Domain Name Com's Electronics Toshiba PA3542U-2PRP Dynadock USB Laptop Docking Station with DVI Port

Electronics Toshiba PA3542U-2PRP Dynadock USB Laptop Docking Station with DVI Port

Domain Name Com's - Electronics : Toshiba PA3542U-2PRP Dynadock USB Laptop Docking Station with DVI Port

- Toshiba Docking Station
I needed to replace the old, slow CPU tower that drove my desktop system. A family member asked me if I really needed two computers. I concluded that the answer was a definite "No" and, rather than spend $600-800 on a complete new setup, I bought the Toshiba Dynadock for less than $100, including shipping. Now, my newer, faster and more powerful Toshiba laptop is my only computer, and I continue to use my existing monitor and a separate wireless keyboard and mouse. Undocking is easy when I need to take the laptop with me away from home or just away from my desk. When undocked, my system works perfectly to permit remote connection via LAN. The Dynadock is a great device and has significantly improved my system performance at a very economical price. A very good solution for me!

Rating:

- Good Product With Limitations, Frustrating Support
I bought this unit to connect my Toshiba Satellite A135 (running Vista) to a KVM switch in order to share the monitor, keyboard, and mouse, with a Mac Mini.

I previously had hooked the the laptop directly into the KVM switch. It worked great, but I found that screwing and unscrewing the video plug into the laptop was too much of a pain for it to be practical, so it was time to look into a dock.

I ordered this unit, along with an extra AC cable for the laptop, so I didn't have to bend down and crawl under the desk to unhook the power every time I wanted to move the laptop.

After installation, I had a a setup where the video was mirrored (everything that I saw on the laptop monitor was also showing on the external monitor). This wouldn't work for me because the two monitors have different resolutions and the external monitor looked bad set at the wrong resolution. There was no way to change the resolution on the external monitor with that setup.

So I played with the monitor settings. The next setting that I came up with had the laptop monitor extended onto the external monitor. That's not what I wanted. Then I got the external monitor to be the main monitor and extending onto the internal monitor. This was closer to what I wanted, but I only wanted to use the external monitor. Next, I tried turning off the laptop monitor, and that's when the problems started.

At first, it looked like it was working but after about a minute, the mouse appeared to freeze. As it turned out, it didn't actually freeze--there was about a 15 second lag between the time that I moved the mouse and I saw the cursor move on the monitor. It didn't matter if I used the USB mouse or the touchpad on the laptop. I had to force a reboot.

I couldn't get the configuration into any other mode because every time I docked, it would go into the same mode and then "freeze." Time to call tech support.

The manual that comes with the Dynadock has a phone number in Irvine, CA, which I called. The receptionist told me to call an 800 number, which I did. I followed the prompts until I got a tech support rep (in India) on the phone. What follows is an abbreviated version of the conversation.

I said that I was calling about the Dynadock product. "What kind of laptop do you have?" asked the rep. I told him it was a Toshiba Satellite.

"Can you please read me the serial number of the laptop?" he asked. I read him the serial number of my laptop.

"Well, it seems that your laptop is out of warranty, it that correct?" asked the rep.

I told him that was correct but that I wasn't calling about the laptop, so what difference did it make?

"This is laptop tech support."

"I told you right at the beginning of this call that I was calling about the DYNADOCK, not about a laptop," I said. I was losing my patience.

"Where did you buy the Dynadock?" asked the support rep.

"What's the difference where I bought it? I need support and you already told me that this is tech support for laptops. Can you just get me to the right place?"

"Where did you buy the Dynadock?" asked the support rep again.

"WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE, YOU IDIOT? $*@!!&!!!"

That's when I hung up. I called back the Irvine number, where the same receptionist answered. I told her what happened. She gave me a different 800 number to call. I called that number, where I eventually got someone on the phone, who promptly transferred me back to the 800 number that I had called previously.

So now I'm back at laptop support. My only chance was to explain to the laptop support rep why I was calling and hope he could get me to the right place. Luckily, this rep had a few more IQ points than the last one and he actually transferred me to a support rep for the Dynadock product, in...Irvine, CA.

At least the US support rep had a clue but ultimately, all he had me do was uninstall the software, reinstall it, and then get it to where it was working again, although not the way that I had wanted. Then he told me that I would have to experiment with the monitor settings and I was basically on my own at this point.

Total elapsed time with Toshiba support was about 2 1/2 hours. I had to play around with it in order to realize that what was making it freeze up was turning off the laptop monitor, which is how I wanted to use it. I've settled on using the external monitor as the main monitor and using the laptop monitor as the secondary monitor (the external is extended onto the laptop monitor) because it works this way and it's closest to the way that I wanted to use it.

I've basically switched to Mac. I have a couple of PC programs that I still need to use and I can use them given the limitations of the Dynadock. I could use the Mac with Parallels or Fusion, but I bought the mini with an 80GB HD, which may not be big enough to run my Mac and also run Windows. In the meantime, this solution works for me. I'm not trying to play video on the PC, which is one of the limitations of the Dynadock.

One day, I'll buy a better Mac with a big hard drive, run any Windows programs with virtualization, get a Macbook, and get rid of the Dynadock and the PC laptop. Until then, the Dynadock, even with its limitations, is less of a hassle than having to unscrew the video plug whenever I want to move the laptop.

Rating:

- More or less works, but optical audio out is annoying
I recently purchased the DVI version, and had very few problems with installation/use. Installation of the software has resulted in some moderately disturbing blinking and flashing of the screen on my Dell Laptop upon bootup, but once booted up everything appears to be fine.

My one big criticism would be that I think Toshiba sort of "misses the point" of a docking station. The point is that people want to be able to have all the advantages of a desktop available to their laptop with one connection. The power supply issue is the most obvious failing in this regard. However, the optical audio out is also a pain in the butt. Most folks that I know don't want to purchase a receiver so they can attach speakers to their computer. Try to find 2.1 computer speakers that have an optical connectivity option.

Rating:

- Attractive, highly functional space saver
The product met expectations. It has more ports than competing products and adds the capability of a second monitor. I had to throw out a perfectly good laptop when the screen died, so I'll be keeping my laptop lid closed and using two monitors - this is the docking product that allows me this option.

Rating:

- Poor quality display
My boss ordered one of these despite my protests, I had a feeling routing all of your PC's peripherals through a single USB 2.0 port wasn't going to work out too well. The networking is a bit flaky, sometimes connecting right away and sometimes requiring a reset of the network adapter. The display doesn't really look right, the coloring is off and there is substantial lag (especially apparent with mouse and when playing videos). A good overall concept for those who don't have a docking station port on their laptop, but in practice it doesn't come out so good.

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