Monoprice 13-in-1 Dual HDMI dock review: A solid contender

Value When Reviewed

$54.99

Finest Costs In the present day: Monoprice 13-in-1 Twin-HDMI + DP MST Dock

$54.99

This Monoprice docks lands squarely in the course of the messy actuality that’s USB-C {hardware}: quite a few acronyms, ports, and options. What can this Monoprice 13-in-1 Twin-HDMI + DP MST Dock do? A good quantity, although it relies on your PC.

What the Monoprice 13-in-1 dock’s documentation implies is that you simply’ll be capable of run a pair of 4K shows throughout this USB-C dock. (The “MST” within the product’s identify stands for “MultiStream Transport,” which signifies that it could possibly energy a number of shows.) At an MSRP of $54.99, this would seem to supply a fairly reasonably priced deal on the planet of USB-C hubs and docks.

What Monoprice doesn’t let you know is that this dock’s efficiency will rely on which laptop computer you personal: The rule of thumb is the newer, the higher. A Microsoft Floor Guide 2 with an Eighth-gen Core chip inside didn’t produce any output over its USB-C port; a number of latest Samsung and Floor laptops with Twelfth-gen and Thirteenth-gen Core chips inside labored properly, although.

So what’s one of the best you possibly can anticipate? Monoprice’s in-box documentation is complicated, however the precise product web page is considerably clearer: If you happen to’d like to make use of a single exterior show, you possibly can run it at 4K, 60Hz. (Our assessments verify this.) With two shows you possibly can run one at 4K30, and the opposite at 1080p60. Three shows? All of them should be run at 1080p.

Mark Hachman / IDG

However even on paper, it’s muddier: One HDMI port helps 60Hz; the opposite, 30Hz. Which one? Pull out the documentation. And in actuality, once I related two exterior shows — irrespective of the configuration — one displayed 4K30, and the opposite defaulted to 1440p, at 60Hz. That’s higher than anticipated, nevertheless it’s nonetheless complicated.

Partially, that’s as a result of I had related the shows, by way of the dock, to my PC’s Thunderbolt port, which makes use of DisplayPort 1.4 as a transport protocol. When you have a PC or a laptop computer with DisplayPort 1.2 (and few folks know in the event that they do, offhand) anticipate even slower speeds. With out your laptop computer’s documentation in hand, you’re rolling the cube.

Get previous that, although, and this Monoprice dock simplifies itself. The dock saves cash by not supplying an influence brick, however attaching your laptop computer’s USB-C charger to the enter port works tremendous — as much as 100W of energy supply. Simply notice that the dock and any bus-powered units you’ve got hooked up will eat up a few of that energy, too.

Mark Hachman / IDG

What ports does the Monoprice 13-in-1 dock embody?

In any other case, there’s a bunch of ports: 5 USB-A ports (three transferring information at 5Gbps, and two at legacy 480Mbps speeds), SD and microSD readers (each transferring information at a poky 104MB/s, or UHS-I speeds), an audio/mic jack, and gigabit Ethernet, plus the HDMI and DisplayPort ports.

Simply keep in mind that the whole lot is being transferred over the 10Gbps USB-C bus, so you might discover slowdowns or stuttering when downloading one thing over Ethernet, transferring information on a tough drive, and displaying it on a number of displays. That’s not the dock’s fault.

Mark Hachman / IDG

Monoprice’s dock doesn’t undergo from any thermal points; the plastic chassis will get heat, however barely so. It measures 5.5 x 2.2 x 0.65 inches.

This 13-in-1 dock is priced pretty aggressively, too. We’re seeing 8-in-1 docks priced at about $25 to $35, relying on the configuration; the $54.99 feels acceptable. That is actually extra of a high-powered dongle than a real USB-C dock, anyway. You should buy it from Monoprice direct, or from Goal. It isn’t obtainable within the UK.

For different choices, see our full roundup of one of the best USB-C docks.