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Docking station for 9300?

post #1 of 7
3/23/05 at 6:20am
Thread Starter 
This is the ONLY reason I might choose a Sony A-Series over the 9300. Why can't they make a docking station? The 8600 has one, right? Your thoughts? I am buying one or the other this week.
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post #2 of 7
3/23/05 at 7:07am
what do you need in a docking station that the 9300 doesnt have?
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post #3 of 7
3/23/05 at 7:36am
I wonder if docking stations with PCI slots will ever come back into fashion ...
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post #4 of 7
3/23/05 at 8:45am
Quote:
Originally Posted by yellowperil
what do you need in a docking station that the 9300 doesnt have?
Well its easier than unplugging and replugging all your bits if you move your notebook a lot, but you wouldnt buy a 9300 for that purpose anyway,
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post #5 of 7
3/23/05 at 9:53am
You could consolidate most connections to one USB2.0 port (ie. into a hub, then to USB2.0-100Mbit ethernet, external hard drive, TV tuner, keyboard, mouse, etc.), the monitor port and the power connector ... IIRC Targus and Belkin both sell USB "docking bars" (with serial, parallel, 2xPS/2 and extra USB ports) but those are probably more for legacy peripherals than anything else.

I'm still waiting for a docking station like the one I had for my old Toshiba Tecra 500CDT ... 2x ISA slots, 2x PCI slots, 2x extra cardbus slots (bringing the total on the laptop to 4!), onboard games port, extra audio ports, onboard SCSI, two extra IDE channels (well, 1.5 - brings total to 3 channels) ... and get this, motorised undocking!
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post #6 of 7
3/23/05 at 11:47am
Quote:
Originally Posted by yellowperil
what do you need in a docking station that the 9300 doesnt have?
It is not so much that the i9300 needs extra ports - rather it is MUCH simpler to simply press the UNDOCK button than to play around with a power cord, speaker cable, LAN cable, mouse cord, keyboard cord, usb devices, etc. Granted many of these can be consolodatd on a USB hub, but it is still not nearly as convenient as pushing an UNDOCK button which releases your notebook from the dock whlie simultaneously cutting all external connects (while the notebook is still powered on). The APR for the i8600 is an example of such as device, but unfortunately they did not design the i9300/XPS2 with such a device in mind (they are missing the connector on the bottom).
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post #7 of 7
3/23/05 at 12:24pm
I agree. Most Dell notebooks used to have a docking station as an option, now it's few and far between. I'd definitely pay $200 or so to get one for my iXPS2 when it shows up.
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