XPS 13, Dual Monitors & Docking Station

@Cosmos Mom  Quick add-on to my post above.  Here is a short article about the XPS 13 9305 from Notebookcheck, a site that is well known for solid notebook coverage.  Their reviews in particular are some of the most in-depth you'll find anywhere, although that article about the 9305 is not a review.  But it does explain how the 9305 came about and call out one other difference compared to the 9310, namely the fact that the 9305 uses 16:9 displays whereas the 9310 uses taller 16:10 displays, which offer more workspace and a reduction in bezel area.  But again, the 9305 offers two TB4 ports plus a USB-C port, whereas the more expensive and ostensibly more upmarket 9310 only offers two TB4 ports.  Not sure what's going on there.

@Cosmos Mom  Quite a lot of ground to cover here.

I haven't looked in detail at the differences between the XPS 13 9310 and 9305, but right off the bat the 9305 seems to have more ports to connect devices.  You can compare them by looking at the Ports & Slots sections of the product pages for each one.  The 9305 also doesn't seem to offer a 4K resolution display, although that may or may not be something that interests you.  Some people like 4K displays because the high resolution does make for a very sharp image (assuming the applications you use handle scaling properly), but it imposes a non-trivial battery life penalty.  Also the subject of displays, I personally don't see the point of touchscreens on laptops that are not convertible 2-in-1s that can be flipped around to operate as tablets and such.  Using a touchscreen on a traditional laptop for any meaningful period of time requires suspending your arm in the air, which gets fatiguing rather quickly.  I ordered an XPS 15 9530 back in 2013 with a touchscreen for futureproofing, and when I replaced it in 2019, I went back to non-touch.  Additionally, touchscreen displays have the entire display assembly covered by a single pane of glass with a glossy finish, whereas non-touch displays typically don't have that edge-to-edge glass and also use an anti-glare/matte coating.  Some people prefer the look of a glossy display both for the glass and the way colors appear, while others avoid them because they can exhibit a mirror effect that anti-glare displays are specifically meant to avoid.

The difference between Core 10th Gen vs. Core 11th Gen chips in the product line used by the XPS 13 isn't quite as significant as it will be for the product line used by systems like the XPS 15.  (Essentially, Intel used two completely different architectures for different product lines within Core 10th Gen and used that name for all of them, which created some confusion.)  However, Core 11th Gen does have a faster graphics processor that is also capable of running four total displays rather than three if you think that might ever matter to you.  But both the 9305 and 9310 use Core 11th Gen CPUs.

In terms of a docking station, if you haven't bought displays yet you can probably skip that, and the reason has to do with the answer to your question of what a USB-C hub display is.  That is a display that has a USB-C input that is capable of receiving video, providing power, and providing USB data connectivity.  So essentially a USB-C hub display is a docking station built into the display itself.  And since some displays also support daisy chaining, which is the ability to connect one display to another and have the system see both displays independently, if you get a USB-C hub display that supports daisy chaining, you can run two displays from your system while still having only a single cable connection to your system, relying on the docking station functionality built into Display #1.  Since you're planning to run dual 2560x1440 displays, though, the bandwidth required for that setup means that if you also want USB 3.x data speeds rather than just USB 2.0, you'll need displays that support the newer DisplayPort 1.4/HBR3 standard over USB-C.  And that's where the newer displays come into play.  If you were to get a single U2722DE, which is a USB-C hub display, and then a U2722D, which is essentially the same display without the built-in docking station functionality, you could skip the docking station entirely.  The U2722DE provides USB ports, Ethernet, a 3.5 mm audio output jack if you have speakers that require it, and more than enough power to run an XPS 13 properly.  You'd just use a DisplayPort cable to connect the DisplayPort output of that display to the DisplayPort input of the U2722D in order to get video over to that second display, and you could even also connect a USB cable between those displays to use the USB ports on the U2722D as well if the ports offered on the U2722DE weren't quite enough for your purposes.

But if you do want a docking station, you would NOT necessarily need a Thunderbolt docking station to run dual 2560x1440 displays.  With either of the XPS 13 systems you're considering, you could get by with a regular USB-C docking station as long as it supported DisplayPort 1.4/HBR3 over USB-C.  However, many USB-C docks (and systems for that matter) still only support the older DisplayPort 1.2/HBR2.  With one of those docks, regular USB-C would not cut it for your intended display setup.  But as it happens, Dell's WD19S (not the WD19TBS) is a regular USB-C dock that supports HBR3, and therefore when paired with a system that also does -- like the XPS 13s you're looking at -- it could run dual 2560x1440.  A Thunderbolt docking station at that point would only be needed if you wanted to be able to run dual 4K.  I haven't looked into any of those Kensington docks you're looking at, so I couldn't comment on them.  I'm mostly familiar with docks from Dell, Lenovo, and CalDigit.  But as I mentioned above, if you choose the right displays, you can probably avoid a dock completely, and therefore even a more expensive display might result in a less expensive solution overall.

Thank you for the detailed information.  I have narrowed my choices to:

1.  XPS 13 without the touch screen and most likely will order the 9305 instead of the 9310;

2.  Most likely will order 2 Ultrasharp monitors;

3.  Most likely will order a Thunderbolt docking station instead of a U2722DE Hub monitor in the event that I need to hook up a Mac laptop to the monitors.  In one of your other posts (XPS 13-9380 Dual Display) you suggested the Dell WD19TB.  I noticed that this model is not available on the Dell website at this time.  Do you have any suggestions? 

Hello - 

This post has been very helpful!  I just purchased a Dell XPS 13 9310 and I'm looking for dual QHD (or 4k) monitors and a docking station.  If I understand correctly, I can run a single USB-C to USB-C cable from my 9310 to the U2722DE and a DisplayPort cable from the U2722DE output to the U2722D.  This will allow a dual monitor extended display setup, both at 2560x1440 @ 60Hz.  The laptop will be charged through the USB-C cable and I can use the U2722DE as a Docking Station (USB ports, Ethernet, etc).  Is the speed of the USB 3.2 reduced in this setup?

Thank You.

There is one huge difference between the 9305 and the 9310 that nobody has mentioned. On the 9305, the camera is under the screen, so viewers will have a lovely view of your nostrils.

I'd certainly look at the 9310 even if it doesn't have lots of ports. You can always buy a little adapter that'll add a couple of USB-A ports - unless you never intend to use the camera - or are OK with putting the laptop on a pile of books so people won't count your nose hairs.

I'm running an older XPS 9360 (no, Dell's numbering makes no sense - how can a higher model number be an older model - unless you look at the 9305, which is older than the 9310...) with WD19TBS and two 27 inch monitors - works like a charm.

@ECharles  Regarding Dell’s numbering, the “9” is the series, the XPS line being above the Inspiron 3000, 5000, and 7000 Series models. “3” relates to the display size, i.e. 13 inches. The third digit is the generation, but Dell rolled over on several of their models recently, which is why the 9310 is newer than the 9360. The same happened in the Latitude lineup, where for example there was a 7490 that was followed by a 7400.

The 9305 was introduced as a budget option that combined internals of the 9310 with a chassis based heavily on the version last used on the 9360, rather than the newer style used on the 9370 onward — except they changed the port selection a bit too. I’ve never seen Dell do this before, which might account for the odd model number. It’s just not an offering that Dell has ever had to account for in their model numbering before. But the XPS 13 is a very popular laptop in Dell’s lineup, so evidently there was a market for a cheaper chassis with new internals. I suppose it’s a bit like the iPhone SE in that regard.

We also set up the 2 monitors with extended display and both are at 2560x1440.  We also have a wireless Dell keyboard and mouse.  My husband opens the XPS laptop and uses facial recognition to turn on the XPS 13 and then closes the laptop and slides it under the 2 monitors.  The XPS 13, the dual 27" monitors and the small CalDigit docking station is a great solution for our home office.  

@Cosmos Mom  Fantastic, but if you were buying that system and those displays, you could have bought a U2722DE and a U2722D. The former is the same display as the U2722D except it has a USB-C port and Ethernet, so you could have plugged the XPS 13 9310 into that and been able to receive power, run your dual display daisy chain, and have access to the USB 3.x ports and Ethernet built into the display all over that cable. The U2722DE is basically a display with a built-in dock. If the cost margin of the DE over the D is smaller than the cost of that CalDigit dock you bought, you might want to return the dock and one of the U2722D displays and buy a U2722DE.

@Cosmos Mom  Never mind, I forgot you said that you also needed to use a Mac. In that case, that Thunderbolt dock will be necessary to run two external displays, since the Mac couldn’t run a daisy chain. Also note that Mac laptops based on the new Apple M1 CPU can only run a single external display.

Thank you. I knew there had to be a reason for that, but it would also be nice if the numbers related to the processor generation rather than some unknown Dell generation (Lenovo does this too - their 9th gen Carbon X1 uses the 11th gen processor) as the 9360 uses the 7th gen processor, but at least now I can figure them out.

Now to figure out the differences between the Latitude 5/7/9 that can all seemingly be configured the same.

I've given up on the XPS line as I've had a multitude of touchpad issues that Dell doesn't seem able to fix.

@ECharles  Well Intel's introduction of the first generation of a CPU won't necessarily correspond to a system manufacturer's introduction of the first generation of a system model, so I don't really see that sort of alignment being feasible.  There are quite a few differences between Latitude systems.  Typically around thickness, weight, available CPU, GPU, and storage options, sometimes WiFi options (802.11ac vs. ax), port selection and capabilities (e.g. HDMI 2.0 vs. 1.4, or support for charging and/or video output over USB-C rather than just a data-only USB-C port, or support for Thunderbolt being unavailable, optional, or standard).  If the differences aren't clear by looking at the configurator, I'd suggest going to the Dell Support site and reviewing the Setup and Specifications document for the systems you're interested in.

Hey ! Thanks for your post and this in particular :

"With those displays and that system, yes you would be able to run the setup you’ve described. Both displays would run at 1440p 60 Hz, and you would also be running USB 3.x Gen 2 (10 Gbps) alongside it, since the XPS 13 9310 and the Dell U2722 displays support DisplayPort HBR3, which offers enough bandwidth to run that display setup and USB 3.x simultaneously. And yes, you’ll also have charging, Ethernet, etc.."

I bought recently an XPS 13 9305 i7-1165G7 and I'd like to buy two U2722DE. So my setup is different than @Miked45 's one but do you think that I can use your recommendations as well ? 

Bests