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Until now, I’ve not paid a lot of attention to USB-C docks. Sure, my Macbook just has two of them, but the fairly vanilla dock/port expansion thing that work gave me with it gets the job done – a single connection to the laptop and everything gets hooked up. It’s good – but could it be a better scenario? The Vobot Mini Dock says yes, it could be better.
Vobot Mini Dock: what it is
To be sure, yes, it’s a dock for your laptop. You can run up to 100W of power into it, and then you’ve got a mess of ports to work with:
- (1) USB-C uplink (to connect to your computer, to power it as well as get video out)
- (2) USB-C 3.0
- (1) USB-A 3.0
- (1) 10/100/1000 Mbps ethernet
- (1) HDMI 4K @ 60Hz
So, all the goodies you’d want, allowing that single connection to your laptop to connect all of your peripherals, connect to your monitor, and get that speedy hard-wired connection to your network. That’s not all, though…
A built-in display
The Vobot Mini Dock also has a display on its front surface. You’ve got a 2″ 320×240 IPS display for displaying all manner of information (for instance, the weather), as well as a 7-segment 4-digit clock display. The clock bit is appreciated, but that 2″ display is where things get really interesting.
The Vobot Mini Dock comes built-in with 10 apps, and you can develop your own for the dock as well (using Python). It looks like they’re also planning for an app store, so you’ll be able to find all sorts of stuff to put on there. To me, it looks useful as a quick look at key stats (weather, alerts, stocks, and so on) but I’m sure there’s all manner of things to be done. In fact, they’re also touting a game emulator, so you can even get a quick mental break, right on the dock itself.
Wrapping things up
The Vobot Mini Dock also offers an LED backlight, so you can get some additional color on your workspaces. It’s an interesting looking device, and we’re not the only ones that think so. I did back one myself, and a bunch of other people have as well, pushing it well past it’s funding goal. The campaign is going until May 31st, with delivery anticipated to begin in June 2024. As it stands right now, you can get in for $55, a 21% discount of the anticipated retail pricing. campaign page / getvobot.com
Vobot Mini Dock Tech Specs
