Still in cable chaos (Kensington Portable Universal Docking Station)

Member Name: rappinhood

Product:	Kensington Portable Universal Docking Station
Date:	11/07/05 (814 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Slim, light and portable

Disadvantages: Not really universal - some devices not properly recognised

My desktop computer went out the window about four years ago. Not literally, but that was when I decided that using a laptop full-time made much more sense. Ever since then, one of the major annoyances has been the chore of unplugging all the cables when I wanted to take the laptop on the road and plugging them all in again when I got back.

So when I upgraded earlier this year, I decided to try to find a docking station that would work with my laptop without breaking the bank. And out of the fog of confusion surrounding cables and connectors emerged the slim and light Kensington Portable Universal Docking Station. Priced at a relatively reasonable £43.80 plus VAT and delivery, this silver marvel looked like it would do everything I wanted and free me from cable chaos.

Specifications
On the back were 2 PS2 ports for my mouse and external keyboard, 2 USB2 ports, a serial port and a printer port. There was also an Ethernet port on the right side, while the left there was a connector to the power supply and a USB connector to plug into my laptop.

Setup
Setup was straightforward and as described in the manual. I put the CD in the disk drive, plugged the docking station into my computer and Windows did its thing, finding and configuring all the ports in record time. I ceremoniously unplugged all the cables from the back of my laptop and transferred them to the docking station and everything worked first time, or did it?

How it worked
Actually, no. Mouse and keyboard were no problem, but I’d expected those to be easy. The printer said it was there, but wouldn’t work (but it’s a few years old, so that was probably because of a printer fault rather than the docking station) and my USB hub only worked with some devices (devices plugged directly into the docking station’s USB port work ok). Worst of all, it refused to recognise my Ethernet cable.

Rather than waste time crying into my coffee, I instituted some workarounds. I went wireless, so no Ethernet problem, and got a USB2 hub, which works with most devices. Some of my peripherals are quite old and the Kensington docking station may not be backwards-compatible.

Final word
Given the price, I would have expected better performance. So although the operation has been a partial success – I now have only two cables in the back of my laptop – I would recommend you look elsewhere for a docking station solution.

Summary: Good price but average performance

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