Ugreen USB-C Triple Show dock evaluation: A diamond within the tough

Greatest Costs At the moment: Ugreen USB-C Triple Show Docking Station

$299.99

Probably the most complicated factor concerning the Ugreen USB-C Triple Show Docking Station is its title—as a result of, inexplicably, it doesn’t match what’s on the field. Though its engineering is great, whoever orchestrated its advertising and help wants a talking-to.

Stick with us for a second. On Ugreen’s website (and Amazon) this dock is named the Ugreen USB-C Triple Show Docking Station (12-in-1), and that’s what we’ve chosen to determine it as. Ugreen’s precise field, nonetheless, labels it because the USB-C Multifunction Docking Station PRO (Mannequin CM555), as proven above. Nonetheless, a hyperlink throughout the CM555’s documentation directs you to the “Triple Show” Ugreen hyperlink, which value $329.99 at press time. (Amazon’s worth is a bit much less.) It will get stranger: The Ugreen website additionally encompasses a “2023 Advocate Docking Station” with a “Christmas low cost” within the URL, which seems to be precisely the identical dock—but $90 cheaper.

The driving force hyperlink additionally hints at one thing Ugreen doesn’t inform you: that this can be a DisplayLink USB-C dock, which makes use of compression software program to facilitate the interface.

This isn’t a foul factor; as we’ve seen with DisplayLink docks, these can be cheaper, stabler options that supply nearly every little thing {that a} true Thunderbolt dock does. Right here, the value pushes into conventional Thunderbolt dock territory, however with principally the entire options of a Thunderbolt dock, and with out needing a Thunderbolt port in your laptop computer — only a extra generic USB-C interface.

This evaluation informs our record of the perfect USB-C hubs and dongles, which incorporates shopping for suggestions and recommendation.

Ugreen is a Shenzhen firm, the Chinese language startup hub that homes seemingly a whole lot of small corporations that develop I/O peripherals. As such, typically the businesses have a tendency to chop corners. The drivers are one instance: You’ll have to obtain and set up the DisplayLink software program earlier than utilizing the dock, however Ugreen buries point out of it on its product web page and provides it by way of MediaFire, a third-party internet hosting service. If this provides you the heebie-jeebies, strive downloading the official DisplayLink drivers from DisplayLink’s homeowners, Synaptics, as an alternative.

Mark Hachman / IDG

One other instance of lower corners is the charger. Ugreen’s Triple Show Docking Station can present as much as 100W to your laptop computer, however you’ll want to offer the charger itself. Just about all powered docks ship with an influence brick, however this one doesn’t.

With a number of USB-C-powered laptops already across the workplace, this wasn’t an issue. However when you’re working with a gaming laptop computer that makes use of a barrel charger, you’re going to be ticked off while you uncover that you just’ll have to spend money on a USB-C charger, too. On the flip facet, when you already personal a compact 100W GaaN charger, you win. In case you don’t, Amazon bundles the 2 collectively for $309.99, which looks like an honest compromise.

That issues, for the reason that Ugreen USB-C Triple Docking Station is remarkably compact so far as docks go: about 5 inches tall by 2.5 inches deep by about 2 inches extensive. The aluminum and plastic body weighs about 0.22 kilos, and doesn’t get overly sizzling underneath load. It is a answer that may work on the street, supplied you personal a charger.

On steadiness, although, Ugreen’s dock is a pleasure to work with, from the small pointless (however welcome) energy button and LED on the highest of the unit to diversified variety of ports to work with. On the entrance of the dock, Ugreen consists of each a microSD/TF and a full-sized SD card slot, alongside each a 10Gbps USB-C slot and a 10Gbps USB-A slot. A headphone jack is there, too.

On the rear of the dock, Ugreen consists of two 5Gbps USB-A slots for legacy mice and wired keyboards, the 10Gbps USB-C hyperlink to your laptop computer, and the USB-C charger enter. There are additionally three show ports: a 4K/60Hz-capable HDMI port, a equally configured DisplayPort, and an HDMI port able to 8K at 30Hz. (Ugreen doesn’t present actual specs.)

DisplayLink docks are terrific for productiveness: They’ll energy a pair of 4K shows at an eye-pleasing 60Hz simply positive. What they sometimes don’t mission are any HDR capabilities, even when the show helps them. (Attempting to allow HDR prompted one take a look at show to show off.) In addition they don’t sometimes energy high-refresh-rate shows. Nonetheless, the “8K” port does put out sufficient bandwidth for a 1440p show at 144Hz, Ugreen says, which pushes into gaming eventualities.

Mark Hachman / IDG

How does the Ugreen USB-C Triple Show Dock carry out?

The issue with USB-C docks is that the bandwidth you’ll see could be depending on the dock, your laptop computer’s ports, and the out there GPU—and most distributors don’t hassle breaking that down. On a Microsoft Floor Laptop computer Studio with Thunderbolt capabilities, Ugreen’s dock drove three separate shows concurrently: the interior laptop computer show, two 4K shows operating at 60Hz, and a widescreen 1440p show able to 144Hz, although at solely 100Hz. We discovered that to even be the case for an HP Victus laptop computer with a discrete GPU, a Floor Laptop computer 4 (Ryzen), and a Samsung Galaxy Book3 Professional 360. (The Floor Laptop computer Studio and Galaxy Book3 Professional 360 embrace Thunderbolt ports; the opposite two laptops don’t.)

Beneath every state of affairs, the dock carried out very nicely, supplied that the laptops put in the correct DisplayLink drivers. (In case you don’t, the show output will stutter.) However they’re not miracle staff, both: With the three exterior shows every operating 4K streamed movies, the video started “surging”: taking part in video at regular pace, then slowing down a bit, although noticeably. It didn’t ship sufficient energy to entry an exterior SSD, and when streaming video from an exterior laborious drive together with the streamed video, every little thing slowed down noticeably.

Nonetheless, taking part in all of that again over a regular 10Gbps USB-C connection was a wonderful expertise. Keep in mind that working in Phrase, Outlook, or in Edge or Chrome will put much less stress on this Ugreen dock, and it ought to carry out even higher.

Ugreen doesn’t particularly name out any of the ports for charging functions, however the entire USB-A ports ship 3.7W—not nice, however typical of comparable docks. The front-mounted USB-C port does higher: 7.8W, which is sufficient to cost a smartphone, although not fast-charge it.

Ugreen’s USB-C Triple Show Docking Station undoubtedly has some actually odd quirks, lower corners, and different foibles. It’s additionally fairly costly, too, particularly since it’s a must to provide a charger. We couldn’t discover any guarantee info, both. Nonetheless, if you may get previous the naming confusion and unearth the correct driver, this USB-C dock undoubtedly delivers.