That Bad for You? (1) Is Amazon Prime Really Worth It? (1) It Might Be a Scam (1) July 14 (1) July 21 (1) July 28 (1) July 7 (1) June 30 (1) LifeHacker (91) Linux (36) Meta Releases Largest Open-Source AI Model Yet (1) Monitoring (3) music (688) My Favorite 14TB Hard Drive Is 25% Off Right Now (1) My Favorite Amazon Deal of the Day: Apple AirPods Max (2) My Favorite Amazon Deal of the Day: Google Nest Mesh WiFi Router (1) My Favorite Amazon Deal of the Day: Google Pixel 8 (1) My Favorite Amazon Deal of the Day: SHOKZ OpenMove Bone Conduction Headphones (1) My Favorite Tools for Managing Cords and Cables (1) Nagios (2) Newtorking (1) NFS (1) OMG! Ubuntu! (688) Oracle Linux (1) oracleasm (3) osnews (21) Password less communication (1) Patching (2) Poaching Is the Secret to Perfect Corn on the Cob (1) powerpath (1) Prioritize Your To-Do List By Imagining Rocks in a Jar (1) Red Hat Exam (1) register (39) Rsync (1) Safari’s ‘Distraction Control’ Will Help You Banish (Some) Pop Ups (1) Samba (1) Scrcpy (1) September 1 (1) September 15 (1) September 2 (1) September 22 (1) September 23 (1) September 8 (1) Seven Home 'Upgrades' That Aren’t Worth the Money (1) ssh (1) Swift Shift Is the Window Management Tool Apple Should Have Built (1) System hardening (1) Target’s Answer to Prime Day Starts July 7 (1) Tech (9532) Tech CENTRAL (15) Technical stories (94) technpina (6) The 30 Best Movies of the 2020s so Far (and Where to Watch Them) (1) The 30 Best Sports Movies You Can Stream Right Now (1) The Best Deals on Robot Vacuums for Amazon’s Early Prime Day Sale (1) The Best Deals on Ryobi Tools During Home Depot's Labor Day Sale (1) The Best Early Prime Day Sales on Power Tools (1) The Best Places to Go When You Don't Want to Be Around Kids (1) The Best Strategies for Lowering Your Credit Card Interest Rate (1) The Best Ways to Store All Your Bags and Purses (1) The New Disney+ (1) The Two Best Times of Year to Look for a New Job (1) These Milwaukee Tools Are up to 69% off Right Now (1) This Google Nest Pro Is 30% Off for Prime Day (1) This Peanut Butter Latte Isn’t As Weird As It Sounds (1) This Tech Brand Will Get the Biggest Discounts During Prime Day (1) Three Quick Ways to Shorten a Necklace (1) Today’s Wordle Hints (and Answer) for Monday (3) Today’s Wordle Hints (and Answer) for Sunday (11) Try 'Pile Cleaning' When Your Mess Is Overwhelming (1) Ubuntu News (345) Ubuntu! (1) Unix (1) Use This App to Sync Apple Reminders With Your iPhone Calendar (1) veritas (2) Videos (1) Was ChatGPT Really Starting Conversations With Users? (1) Watch Out for These Red Flags in a Realtor Contract (1) Wayfair Is Having a '72-Hour Closeout' Sale to Compete With Prime Day (1) We Now Know When Google Will Roll Out Android 15 (1) What Is the 'Die With Zero' Movement (and Is It Right for You)? (1) What Not to Do When Training for a Marathon (1) What's New on Prime Video and Freevee in September 2024 (1) Windows (5) You Can Easily Add Words to Your Mac's Dictionary (1) You Can Get 'World War Z' on Sale for $19 Right Now (1) You Can Get a Membership to BJ's for Practically Free Right Now (1) You Can Get Beats Studio Buds+ on Sale for $100 Right Now (1) You Can Get Microsoft Visio 2021 Pro on Sale for $20 Right Now (1) You Can Get This 12-Port USB-C Hub on Sale for $90 Right Now (1) You Can Get This Roomba E5 Robot Vacuum on Sale for $170 Right Now (1) You Can Hire Your Own Personal HR Department (1) You Can Set Different Scrolling Directions for Your Mac’s Mouse and Trackpad (1)

Recent Comments

Popular Posts

Translate

My Blog List

Popular

System Admin Share

Total Pageviews