banner

Blog

Aug 05, 2023

If 'everything but the kitchen sink' was a laptop accessory, this would be it

'ZDNET Recommends': What exactly does it mean?

ZDNET's recommendations are based on many hours of testing, research, and comparison shopping. We gather data from the best available sources, including vendor and retailer listings as well as other relevant and independent reviews sites. And we pore over customer reviews to find out what matters to real people who already own and use the products and services we’re assessing.

When you click through from our site to a retailer and buy a product or service, we may earn affiliate commissions. This helps support our work, but does not affect what we cover or how, and it does not affect the price you pay. Neither ZDNET nor the author are compensated for these independent reviews. Indeed, we follow strict guidelines that ensure our editorial content is never influenced by advertisers.

ZDNET's editorial team writes on behalf of you, our reader. Our goal is to deliver the most accurate information and the most knowledgeable advice possible in order to help you make smarter buying decisions on tech gear and a wide array of products and services. Our editors thoroughly review and fact-check every article to ensure that our content meets the highest standards. If we have made an error or published misleading information, we will correct or clarify the article. If you see inaccuracies in our content, please report the mistake via this form.

Laptops have become so powerful and versatile that they are rapidly replacing desktop computers. My MacBook Pro handles it all, from basic word processing and web browsing to editing high-megapixel images and 4K+ videos.

One thing that has made laptops even more versatile is the acceptance of docks and hubs. This way, you can get access to more ports, connect more displays, and even add external storage.

Also: This USB-C charger can power four devices at once and look good doing it

But the last thing that you want is to end up in a position where you end up with numerous docks, hubs, and drives dangling from your laptop, turning your streamlined setup into some unwieldy tech octopus.

What you need is a dock that does it all. What you need is the Satechi Dual Dock Stand.

The Satechi Dual Dock Stand has been designed to transform an Apple MacBook or Windows laptop into a powerful hub, with support for an M.2 SATA/NVMe SSD to expand the system storage.

Regular readers will know that I'm a huge fan of Satechi gear. Everything that has the Satechi brand is high quality, well made, and designed to solve real-world problems.

I've not had a single Satechi product that's fallen short, and this dock is no exception. Everything about the Satechi Dual Dock Stand exudes quality, and it fits in so well with both the design aesthetic and build quality of my MacBook Pro. I've even had comments from people wondering if it was an Apple product.

Also: Assemble your own portable storage with this Satechi SSD enclosure

Let's talk about the ports: There are so many that you'll never be left hanging. In exchange for two USB-C ports on your laptop, you get a gigabit Ethernet port, a DisplayPort port, two HDMI ports, two USB-A ports offering speeds of 10Gpbs and 5Gpbs, two USB-C data ports offering 10Gpbs and 5Gpbs, and a USB-C power port with 75W power delivery to keep your laptop charged up. That seems like a fair trade to me.

Satechi Dual Dock Stand ports

The dock fits perfectly beneath your laptop, not only giving you a huge array of additional ports, but also acting as a stand to elevate and tilt your laptop, putting it into a more ergonomic position for work.

The Satechi Dual Dock Stand also elevates and tilts the laptop

There's also a built-in SSD enclosure, and this support M.2 SATA/NVMe drives. You pop open the lid, slide in a drive, screw it in place, close the lid, and you have added storage to your dock!

Adding an M.2 drive to the Satechi dock is simple!

The final pleasant surprise that this dock had in store for me was the price. I was expecting this to fall somewhere in the $250 price point.

It doesn't.

The Satechi Dual Dock Stand retails for $150, which, given the power and flexibility offered by this dock, is quite something. It's a fantastic dock at a fantastic price and a great way for professionals to expand the capability of their laptops, turning them into a portable workstation.

Also: This USB-C charger can power four devices at once and look good doing itConnector TypeDimensions/WeightPortsAlso: Assemble your own portable storage with this Satechi SSD enclosure
SHARE