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Best docking station

L

lightz39

macrumors regular
Original poster
Nov 30, 2012
178
3
Hey all, its been a while. I'm currently looking for a docking station for my macbook pro retina. I have a pretty hefty windows gaming rig set up at my desk and I would like to use the monitor, speakers, keyboard and mouse from it on my macbook when I'm not playing games. I'm looking for something that will let me quickly just drop my macbook on and have access to them all. Is there some sort of hub or something like it that I can plug the usbs from my peripherals into and have them split into the dock as well as my gaming rig? Thanks for any insight.
 
There's (what I would term) a proper dock due from Henge late in the year.

Other than that, you're best looking at the Thunderbolt "docks" (or what I'd call a port replicator) from Belkin, CalDigit, Matrox etc.
 
MagicBoy said:
There's (what I would term) a proper dock due from Henge late in the year.

Other than that, you're best looking at the Thunderbolt "docks" (or what I'd call a port replicator) from Belkin, CalDigit, Matrox etc.
Click to expand...
I see henge already has one out for the mbp retina, are they releasing something else this year?
 
MagicBoy said:
There's (what I would term) a proper dock due from Henge late in the year.

Other than that, you're best looking at the Thunderbolt "docks" (or what I'd call a port replicator) from Belkin, CalDigit, Matrox etc.
Click to expand...

getting that henge dock is a pipe dream , they have promised that thing for over a year now.

the elgato dock is one of the better docks out there , i have tried 3 and thats the one i stuck with , i paid 229 cad with thunderbolt cable included straight from apple's website.
 
The site says I can order and has a price. Is it not really available?
 
Thanks for clarifying...hmmm I think I like the footprint of the vertical one better for a dock though. I'll check the elgato out.
 
lightz39 said:
Is there some sort of hub or something like it that I can plug the usbs from my peripherals into and have them split into the dock as well as my gaming rig? Thanks for any insight.
Click to expand...

I haven't seen any doc that allows you to use it as a hub for other devices. I have seen plenty of docs, but none of them split the peripherals.

From a technology point of view, I am not really sure how it can be done at an affordable price without too much compromise.
 
I'm pretty sure I'll end up going with the vertical one from Henge. My biggest question though is whats the best route to take as far as switching my keyboard and mouse. My monitor has 2 hdmi, a dp, and everything else you could think of so thats not a problem. Is my best bet to get a km switcher and plug that into the usb 3 on the dock or should I get a usb hub of some sort?

If anyone is curious I have a Logitech G510s keyboard and Razer Mamba mouse.

EDIT: Basically what I want to do is drop my macbook on the dock and be done. Source 1 on my monitor is windows, source 2 is mac.
 
So I ended up buying a KM usb switcher with the vertical dock. Here is the setup I will have:

Vertical Henge Dock

Mini Displayport to HDMI Adapter

IOGear 4 Port USB Switcher

I'm hoping this works as I just dropped $200. I'll have to figure out how to add my speakers to the mix. I have Logitech Z623 speakers that are connected to my mobo with a standard 3.5mm cable. They actually have two 3.5mm inputs. One on the sub which is connected to my main machine and one off the side of the speaker for headphones. I should be able to just plug the dock into the side of that? Anyways I'll update you guys with my success or failure later on. Wish me luck.
 
Yeah it looks like it will be pretty nice.

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Thanks. I don't see the add link ( or I'm just ignorant, which is entirely likely ) but I'll work on it. Appreciate it :)
 
You guys don't mind running clamshell? As I understand it, running clamshell forces it to use the dgpu, so any games, etc will use the dgpu 1.5 intel iris pro, instead of the Nvidia 750M 2GB card..
 
Dekard said:
You guys don't mind running clamshell? As I understand it, running clamshell forces it to use the dgpu, so any games, etc will use the dgpu 1.5 intel iris pro, instead of the Nvidia 750M 2GB card..
Click to expand...

Erm, the dgpu is the Nvidia 750M 2GB card? Discrete/Dedicated Graphics processing unit.

The intel iris pro is the integrated gpu. Was it a typo?
 
I won't be playing games on mine. As I stated earlier I have a hefty windows gaming rig. My mac is just an over priced internet browser :D
 
Dekard said:
You guys don't mind running clamshell? As I understand it, running clamshell forces it to use the dgpu, so any games, etc will use the dgpu 1.5 intel iris pro, instead of the Nvidia 750M 2GB card..
Click to expand...

Using the mini-DP enables the dGPU if fitted, irrespective of clamshell mode.
 
Seen plenty of negative reviews for the Henge dock as it forces clamshell and makes the Mac heat up a lot.
 
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