How's your docking station working?

[Rudy]

I have one. It has problems with mornings.

Yesterday it was charging and the lighting up the external monitor. But my USB devices, keyboard, mouse, built-in Ethernet weren't working. I moved everything to another usb hub. Power cycled the docking station, plugged things in one at a time etc ... and it started working again.

Today it was only charging. No monitor. No ethernet. White "docking station power light" was on. I undocked, verified my accessories working on my USB hub. Plugged everything back in. Power-cycled, etc. It didn't come back. I gave up and was using the touch keyboard to browse for solutions while the surface was charging in the docking station. After a few minutes it stopped pining for the fjords. My external monitor lit up. The Ethernet came on. Seems to be working fine, now. Although I haven't undocked since it started working [several hours ago].

Uh, except for those it seems pretty good to me.....

 

[mitchellvii]

It looks as if the docking station ($200? Really?) is set to one angle. Is this the original very steep Surface Pro angle?

 

[Rudy]

It looks as if the docking station ($200? Really?) is set to one angle. Is this the original very steep Surface Pro angle?

It's matches the angle of the most vertical stop of the two stop pro 2 kickstand.

 

[mitchellvii]

It's matches the angle of the most vertical stop of the two stop pro 2 kickstand.

Lol so Microsoft re-engineers the Surface Pro to have additional kickstand angles due to customer outcry then sells a $200 plastic docking station with only one angle, the most extreme one? Oh MS, what are we to do with you?

Any slight temptation I may have had to buy this hulking monstrosity just evaporated.

 

[mtalinm]

I was quite negative on the doc when it first arrived. It looked like a cheap piece of plastic, had only one viewing angle, and no gigabit Ethernet.

Now that I've set it up, I love it. It is much more elegant than the Lenovo docks I'm used to, where there is a whole docking port on the device. nonesuch here - the doc just snaps into the USB, power, and displayport. Surely it's a first-world problem to have to reconnect power, DP, USB, and audio, but it's quite a bit easier/faster with the dock.

So I'm keeping it.

 

[polbit]

That, plus no gigabit Ethernet, and ONE USB 3.0 port... Has to be the worst docking station ever...

 

[mitchellvii]

Well for $200 I would expect the best dock ever created in the history of Earth.

 

[Rudy]

Three days after the first problem, it died. But I'll always remember the good times of Monday to Wednesday.

I was working, typing away. The external monitor turned off. The computer started played the "hardware detected" sound three or four times. I noticed the white power light pulsing. The keyboard lights flickered. I power cycled and tried a few things. But it's too scary. With no computer plugged in I saw the keyboard lights pulsing, and the surface needed a power switch + volume key reboot during the process. Certainly a "power supply vibe" about the problem. I'm typing this on the surface with a usb hub and its charger. So hopefully the computer is OK.

I'm travelling internationally next week. I'll be ignoring the problem until after the 15th.

I haven't decided if this means the surface itself is travelling or staying at home.

 

[deavod]

Three days after the first problem, it died. But I'll always remember the good times of Monday to Wednesday.

I was working, typing away. The external monitor turned off. The computer started played the "hardware detected" sound three or four times. I noticed the white power light pulsing. The keyboard lights flickered. I power cycled and tried a few things. But it's too scary. With no computer plugged in I saw the keyboard lights pulsing, and the surface needed a power switch + volume key reboot during the process. Certainly a "power supply vibe" about the problem. I'm typing this on the surface with a usb hub and its charger. So hopefully the computer is OK.

I was afraid you got a lemon when you had the problem originally.

Strangely I've had problems with my dock but only with the Surface Pro (1) not the Pro 2. The display never quite worked... The monitor turns on and it acts like there's a signal but it's totally blank. With the Pro 2 it works perfectly so maybe there's a driver update I need..

The only complaint I have is that there's just 1 USB 3 port. I'd love to put a Gig-E adapter on the dock. Currently Windows picks the fastest network which is my WiFi (270 Mb) over the Ethernet (100Mb) so I never use the Ethernet card anyway.

 

[Freebirdforever]

Can anyone post photos of how they have theirs set up? I'd love to see it.

 

[mtalinm]

Can anyone post photos of how they have theirs set up? I'd love to see it.

27" 2650x1400 monitor on DisplayPort
24" 1920x1080 monitor on DisplayLInk a USB connection
Wireless mouse on a USB transmitter (no need to turn on Bluetooth)
Micro USB charger on the third 2.0 USB
Ethernet cable into the port
Speakers plugged into audio out

USB 3.0 not currently used.
Microphone not currently used.

 

[bluegrass]

I'm sure the reason they aren't officially releasing the docking station until Januay is MS wanted to see some feedback from Mitchelvii so they could fine tune the design before it gets released to the world. Not sure how anyone got pre-release versions of the docking station but I'm glad I'm waiting till January for mine so they will have incorporatied all of Mitchelvii's suggestions into the full production models. Shouldn't also be able to lay flat so it doesn't block the desktop monitor you'll certainly be using with it?