EZQuest’s Pro Series USB 4 Dual Display 8-in-1 hub
pros and cons
- Advanced features such as Fast Role Swap make this a reliable unit.
- It doesn’t require an AC power brick.
- Its design is super compact and lightweight.
- If you lose or forget the input cable, the dock is useless.
- It doesn’t have a built-in Ethernet port.
on Google.
While manufacturers want to slim down the number of ports on laptops and desktop systems to save a few bucks, the demand for them among end users has never been higher.
The obvious solution is to throw a dock into the equation, but these are always a compromise, and the trick is to pick a dock that brings the most to the table with a minimum of compromises.
Also: My favorite USB-C accessory of all time has a magnetic superpower (and is priced well)
This is especially true of a portable dock because the last thing you want to end up buying is a dock that requires a huge AC power brick weighing a couple of pounds.
For the past couple of months, I’ve been using EZQuest’s Pro Series USB 4 Dual Display 8-in-1 hub
Small and lightweight, yet packing a full set of 8-in-1 features.
Adrian Kingsley-Hughes/ZDNET
Despite the cost-cutting, the JHL8140 chipset supports full DisplayPort 1.4a video over the USB 4/Thunderbolt 4 link, and unlike third-party controllers such as VIA Labs or Realtek, it’s genuine Intel silicon.
How this dock protects against data loss
The USB 4 Dual Display 8-in-1 hub has nine USB-C ports in all. One connects to the host device, and another is a 100W PD (Power Delivery) input that can feed power into the dock. The dock can split that power — up to 77W to charge the host laptop and 23W to run the dock.
Also: Use multiple monitors? Why I recommend this docking station for both Windows and Mac
A weakness of some cheaper docks is that if the power drops, there’s a risk of data loss and peripherals going down ungracefully. This dock supports a technology called Fast Role Swap (FRS), a USB Power Delivery 3.0+ feature that allows the dock to quickly switch to pulling power from the host device if the input fails.
Another strong point is that the host input is a port, not a built-in cable.
Just don’t lose the cable!
Adrian Kingsley-Hughes/ZDNET
The dock has three USB 4 ports supporting 8K video output at 30Hz, 10Gbps Gen 2 data speeds, and up to 15W of output power, and a further four USB-C Gen 2 ports supporting 10Gbps data speeds and 7.5W (5V/1.5A) of power output.
The video output ports support up to 8K/30Hz for a single display or two 4K@60Hz displays.
The one accessory that I added is a USB-C to Ethernet adapter.
Adrian Kingsley-Hughes/ZDNET
So, what’s the one accessory that I added to the dock to turn it from great to perfect? It’s a USB-C to Ethernet adapter or the much heftier Plugable USB-C triple display docking station