Plugable 4K Docking Station Triple Monitor

Updated: Originally I received a unit that was slightly defective and and it required a separate power supply but otherwise worked. I reached out to customer support regarding the issue and “Sam” was very helpful in troubleshooting the device. Once it was determined there was an issue with the hardware, I promptly received a replacement that is working perfectly. I highly recommend this dock or whatever “Plugable” dock fits your needs. Thanks again Sam for your help!

デザイン、性能、将来性、全て気に入っています。最初不安だったサポートも、迅速に日本語で日本人が対応いただけました。少し高価ですが、４Ｋ対応、HDMI3口同時利用、100W充電、サンダーボルト4対応等、永く使えそうです。注意点は必ず利用前にパソコンにドライバーをホームページからダウンロードしインストールしておくことです。それをしないと、モニター1台しかノートパソコンにつながりません。

This was purchased specifically to be a docking station for the HP Spectre x360 15T laptop with Intel i7-8705G processor.
I wanted to purchase the higher level Thunderbolt only dock station from Plugable but could not get a definitive answer if it would work properly. (I think it would be fine but didn’t want to order it and have to send it back if it didn’t)
I am a knowledgeable user but not a power user or techno geek, I wanted to easily set this up, get it working and move on to more important things.
The unit was very easy to setup, plugs into one of the thunderbolt ports on the HP and will also work on usb-c without thunderbolt.
In my configuration, I have an external 1080p monitor with built in speakers connected through hdmi. I have a WD 3Tb Passport backup drive connected by standard USB-3 and a Dell DVD connected by USB-3.
the unit is also connected to my AT&T mobile hotspot using ethernet through USB. All of these devices were easy to set up and work flawlessly.
Now some details:
The dock station does provide charging to the HP laptop so the only connection the laptop needs is the USB-c cable that is provided with the dock station. The power charging is limited to 60 watts. There was concern that this would not be enough for the power hungry processor in the HP but I have seen no point where the power meter dipped below Fully Charged 100%
USB ports: I wish this had 2 more USB-3 ports on back and at least one more on front. In my current configuration I only have one empty standard USB port and that is on the front of the unit. The front also has an open USB-c port that I am not using.
I like the separate headphone and microphone jacks. I use the headphone jack but do not use a microphone.
I was concerned that one unit connected to one USB-c port may slow down when trying to simultaneously provide data to the storage device, video and audio to the monitor, and internet upload and download to the hotspot but I have seen no evidence of this, the speed of everything seems to be the same as if it was all connected directly to the motherboard.
I can not provide comparisons and speed tests etc. but I can tell you that it works perfectly, was easy to set up and allows me to get to the work I really need to do and that is what I really care about.

Update: 5/7/22

The team at Plugable reached out to me based on my original review. After some terrific support it was determined that the original unit had some intermittent connection issues which caused the connection loss as I described. They were able to solve this with a new unit and I have been using it for several months now with no issues. I updated the rating to 4 stars as the unit did have to be swapped. I will say their support experience was 5 STARS!

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I picked up the USB-C 4K Plugable after mistakenly buying the HDMI version. My objective: Get an M1 MacBook Air to do what Apple should have built it for tin the first place, run two external displays.

It does a reasonable job at this using the Display Link software package to do the “screen magic” required to extend to a second display. I am running two Dell U2719Ds at 2560×1440 via the DP++ and charging via the USB-C at the same time with only one USB-C going to the Mac.

Note the headline… it works when it wants to. This is a finicky dock. (This is not an OWC throw-it-against-the-wall-and-it-keeps-chugging dock). You plug another USB device in or say even move the dock with an accidental nudge and the displays will lose sync and go dark. It behaves oddly if you leave your Mac plugged in and set it to sleep. I suspect this has something to do with the Mac OS and its wake-from-sleep cycles. I have a pair of external speakers plugged into the front audio jack and every so often when the Mac is asleep and the displays dark, I will get an audio static burst over the speaker as they get energized. It’s something the dock is trying to do paying attention to the Mac signals over the USB-C. I don’t know what exactly but this is from observation folks.

Also, things lose enumeration and power over the USB after a nights sleep. I cam into the office and tried to get on a video call to find my headset plugged into a USB hub into the back of the dock was not recognized. Checked into it and no power to the back 4 USB ports on the dock. Check ton port and it had power. So something happened in that over-night-funk where the hub lost the ability to power the rear USB ports. In order to restore the ports I had to re-cycle power to the dock. Thus: FINICKY.

Why oh why Apple did you do this to us? Anyhow, there you have it: this does the job you need, just be ready to have things unexpectedly stop working due to finickiness.