ExpressCard Notebook Docking Station with Digital Video and Audio - ACP60AU product reviews

To be honest when I first heard about this product I thought to myself, it's just a new look for an old product, how wrong I was. This is a very compact unit, smaller than many of the other port replicators/docking stations that are currently available.

The digital video is a delightful addition allowing for many different methods of utilising your laptop screen and your desktop monitor, I personally prefer to use my external monitor as the primary display, however there have been occasions where having the two setup as one large desktop has been very handy indeed.

Another great feature is the fact that all the USB ports are always on and thus you can keep your wireless mouse fully charged (if you have one of those delightful devices) or any other device you wish to keep active when your laptop is off. The other great thing is the fact that two of the ports supply extra power for those devices that need the extra power like some external USB powered portable Hard Drives.

It was also great to see the inclusion of a serial port, which while many laptop manufacturers are choosing to leave off of their products, is still very much in use for many different applications, especially in my profession where there is sometimes the need to plug into a network switch with a serial console cable for some reconfiguration.

And the gigabit ethernet is a pure joy to use and means for some very fast data transfer which is always a good thing.

The installation and setup of this unit on our Windows Vista based laptop was a breeze and went very smoothly with no hiccups at all, which is always a good thing in my book.

In conclusion if you have just purchased a new notebook with an expresscard slot and are looking for a good docking station go and get one of these beauties.