Anker Docking Station, PowerExpand 12-in-1 USB-C PD Media Dock, 60W Power Delivery, 4K HDMI and DP, 1 USB-C&3 USB-A 3.0 Data Ports, SD and TF Slots, Gigabit Ethernet, Audio

Inexpensive and compact dock that works well enough. I wanted a USB-C/TB dock for a short term remote work environment. I have a nice big Lenovo thunderbolt dock at my home office which works great but I didn't want to spend triple digits.Given that it was a short term use, I scaled back my expectations:Had to offer a few USB-A ports, HDMI output, and a USB-C PD charging for a laptop of at least 45 Watts.This was the best, cheap, and readily available option I could find.One week in and it is working well. I like the size. I could feed a beefier PD power supply into it but I am fine with it doing a slow charge on my Dell Latitude 7420.I don't know how it would stand up to more demanding video usage. I have it kicking 1080P video to an external monitor over HDMI. No major issues. I have noticed an occasional screen blanking for a second or two for seemingly no reason but then it returns. Happens perhaps once every couple of hours. Hard to know if it is the docking station's fault and it is fast enough to not be a big deal.It replaced a cheap little USB port expander hub. Much happier to be back to just having one cable to plug and unplug for the laptop.Happy that it came with a 60W USB-C PD charger. After accounting for the electronics of the docking station, it leaves 45W to pass along to the laptop. Includes both USB-C cables too.Hoping that maybe a firmware update or something might help with the video glitch but all in all, well exceeds my expectations for the price.Would have been happy to pay $10 extra to get it with a 80W USB-C PD charger leaving 65W for the laptop.Other quirks noted such as instability/tipping over have not been an issue for me. It looks unconventional but that doesn't phase me - it looks like a microphone.Seems to come in and out of sleep mode for the laptop well. No issues with plugging and unplugging. It wouldn't be my core main docking station at work but great to get in a pinch for a short term use and given that it is just USB-C, should be easy to use for others that might use the same thing. (I might invest in Thunderbolt 4 system for my "personal" workspace.)All in all, very happy with it and would recommend to others.

I wanted to take the time to review this because most reviews/questions on here are from either "power users"/IT people who (at no fault of their own) use too much jargon for the average user, or dissatisfied customers who did not understand what they needed/what they were buying.I am working with a 2020 M1 MacBook Pro running OS 11.1 Big Sur (my newly purchased personal computer) and a 2-year-old Dell Latitude 7490 running Windows 10 (my work computer, issued by my employer). I use the MacBook's keyboard for Mac keyboard input, and I use a wired Dell keyboard for PC keyboard input. I like to use my Anker wireless ergonomic mouse for both computers. This is a matter of personal preference. I like to use my single 27" Lenovo monitor interchangeably (not simultaneously) with the Dell and MacBook. I also use a CAT6 Ethernet cable.THIS DOCK WORKS GREAT FOR ME! Sure, it could have a few more features, a few more ports, and it could ship with a higher-wattage charging cable. But it works great with both computers for passthrough charging and peripheral sharing. I can have my monitor, Ethernet cable, and wireless mouse receiver hooked up to the dock at all times, and whenever I plug the USB-C passthrough cable into either computer, I am able to begin using the monitor, Ethernet connection, and mouse pretty much instantly. The hub offers really speedy USB connections that upgrade the speed of my Dell's ports for external HDD reading/writing, and expand the input/outputs for my Mac's ports. This is value added for both computers.Now some more technical minutiae for those interested (note, I do not claim to be fully literate in this terminology, I am just doing my best to keep up...)The key here is that I did not want to get a KVM switch box, so I opted for this as a cheaper and simpler solution -- I really don't care about instantaneous switching when I can just unplug the passthrough USB-C cable from one computer and plug it into the other. Doing this, I can seamlessly switch between computers on the monitor, all while using the same mouse and Ethernet connection. At max there is 5-10 seconds of waiting for the mouse to be recognized when I connect one computer or the other. Maybe that's too long for some users, but it's just fine for me. Hell, I remember when it took 2 minutes for an email inbox to load on a dialup modem and I am only 25 years old. This technology really amazes me.For users of a Dell laptop such as the Latitude 7490, the included passthrough charger is only 60W, not 100W. The hub supports up to 100W and you can upgrade to that. If you don't, the Dell will be just fine, but if you want "peak performance" (whatever that means from a very mediocre laptop with a 10-year-old processor) Dell says you should make the upgrade. I'll consider it down the road, but for now the 60W works fine for me.And a couple notes for Mac users, particularly those using Big Sur and/or an M1 Mac:1. THIS ETHERNET ADAPTER WORKS WITH BIG SUR!!! You may be aware that Apple rendered obsolete the ASIX Ethernet adapters when implementing Big Sur, and that running an ASIX Ethernet adapter on Big Sur/M1 requires disabling a security measure under the hood of your system. You may even be shopping for a new adapter right now because yours was rendered obsolete by the upgrade. The good news is that this is not an ASIX chipset, it's a Realtek chipset, and those work just fine with Big Sur. No muss, no fuss, no need to get under the hood. Just plug and play. (Edit: I had legacy KEXT kernel extensions enabled before I purchased this so that I could run ACE for Audio Hijack, and I'm not sure if that's helping with the plug and play. But, that is much more acceptable from a security standpoint than the workaround required for ASIX adapters.)2. Certain peripherals running through an Apple Thunderbolt 2-Thunderbolt 3/USB-C dongle may not work with this hub. By way of ridiculous example, I have a very old PreSonus FIREPOD FireWire 400 audio interface that I am too lazy/stubborn to upgrade because it works just fine for podcasting purposes. Unfortunately, in order for that interface to work with my 2020 MacBook, I have to run a FireWire 400 - FireWire 800 cable from the interface, into a FW 800 - Thunderbolt 2 dongle, into a Thunderbolt 2 - Thunderbolt 3 dongle. This ridiculous chain of dongles will not work with the Anker hub, but I'm not sure it will work with *any* hub. When I try to plug it in to the Anker hub, my MacBook displays a notification that the Thunderbolt device must be plugged directly into the Mac. Since the Anker hub is handling all the other peripherals that I need to connect to my MacBook *along with the charging aspect*, I have a port to spare on my MacBook, and I can easily connect the dongle chain to the second port without breaking a sweat. Everything works at that point.So yes, this loses a star for not shipping with a higher-wattage cable and the above dongle compatibility issue, though the latter is probably not Anker's fault. But at $90, this seems to be one of the most competitively-priced and functionality-packed devices for most users -- and it's from a very trusted brand. I would recommend this to many home users who may also be teleworking during the pandemic, and who need a functional solution to share desktop peripherals between two computers that both have USB-C passthrough charging capability.

UPDATE: i can’t recommend this. It does work but it has issues. It ended up getting so bad I had to have Anker send me another one after only a couple months of use which even the new one is doing the same thing. If using with a MacBook Pro (mine is 2019 16”) you cannot let the MacBook put itself to sleep or you will have to restart it to get this to work. If this is connected and your MacBook goes to sleep then when you wake it up your monitor will flicker and show pink screens. I’ve never had this issue with another dock. After a while my external drive I use for time machine will randomly disconnect and not be readable by the system anymore. My MacBook will also not boot while this is connected, instead it’ll freeze on the apple logo. These symptoms occur with my Intel MacBook and M1 also. Generally Anker makes good products but it’s best to pass on this one.As the headline says, this hub works much better than most others that I've tried. This hub is great for desk use vs buying a portable hub because all the main ports (power, HDMI, etc.) are all on the back of the hub which frees up my desk from all the cable clutter. Now for the drawbacks. The biggest one being that sometimes I have to disconnect the hub from power then plug it back in otherwise my monitor will not work. I mean unless I power cycle the hub itself the monitor will not receive a signal and my Macbook will not show a monitor being connected. The only other downside is with this hub, you only get bandwidth from a single USB-C port. When I have an external drive connected to the hub for backup and plug my Macbook into it, the backup starts immediately and uses most of the bandwidth so I don't get a video signal.