[Sam]

What do you think of docking stations? I have a lenovo onelink dock. I'm pretty sure I've basically fried my battery from connecting my laptop to my monitor for too long. It also seems like my laptop get extremely hot (when it never used to). I'm thinking of just getting a cheap desktop for my monitor instead (perhaps an ex lease).

[morgoodie]

I have never used a docking station before so I have no knowledge of this. I use a desktop and a laptop but of late I have been using my laptop more so that I do not have to be sitting at the desk all the time. I like my desktop but it is getting older and it is a bit slower than my laptop. I do notice that if I have been on my laptop for a long time it starts to get pretty hot. I am sure this is a bad thing for it.

[Fergal]

I've been using a Dell docking station for the last couple of years at work. We use a docking station mostly because we have dual monitors and it works really well. We haven't had any issues with overheating or anything like that.

At home I use a desktop for my own use and like you suggest Sam, that works best when I don't need to be mobile, it is also a cheaper option for the same computing power, compared to a laptop and a docking station.

[Sam]

I think a replacement OneLink dock is ~$300 NZD. I might as well purchase a cheap desktop. I'm not a gamer so don't need a hardcore awesome GPU. And the specs would be almost as good as my laptop which cost a lot more (about 14months ago).

I've been using a Dell docking station for the last couple of years at work. We use a docking station mostly because we have dual monitors and it works really well. We haven't had any issues with overheating or anything like that.

Is this connected to a laptop (do you use a fan as well) or desktop ?

[Fergal]

Is this connected to a laptop (do you use a fan as well) or desktop ?

The laptop sits on top of it and locks into it, I'm not aware of it having a fan. Not sure of the exact model, but it looks very like this one on Dell.com.

[IcyFirefly]

I don't have the need for a docking station since I only have one laptop. I don't have space in the house for an office area.

My daughter uses docking station and she has no problem with it!

[Darthmaul]

I don't have one but I think it would be really good for traveling. I don't really travel a lot so I don't think I would get a lot of use out of it. For a cheap one, though, I think you'll easily get your moneys worth out of it in a vacation or two.