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Review: Kanex simpleDock

simpleDock_desk

What is it?

While mostly targeting the Mac market, this is a ‘simple’ dock that via USB will give your PC or Mac 3 x USB 3.0 ports, a Gigabit Ethernet Port, and a dedicated charging port which gives you up to 2.1A output. It has its own power supply, which means you don’t need to worry about power requirements.

The need

With your Macbook Air being extremely thin, and ultrabooks following the same pattern, the computers of future are losing out on ports, not just of the USB kind, but also one of the most important ones, the Ethernet one. Also, take a quick browse on what is available on the market, and you’ll find most devices only give you 1, or at the most 2 USB 3.0 ports. Also, we all need to charge our devices, and quite frankly, the mess of wires is starting to get a bit too much. Clever solutions are needed, and we like things that get rid of clutter and pack in functionality at the same time.

Setup and requirements

You will need to install the Gigabit Ethernet drivers, but they are available on their website at the following link:

http://www.kanexlive.com/simpleDock

More information, as well as buying information is also present.

While you don’t really have any hardware or similar requirements, you will definitely need USB3.0 to get USB3.0 speeds out of the port on the dock. This is obvious, but we thought we’d put it out there.

Look and feel

The simpleDock actually is a lot heavier than I thought it would be. That is obviously not a problem for a device that will probably never move on your desk. It features a solid built, looks and feels premium, and is ready to go from the box.

The back features all the ports, including the dedicated charging port, while the top has a little shelf to leave your phone if you’d like to charge it. A little opening and a wire tunnel allows you to run the wire through it, and gives you a very neat solution to keep your desk tidy.

 

Ease of use

As simple as it gets. In fact, it works so well, there is pretty much nothing to report on the matter at all.

You plug in your Ethernet cable, and you get connectivity.

You plug in items into the USB ports, and you get the speed you expect.

You plug a device into the charging port, and you get fast charging performance.

Buying information

This retails for £99, and you can buy it from their website.

Verdict

A handy device that will make its presence permanent on your desk, giving you USB3.0 ports, ethernet, as well as charging abilities. A complete package that will probably become more and more important as our computers become thinner and lighter.

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