💻 Dell Business Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) Dock - TB16 with 240W Adapter: Boost Your Connectivity and Power Efficiency - 452-BCNU Review

I don't really like these new generation docking stations. I've never had a problem with these old school docks but so far 3 of them have died in our company and they are finicky. In some cases I noticed that the monitors started flashing and I had to update the graphics card or docking station drivers. Unfortunately, new generation laptops (especially Repression) come with these lightning-fast docking stations.

My company has the same docking station for my new Dell laptop at the office so I decided to buy it for home. This one works the same as the one direct from Dell, which is no surprise. The best part is that it cost less, which bothered me, it may have been a refurb but it was new packaging. Works great and supports my 2 displays but can support 3 displays (HDMI, Displayport, Mini Display). It's great that it's USB-C powered, so you only need one cable to plug it in and it's ready to go.

All in all a nice tangle free solution. it is with their product. In this world of cheap printing, there are no excuses. There wasn't even a part number on the box, and the internal documentation was so small that a magnifying glass was needed. I know it's typical but why am I buying a Dell? Also, it was a surprise that these aren't serial monitors. Luckily there were two working ports and we only needed two monitors.

Dell has a nasty habit of updating their drivers so that the dock's ethernet port stops working until Windows releases a fix, or vice versa. Windows broadcasts and updates the Ethernet port until the Dell firmware is updated and fixed. After a week or so, until all drivers are up to date, you will no longer have an ethernet port. By the way, unless you buy directly from Dell, there is no Dell support. so good luck with that. I'm sure there are better docks for the money, but vendor blocking…

New update: Don't buy this. I would stay away from those Dell docking stations. The situation has gotten worse and now the HDMI output to my second display sometimes flickers, sometimes disappears. I wish I could fix that. Update: I had an issue where every mouse, wired and wireless, stopped sometimes. Just like my keyboards. I assumed it was my laptop and it was so bad I sent it to Dell service (due to that and the display issue). He came back with a solid readout, but another problem…

Update 10/17/19 (downgraded from 3 stars to 2): The more I use this thing the more I hate it. Because of the second and third monitors, I don't really have a choice on whether to use it or not. I removed the physical network connection and the keyboard/mouse connections. I ordered a USB3 hub so I can remove the remaining USB devices as they keep getting blocked. It looks like the hardware in the TB dock is overloaded and can't keep up. Everything seems to be affected except video, although…