Review on 433835U MiniDock Plus Docking Station by Peris Auditore

Pros - All the data, audio and video connections we could ask for. My goal was to use my W520 to replace an outdated wireless home desktop running two printers. The ThinkPad MiniDock Plus Series 3 Dock (170W) should help. The W520 fits easily into the docking station. The PSU is the same size as my W520 PSU so there is no problem here. However, I cannot boot from the docking station. I only get a black and white ThinkPad boot screen, which then goes to a black screen and never gets to the Windows 7 boot screen. Neither the power button on the dock nor the power button on my W520 keyboard works. I have to undock my W520 to turn it on and then put my W520 back in the dock. The next problem is that the USB 3.0 port on the docking station is not working as USB 3.0 with my external hard drive (3T "Seagate Desktop Plus" USB 3.0 device). I get an on-screen message "This device runs faster" when connecting to a USB 3.0 port. I need to plug my hard drive into the USB 3.0 port on the side of my laptop for a proper USB 3.0 connection. I would be very unhappy if the rumors that USB 3.0 docking stations only work with Lenovo branded external drives were true. Are these defects or operator errors? I'm just not techy enough to know and it was foolish to assume the user manual would be in the box or online. I used Displayport with no problems. I haven't tested printers or other video or audio devices. I will update this review when I know if I can do it or if I need to return a defective product. TO UPDATE. We can use the power button on the docking station if we put everything in order according to the instructions. (Interestingly, I found the instructions for the docking station as part of my original W520 setup docs.) However, we keep getting the message that the external hard drive will NOT work as USB 3.0, so let's plug it into the USB port now the side laptop when we need speed. Will update as we learn more.