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Review on πŸ’» Lenovo ThinkPad Thunderbolt 3 Workstation USB Dock with 230w and 65w AC: Power Cords Included (MFG P/N; 40AN0230US) by David Cash

Revainrating 4 out of 5

The old block failed to sync the monitors, the new one works!

I always had a laptop dock on my desk. It just makes it easier to connect a laptop instead of having to plug and unplug multiple cables when switching to a laptop. My new Thinkpad Carbon X1 Extreme Gen 2 uses Thunderbolt instead of a proprietary docking station, which is why I chose this device. So far it seems to be doing everything I need. I have two monitors hooked up, ethernet, audio cables, and all USB ports are full, including one that goes to a full 10-port USB3 hub. I didn't connect USB3 storage as I use a NAS and a second drive in the car. . I only occasionally plug flash drives or external drives directly into the laptop, so I don't know how well it handles dock storage. The dock that annoys me the most is that it has trouble keeping the two monitors in sync. With my old proprietary docks, it synced right away. When the computer boots back up, this dock will first appear on one screen, then switch to the second, then switch back to the first, then back to the second, and so on. etc. in an eternal cycle. To fix this I turn off the second screen, wait for the first to stabilize and then turn on the second screen and it works fine. This loop doesn't occur if I always use the power button on the dock. While I'm using this button to put it to sleep and wake it up, the dock just goes through one monitor sync cycle, and that's fast enough not to be insanely annoying. One star deducted because dual monitors aren't as smooth as proprietary docking stations. **** UPDATE 01/27/2020 In January 2020 they released a new firmware for the dock. After the installation, I was no longer able to run multiple monitors at all. , as all screens went black when a second monitor was connected. I had to force shut down the laptop to get the screen back. Before the firmware update, the hub had sync issues, but it worked in the end. Not now. Every screen is black. Tried everything including different monitors, cables etc. Now I need to connect a monitor directly to the laptop. **** UPDATE 02/11/202 Contacted Lenovo Support. They pushed me a new pad. This new one works. For the first time, it starts up with two monitors connected with no sync issues. So, either the first one was bad, or something has been fixed in the last 6 months.

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