Inspiron 15 5515 docking station

@ATC518  Does triple display support mean triple external displays, or three total displays consisting of your built-in display plus two external displays?  Either way, what resolution(s) are your displays running?  And what refresh rate if not the standard 60 Hz?  The Inspiron 5515 only supports DisplayPort Alt Mode over USB-C, not Thunderbolt, so the most you can probably run in a triple external display setup would be 1080p 60 Hz each.  You wouldn't have the bandwidth for triple 1440p.  The only ways to go higher end would be with workarounds like connecting one display directly to the system's built-in HDMI output, or running at least one display via "indirect display" technology called DisplayLink -- not to be confused with DisplayPort -- but that has drawbacks I've written about in the post marked as the answer in this thread.

And in terms of power buttons, unless something has changed very recently, Dell has not implemented firmware support for dock Power buttons in their Inspiron and Alienware systems.  That capability is reserved for business-oriented product lines such as Latitude, Vostro, Precision, and XPS systems.  Some of those also have Thunderbolt, which would allow higher-end display setups like triple 1440p.

Sorry I don't have better news, but chances are that you have the wrong system for your requirements.

@ATC518  Ok, in order to run triple 1080p 60 Hz, you'd need a system and dock that support DisplayPort 1.4/HBR3 over USB-C (which always uses DisplayPort even if the dock converts a signal to HDMI internally), rather than the older DisplayPort 1.2/HBR2 standard that was the originally approved spec for video over USB-C.  A dock like the Dell WD19S supports HBR3, but I don't know about your system since Dell's specs aren't clear on this point, and I don't know the capabilities of AMD's hardware as well as Intel's, where I know exactly which CPUs support HBR2 vs. HBR3.

But if the system only supports HBR2, then the most you'd be able to do through a dock is dual 1080p, and then you'd have to connect the third display directly to the system's HDMI output, because in that case your system simply wouldn't have enough bandwidth to run triple 1080p via USB-C while also carrying USB 3.x data, which basically any dock would configure the USB-C link to do in order to support USB 3.x data speeds for peripherals, Ethernet, etc.

But if you can get confirmation that your system supports DP 1.4/HBR3 or you're willing to roll the dice, then the Dell WD19S dock would get the job done -- and if it's an HBR2 system, then it will at least give you dual 1080p.  Additionally, if your Inspiron system just happens to have firmware support for an external Power button, then the WD19S would also be your shot at having that capability, since that feature wouldn't be available on third party docks at all because there's no industry standard for an external Power button.  And the WD19S even with the smaller 130W power supply can provide up to 90W of power to the attached system, so there's no need for the 180W power supply version that can provide 130W to the system because your system is only designed for 65W.

Good luck!

@jphughan , thanks, and my apologies for the unclear question.

I am interested in a docking station that will allow me to have 3 external displays, 1080p at 60Hz will work.

As for the power button, I am willing to waive that requirement, as long as I can charge the laptop via docking station connection.

@ATC518  I'm not sure how to check if your laptop supports HBR3.  Ideally that would be clarified in the specs from Dell, and they do seem to be clarifying that in specs of some newer models, but they're still not totally consistent (and in one case they said a system supported HBR3 when it only supported HBR2...).  But if you can get a third 1080p display, then try having all three displays connected to the WD19S.  Just make sure you don't use the HDMI and USB-C outputs simultaneously, since that isn't possible.  But if you can get all three displays running in Extend mode simultaneously, and all running at both 1080p and 60 Hz refresh rate, then your system supports HBR3.

Bummer about the Power button, although that's what I was expecting.  In terms of paying for functionality you're not using though, there aren't very many docks that support triple displays, and the ones that do might be similarly expensive, such as Lenovo's equivalent to the WD19S (the ThinkPad USB-C Dock Gen 2).  If you only need a dual display dock, then you'd also only needed a dock that supported HBR2, would open up quite a few more options because there are a variety of models that will support dual 1080p displays and at least 65W power delivery, although I don't have a specific model to recommend because I tend to work with Thunderbolt docks, and those might be even more expensive than the WD19S you're looking at now.  But as I mentioned above, you may want to avoid docks that rely on DisplayLink "indirect display" technology.  There are MANY docks on the market that advertise triple display support and achieve that by relying on that technology, but it comes with the drawbacks I wrote about in the thread I linked above.

@jphughan Thanks!

I was able to borrow a friend's docking station to try out.  It is the WD19S.

I have tried dual 1080p 60 Hz, and that works, but waiting to get the third monitor to try three displays.

How do I check if my laptop supports HBR3?

Also, the laptop does not respond to the power button on the dock.

So, at the minimum, I'm not sure if the WD19S is right for me, as I feel like the power button is something I am buying for, but not using.

In addition, if I find out that HBR3 is not supported on my laptop,  then I would not need a dock with triple external display, only dual, and connect to HDMI on laptop as you have suggested.

Thoughts?

BTW - how do i check on my laptop if it supports HBR3?