Toshiba shows off dynadock USB video docking station

Toshiba wasn't exactly forthcoming on this dynadock of theirs, but since it sounds pretty nifty, and was hanging out at Toshiba's booth like it just didn't care, we thought we'd give you the lowdown. The dynadock is a USB 2.0-based docking station that beefs up your laptop's video and audio ports considerably with minimal hassle. Once you've hooked up to the upright dock via USB, you'll automagically be flush with 6 more USB ports, S/PDIF audio, Ethernet, Serial, microphone in, headphone or speakers out, plus the bestest of them all: VGA and DVI-I ports. That way you can have your jumbo LCD, 7.1 sound system and full-speed internets all primed to go with the insertion of a single cable into your laptop, which sounds like an alright deal to us. We're not sure when this thing is going to show up in stores, or for how much, but isn't every thing so much more exciting with that kind of suspense? Make sure to peep the gallery below.

Toshiba shows off dynadock USB video docking station

[Andres Revo @ Jan 11th 2007 3:12PM]

um... will this really cool niftly lil invention work with my macbook pro or is it strictly windows??

[joe @ Jan 11th 2007 3:24PM]

this is a really cool idea, but i would wonder about the bandwidth involved. i'm in the market and have surmised that video over usb is not very good. it only flows at 480mbps. that's pretty low for video. i would expect lower resolutions, which i (and probably many other people) would despise. this would probably have video lag and data lag. hooking up all of that (6 usb, ethernet, video, 7.1 audio,etc...) should drag it down so that it is almost painful to use......all of this is just speculation on my part though. i would want to use one and possibly read multiple reviews before i bought one. i do love the idea, but the practicality may just fall short.

[Dac @ Jan 19th 2007 6:37PM]

The DisplayLink technology uses lossless realtime compression in the PC and a special bandwidth management protocol over USB to insure that the graphics and video run in realtime as they do over the DVI or VGA interfaces.

[SideSwipe @ Jan 11th 2007 3:28PM]

Call me crazy, but isn't that an awful lot of data to be pushing down a USB pipe?

[Mistoffeles @ Jan 11th 2007 3:45PM]

1 word: slow

Don't expect to be playing much more than Bejeweled with this video connection, or displaying a huge spreadsheet.

[Big Fudge @ Jan 11th 2007 3:57PM]

"The Toshiba dynadock is available at ToshibaDirect (http://www.toshibadirect.com) and at major consumer electronics and computer stores nationwide. Users can purchase a VGA or DVI version for $149.99 and $179.99 respectively."

google is m'friend.

[David LaCagnina @ Jan 11th 2007 4:02PM]

Cant imagine how many CPU cycles this USB device is going to eat up, but I have got to believe it would be a large amount. Unless this thing has discrete components for all these features (NIC for Ethernet, GPU for video, and DSP for audio), which I'm fairly certain it doesnt, the laptop you plug this thing into is going to have it's CPU pegged at 100% when all these features are activated. Have we forgotten this basic rule of USB peripherals?

[Karl @ Jan 11th 2007 4:18PM]

I would also be worried about the bandwidth. A better idea would be to use the ExpressCard slot that everyone seems to be putting into laptops, yet are not making many devices for. An ExpressCard setup should be enough for all that A/V goodness. C'mon manufacturers. ExpressCard is a year old already; let's get some more devices on the market.

[del @ Jan 11th 2007 6:00PM]

Check out these devices.

http://www.mobl.com/expansion/

[Memo @ Jan 11th 2007 5:30PM]

Belkin has seemed to answer that concern with a "High-Speed Docking Station" that uses the express card slot of a notebook. Its not released yet, but makes much more sense than using USB 2.0.

http://www.belkin.com/highspeeddock/

[lilpunk1302 @ Jan 11th 2007 5:35PM]

Yes, like all these other people, how are you supposed to pull 6 usb ports at 480 each, quick math, upto 2880 mb/s, just from the usb ports, not to mention the 100 meg ethernet, and the 400 meg video, and the 10 meg audio, thats wayyyy too much to pull through a usb port, even firewire.

[Xenoterranos @ Jan 12th 2007 2:28PM]

Yeah, those are like a grand apiece, sans card. I'm thinking that it wouldn't be that hard to make an external enclosure yourself and use one of the cables they sell (for ~$80) to hook it up to the lappy. Since the pinout on expresscard is the same as PCI express, a very steady hand with some soldering know-how could probably pull it off with some cheap parts. Ben H(a/e)ck, where are you!

[kakapu4u @ Jan 28th 2007 1:51PM]

Maybe it uses the old shotgun technique and occupies 2 usb ports of the host computer...

[Dennis Crespo @ Sep 13th 2007 9:49AM]

The technology is based on an adaptive loss-less compression and network protocol that only sends the compressed pixels that are changing over USB and does not refresh the background if no full screen event is detected. This is not a replacement for a graphics chip, but uses the resources available in modern graphics chips to generate a second, third, and fourth displays. So if a user wants to replace or upgrade their graphics card the USB monitor connection will still work.

I have personally used this technology in Toshiba’s DynaDock product and I/O Gear’s USB to VGA adapter for the last 6 months. Both are driving 2 displays (1280x1024 and 1680x1050) from my Sony 2Ghz Notebook via a single USB port, the DynaDock is a USB Hub as well. I also use an external USB HDU for back-ups, USB mouse, and USB audio and see no detectable slow down for video, graphics, and audio.

[Suzy Mills @ Dec 5th 2007 4:40PM]

I am considering buying a DVI version of the Dynadock for my laptop (Dell Vostro 1400 witg VGa only) running Vista and going into an Avocent KVM Switch (DVI). The monitor is 1680 x 1050 and I have ethernet, mouse, keyboard, webcam, printer, etc, etc, about 6 USB devices. Can anybody advise me if this works with Vista and through a KVM without much degradation in speed and quality.

[Suzy Mills @ Dec 6th 2007 4:30AM]

BTW... I did buy the Belkin ExpressCard version first for my DELL and it did not work! I called up Belkin - they said it should work, but it didn’t. I called up DELL - they said ExpressCard docking stations are not supported. What's the point then?