How annoying is the lack of a dock?

I'm just wondering how annoying it really is to deal
with unplugging and connecting lots of cables when
going on the road and coming home. If I get the MBP,
at home it will be connected to power, 23-inch Cinema
Display, USB printer, USB iPod cable, FW800 drives,
possibly eSATA drives using an ExpressCard adapter,
and audio. This seems like quite a mess of cables to
deal with every time I want to go portable.

Now I'm all for a docking station... I always had one with my dell laptops or toshiba laptops... basically because I used to get them cheap off ebay and came with a 2nd power adapter - I generally got the dock for less money then the MSRP of the 2nd power adapter... so that's a situation where you have a true "Value".

The problem is that Book Endz offer little value without an additional power adapter, especially to the tune of $300. It makes it stupid to purchase it, because you need to unplug the power adapter if you want to travel with it, or buy a new one.

Even with that said, I think everyone can agree that NO ONE is THAT important that taking the 30 seconds to remove peripherals puts a damper on your daily life. There is a max of 8 slots that could be connected to your computer on Core Duo, and 9 for Core 2 Duo. Even if you have all 8 or 9, the amount of time needed to connect or disconnect is so minimal that it makes a docking station unnecessary. PC docking stations do get the wires out of the way by generally placing them in the back.

So let's calculate. I am over estimating with 30 seconds... lets say 15 seconds per use - so 15 to connect and 15 to disconnect...

so let's even over estimate to assume someone does that 4 times a day. That's 1 minute a day, maximum that is wasted... big deal.

Now let me project... 365 minutes a year = just over 6 hours connecting and disconnecting.

Considering the time wasted in 1 year, you would have to make $50 an hour for it to not be worth your time in 1 year to own a docking station.

But then again, people waste so much time during their days doing other stupid things that I don't think that extra, over estimated minute makes much difference.

I could have saved 4 minutes by not butting in... but I did.

That's not money well spent... docking stations are silly unless they give you a real benefit... like provide a 2nd power adapter, or give your computer some sort of boost in performance.

For me the plugging in and out of the cables was never a big issue. I had it on a Griffin iCurve laptop stand and tied the cables to it so they were easy to manipulate. What annoyed me though was the cable mess. Having said that, as the ports are on the left and right sides it's somewhat unavoidable so a "dock" wouldn't really help.

Having said that, as the

ports are on the left and right sides it's somewhat
unavoidable so a "dock" wouldn't really help.

This is the best point made.


For any dock to be truly useful, you need it to have that integrated connection (like at the bottom) where your computer just "plugs into" the dock - meaning it doesn't use the ports on the side.


You're right... docking only makes sense when the wires are kept out of the way to the back...

I took a different approach - rather that trying to cable everyting to my MBP, I went with a network attached storage and a network printer. This leaves me with two connecitons to my MBP, Ethernet cable and the magsafe power conneciton.

Of course this means I use the laptop screen for all my work but have never found this to be a problem, even though I only ahve the 15-inch screen.

Docking stations or sort of "yesterday" sort of "1995". You said that you have a Cinema Display, well most of what you said that you had to plug in should plug into your Cinema Display just fine. If you have the aluminum model it should have 2 USB's, 2 Firewire's. Also you can use wireless printing via an airport express. All that will be left would be to plug in the power to your MBP and if you have one or two more necessary plugs it won't be that bad.

This posting that you created isn't going to get you many responses from people agreeing with your logic because many people just don't use docks anymore just as many people don't use dialup or plug their computers directly into a wired network. Many things have gone wireless and people are cutting the cables.

I have an early MBP, and I use it as a desktop hooked up to a 23" cinema display. The display takes 3 of the 4 ports on the right side of the MBP (the DVI, the USB, and the FW), with the ethernet cable taking the 4th. The display also has 2 USB's and 2 FW ports. The left side has power, USB (connected to a hub), and audio out to speakers. I use bluetooth mighty mouse and bluetooth keyboard. When I want to take the MBP with me, it literally takes 10 seconds to unplug (first I eject the FW drives I have mounted): I take out the left side power, usb, and audio (total of 2 seconds), then move to the right side and unplug ethernet and 3 display plugs. All but the DVI itself take less than a second, but the DVI has to be unscrewed, which takes an additional second or two. I just did it and it took less than 10 seconds.

Mark

You beat me to this post! I have the exact same setup. I keep the 3-prong plug in the powerstrip and pull it out and attach the plug when I leave. Pull the MagSafe, remove the speaker plug on the left, and on the right remove the 3 connectors that come from the ACD 23's powerbrick and I am done. 15 seconds tops. The only thing that I need to remember is to eject my external HD if I am leaving the MBP asleep rather than off.

I have used a Compaq with a docking station for a client. It is not any easier to use that.

Docking station? Like Windows 98 type stuff you mean? IMO docks are very yesterday and completely unessecary. I mean what do you mean to attach to your computer? A printer, a mouse, a keyboard? All done wirelessly. Only two things I can think you might need a port for would be an external HD and a bigger monitor. But youve got both those connections available to you.

Apple is definitly a FORWARD looking company. I would be offended personally if they came out with an IBM style 1995 Thinkpad type dock for these gorgeous Macs. Let the current trends in computer hardware guide you.

BTW you will LOVE this machine should you get one. Enjoy it if you do.

Okay your point is sorta mute because you weren't talking about being at "work" you were talking about using a dock at "home". I work at a bank and we have to use Dell laptops with port replicators as well. You mentioned about having to travel with your laptop and having to come home and plug a bunch of cables in it daily which is why I replied the way I did and BTW I did mention to consolidate your cables by plugging them in your Cinema Display but you don't seem like you appreciate even that bit of help. I don't know what year you are stuck in at home but today's hardware barely deals with dialup and most homes use broadband and wireless so if I am wrong so far then you need to be more clear on your posting.

I agree with other folks that a docking station or a port replicator would be very nice to have for the MacBook or MacBook Pro. Reasons:

* Wire management - if they can all be tied to the back of the dock, they don't need to be on the sides of the laptop itself.

* External Displays (such as the 30" Cinema display)

* External HDs

* External Audio - the optical out is needed for professional sound.

* Wired Mice / Keyboards. While Bluetooth is an option, there are some mice that are only wired - gaming mice, for example. As an avid Mac gamer, I cannot find a good gaming mouse that is Bluetooth - there is either lag, a design flaw (such as no off switch on the mouse), or the mouse is very small, and not comfortable. Even wireless gaming mice still need a dongle if they are not Bluetooth. For keyboards, the use of a full sized KB with the number pad is sometimes useful as well.

* Ethernet - there are many times when I need to plug in an Ethernet cord - particularly when copying gigs of data across a network, such as movies or backups. On wireless, it can take many, many hours, and leaving the laptop on overnight still isn't enough. Over a wired conneciton, it is much faster.

* Headsets - As much as I would LOVE to be wireless on a stereo headset w/ microphone setup, I can't find one online that meets the specs I need. If I am going to play an extended gaming session online, I need 4+ hours of battery life out of a wireless mic & headphones, which is currently not available. Until then, I need a USB-powered headset.

Don't get me wrong, I would love to go wireless on all this technology - the reason I own a Mac is I prefer its simple elegance. But because the technology for all my needs to be wireless does not exist yet, the next best thing is to manage them all in a Docking Station, so that they all share a single connection. Hopefully, a future revision of the MacBook (normal and Pro lines) will include a port to allow this - I would buy an Apple-made dock in a heartbeat, and I have full faith in Apple to make such a device simple and elegant.

MacBok Pro Core Duo Mac OS X (10.4.8)

MacBook Pro Core Duo Mac OS X (10.4.8)