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TB Dock Recommendation
Can anyone recommend the best kind of dock to use for both a XPS 15 9570 and a Latitude E6540? We need it for a hotdesk that multiple users use.
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Can anyone recommend the best kind of dock to use for both a XPS 15 9570 and a Latitude E6540? We need it for a hotdesk that multiple users use.
Thanks
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samos1111
489 Posts
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April 1st, 2019 04:00
> TB Dock Recommendation
That Latitude doesn't seem to have TB, just USB-A, and won't charge over it. Plenty of choice for USB docks. You can also use them with the XPS 15. But for the latter, the TB16 (TB3) or the WD15 (USB-C) also charge via the same cable, and the TB16 supports two 4K@60Hz displays.
jphughan
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April 1st, 2019 07:00
The only type of dock you could use with both would be a USB-A dock that used technology like a DisplayLink chip to carry video, but DisplayLink has a lot of drawbacks compared to native GPU output. I've explained that in this thread, specifically the post marked as the answer. Also be aware that USB-A docks also would not charge the attached system, and since the E6540 and XPS 15 have different sized power connectors, you'd need to either keep separate AC adapters for each system at that hotel desk or keep a single 130W AC adapter with a large barrel tip suitable for the E6540 and then also keep an adapter dongle like this one to be used when the XPS 15 is there. Yes, there's a D6000 dock that supports USB-C and USB-A and provides power over USB-C, but a) that doesn't solve the E6540 power issue, b) it still uses DisplayLink technology, and c) even over USB-C it only provides 60W of power, which is less than half the power the XPS 15 requires for proper operation (130W).
If you want a dock that will properly power the XPS 15, your only options are the WD15 with a 180W adapter or a TB16 with a 240W adapter. The reason for that (and the reason the higher-wattage adapter options are required with each of those docks) is that the XPS 15 is designed for a 130W power source, but the official max of the USB Power Delivery spec, which is used for USB-C and TB3 docks, is 100W. Dell did something proprietary to stretch that to 130W with those two docks when powered by their higher-wattage adapter options, but you won't find that anywhere else, and if you use a dock that provides less than 130W, you will encounter slower battery charging and possibly performance throttling as the system attempts to operate within the limits of the undersized power source. But neither of those docks will work with the E6540. As mentioned above, the main difference between the WD15 and TB16 is that the latter can support higher-end display setups because it has access to 4x as much display bandwidth -- but it only works with systems that have Thunderbolt 3, which is standard on the XPS 15 but optional on many Latitude systems.
So bottom line: Those two systems are not a good choice for a hotel desk. The person with the E6540 should get an upgrade to a system that supports USB-C or Thunderbolt 3.