Ugreen’s USB

The Ugreen 9-in-1 USB-C Docking Station can turn a laptop into a workstation.

Ugreen is a tech product brand that makes all kinds of useful gadgets handy for laptops and working from home. The company's products invariably look well-designed and have a high-quality finish matching a MacBook perfectly. Ugreen's connectivity products compete with other suppliers like Satechi and Plugable.

The award-winning manufacturer has launched a compact 9-in-1 USB-C docking station suitable for Windows and macOS. Offering up to 100W PD fast charging, the docking station has nine ports and can handle data transfer speeds up to 10Gbs and drive up to two external displays. The docking station is smaller than a VHS cassette and compact enough to slip into a work bag.

With a choice of nine ports, the 9-in-1 USB-C docking station can turn any USB-C laptop into an office workstation thanks to HDMI 4K and DisplayPort 4K ports, which can be mixed and mixed and matched at will. The PD 3.0 100W charging port can handle the power supply of the host laptop.

The new docking station from Ugreen has nine ports including two HDMI and two DisplayPort outputs ... [+] for driving up to two external displays.

The docking station has two USB-A 3.2 ports for legacy peripherals. Unusually, the USB A ports can handle 10Gbps data transfer speeds rather than the more usual 5Gbps. There's also a single USB-C 3.2 port with a 10Gbps transfer speed. Finally, the docking station includes a Gigabit Ethernet port for hooking a laptop up to the corporate network or NAS storage. You don't get a combo audio port or an SD card slot with this docking station.

Using DisplayLink technology, the docking station can drive two external monitors at resolutions of up to 4K and with a 60Hz refresh rate. The docking station has a little bit of memory onboard which mounts on the user's desktop and provides a useful link for downloading the DisplayLink software for Windows or macOS.

Any connected monitors can be used in extended mode or as a mirror of the laptop's display, with three options with additional monitors running in extended mode or mirror mode. Alternatively, one display can run in extended mode, with the other can mirror the host laptop. The flexibility can keep anyone happy, from a spreadsheet demon to a Final Cut Pro professional.

The Ugreen 9-in-1 Docking Station can run two external displays at resolutions up to 4K with a ... [+] refresh rate of 60Hz. The displays can mirror the laptop display or extend the display.

The docking station's twin USB-A 3.2 Gen 2 ports are ideal for anything from an old-school wired mouse to a high-speed SSD storage device. The single USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 port for newer peripherals can also handle data transfer speeds up to 10Gbps.

The PD 3.0 charging port on the docking station can pass through a 100W charge which will fully recharge a 15-inch MacBook in around 1.5 hours without hogging a laptop port.

Safety features built into the docking station include an efficient cooling system with dual vents, cooling silica gel, an aluminum shell and pads that slightly raise the docking station from the desktop, enabling cool air to circulate when the docking station is in use.

The USB-C docking station from Ugreen comes with a high-speed cable but the user needs to supply the ... [+] power supply, usually the one that came with the host laptop.

Verdict: This neat little docking station from Ugreen is compact enough to put in a messenger bag, yet it has most of the connectivity a laptop user could need. I’d like to have seen a combo audio port, SD slot, and a slipcase for carrying the docking station in a work bag. That said, four video ports for driving two external monitors is excellent and can turn almost any modern laptop into a desktop computer. The Ugreen 9-in-1 USB-C Docking Station is ideal if you don't need full Thunderbolt compatibility. Recommended.

Pricing & Availability: The Ugreen 9-in-1 USB-C Docking Station is available for £199.99/$199.99 on Amazon UK, Amazon US and the Ugreen website.

More info: www.ugreen.com

Tech Specs:

The 9-in-1 USB-C Docking Station from Ugreen has most of the connections a laptop user might need.