10 Best Laptop Docking Stations (2025), Testing and Review

Other Laptop Docking Stations to Consider

I test many laptop docking stations, but frankly, most of them are fine. They’re fine! We get to the heart to find the perfect use case, but it leaves us with a lot of devices that are great options, even if they don’t make our top pick. This will select some of our favorites, past favorites, or some of the alternatives to the above picks.

Provided by Luke Larsen

Sonnet Echo 13 Thunderbolt 5 Dock $440: Sonnettech’s Echo 13 was one of the first Thunderbolt 5 docks on the market. After all, it’s not only one of the most unique products, including just about every port you can imagine, but also the integrated M.2 storage slot with the Kingston SSD inside. It’s convenient, but I don’t like the drives being unable to access the user. The cheap plastic chassis is also a shame for the price.

Anker 568 docking station for $350: This docking station is excellent at powering all other gadgets. The two front USB-C ports each can power 30 watts. This is enough to quickly charge most phones or tablets. The USB4 port that connects to the laptop supports a whopping 100 watts of power. I usually charge my phone at a desk and usually need a separate charger on my laptop, but at this docking station I can keep everything running while I’m using only one outlet. The problem is that it’s quite expensive.

Satechi Multimedia Pro Thunderbolt 4 Docks cost $350: If you do heavy video editing, game design, or other kinds of work that contains a huge amount of data, this dock has all the bells and whistles. A thick dock made of sturdy aluminum that can be lying flat on a desk or standing upright on its side. I prefer the former, but it’s nice to have the option to take up less space. The docking station uses a Thunderbolt 4 port to connect to the laptop. Many, I’m losing to Thunderbolt 5 now.

Plugable UD-3900C Dual Monitor Docking Station for $100: This has been our top pick for a while, but it’s a little longer in the teeth. There are two HDMI ports for a dual monitor setup, but no power supply comes with fewer USB 3.0 ports than many other modern picks. If you need a cheap dock, it’s pretty cheap.

Plugable 13-in-1 USB-C Triple Monitor Docking Station for $180: This was a previous triple monitor pick, but the Anker 568 is improved in almost every way, including price. However, if this is on sale, it’s still a solid choice.

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