VisionTek VT7000 Triple 4K Dock evaluation: Much too expensive for its challenges

Best Prices Currently: VisionTek VT7000 Triple 4K Show Dock

$341.48

$349.99

$379.99

$379.99

Initial matters to start with: We just cannot examine to see no matter if the VisionTek VT7000 Triple 4K Dock supports three unbiased 4K displays. But it supports two, and provides a significant 100W of energy to your laptop computer with a boatload of ports, to boot.

This dock, which makes use of the DisplayLink compression protocol, will travel 4K displays at 60Hz apiece, and VisionTek promises it will push three. But our exam bench could not accommodate this specific examination. Still, we have been impressed with how perfectly, and stably, DisplayLink’s 4K-capable docks have been, which include VisionTek’s VT7000, for efficiency do the job.

DisplayLink docks walk a middle ground in between a classic USB-C dock and a Thunderbolt dock they can be used by both a laptop computer with a regular USB-C port or a Thunderbolt port alternatively. DisplayLink technology involves computer software motorists to be mounted to empower the compression, and overall performance will increase if the USB-C port transfers 10Gbps versus 5Gbps, as most do.

Inside the box

The VT7000 dock alone has a rubbery upper coating, with plastic sides and bottom, in which 4 smaller rubber toes retain the dock from shifting. The dock steps 7.52 x 3.35 x 1.22 inches and weighs 12.4 ounces, rated. It are not able to be stood upright, unlike some rivals. Heat isn’t an concern, and there’s a handy committed ability button to convert off the dock when not in use to help save ability.

Mark Hachman / IDG

Inside of the box, the dock ships with both equally a 1-meter USB-C to USB-C cable (not Thunderbolt) as nicely as a USB 3. cable with a Sort-A connector on one particular stop, and a USB-C connector at the other. A 130W electricity adapter provides a rated 100W of charging electricity to the notebook. A little bit oddly, the USB-C cable to the laptop emerges from the side of the dock, although that keeps the other link and their cables out of the way.

There is a pleasant blend of ports, much too. On the entrance of the dock, an audio/mic jack sits close to a 5Gbps USB-C port and a second, nevertheless unlabeled, 10Gbps USB-C port. On the considerably left sits a 10Gbps USB-A port, as effectively. VisionTek was a little bit lazy below, as none of the ports are labeled, and none are explicitly rated to source power to cost your smartphone.

That matters, as USB technical specs (and cables) are perplexing adequate as it is! But both equally entrance-mounted USB-C ports provided 6.9W by using our USB tester, more than enough to fast-demand a smartphone.

Mark Hachman / IDG

The two rear USB-A ports transfer details at 5Gbps, ideal for a mouse and keyboard but not for higher-pace storage nor charging a cellphone. Both equally sit future to a gigabit ethernet port.

The rear screen ports make up for this by offering the option of possibly a DisplayPort 1.2 port or an HDMI 2. port for possibly of the DisplayLink connections, as very well as a dedicated HDMI port with DP Alt Method enabled. This immediate port doesn’t use DisplayLink compression, and can be made use of if you are concerned about all of the facts passing across the USB-C cable (from ethernet, a mouse and keyboard, and two displays) and creating a choppy expertise, or basically to enable a 3rd display.

Overall performance

As a Thunderbolt dock, the VisionTek VT7000 Triple 4K Dock labored very well, with rock-sound efficiency throughout a pair of 60Hz displays whilst doing work with a browser, e mail, and other office environment applications. Having said that, connecting the dock to a next unit with just a USB-C interface (and the DisplayLink driver set up) brought on the displays to act erratically, flickering on and off randomly. Connecting a different electric power offer served, as some laptops equipped with USB-C simply cannot take electricity by way of all those ports.

And irrespective of operating perfectly with static content (e mail, spreadsheets, and the like) across two 4K displays when utilised as a conventional Thunderbolt dock, playing back guarded Netflix articles was a little bit jittery. Participating in back 4K YouTube movie was choppy, too—when run at 4K resolution, the online video dropped frames like crazy, virtually a person out of each and every two. Rebooting appeared to fix the problem, but YouTube then started providing the material at a reduced-resolution bitstream, much too.

We have frequently preferred DisplayLink docks since of their versatility and (at moments) decreased price ranges. At about $380, though, the VisionTek VT7000 is rather difficult to advise. Essentially, you’re wrestling with DisplayLink’s quirks but at a selling price the place annoyances like that shouldn’t exist. We’d glimpse for a thing much less expensive amid our very best Thunderbolt docks instead.