Dell Docking Station for XPS 17

VAVA USB C Docking Station, 12-in-1 Type C Hub with Dual 4K HDMI Ports, RJ45 Ethernet, 4 USB Ports, SD/TF Cards Reader, PD USB-C Charging Port, Audio/

@jbm007-hotmail.com  Yes, but that means that you need to connect and disconnect two things every time you come and go, and you also need to keep your power adapter available in the first place.  The WD19 and WD19TB have their OWN power sources, which means that you free up the power adapter that came with your laptop for some other purpose, such as keeping it somewhere else in your house where you might spend a significant amount of time, or keeping it in a carrying case as a dedicated travel charger rather than having to remove it and pack it up every time you want to work at your docking station.  So the more fair comparison here would be to look at the cost of one of your docks AND an additional power adapter that you would dedicate to keeping at your docking station, since that is what the WD19 and WD19TB will be providing.  But even then, the Dell docks are a bit more convenient since they offer a single cable solution.

@jemsurvey1  The XPS 17 is designed for a 130W power source, which is above the official 100W max of the USB Power Delivery spec.  Dell did something proprietary on some of their chargers and docks to provide 130W over USB-C/TB3, but you won't find that implemented on third party products like the one that @jbm007-hotmail.com  mentioned. If you connect the XPS 17 to a dock that doesn't provide the required amount of power, you can experience reduced performance, slower battery charging, and a warning about a slow charger as the laptop attempts to adapt to an undersized power source.  The only way around that when using that type of dock would be to keep the XPS 17's own power adapter connected as well, but that's obviously less convenient.

If you want a dock that will PROPERLY power your XPS 17, you want either a WD19 180W w/ 130W passthrough (not a WD19 130W w/ 90W passthrough) or a WD19TB (comes standard with 180W power source).  The difference between the two is that the former uses regular USB-C, whereas the latter uses Thunderbolt 3, which affects the type of display setups you can run.  The XPS 17 is a DisplayPort 1.2/HBR2 system in its default configuration of having the Intel GPU directly controlling the display outputs and having the NVIDIA GPU operating via Optimus.  As a result, the WD19 would only run dual displays up to 1080p 60 Hz each or a single display up to 2560x1440 60 Hz.  The WD19TB could run dual displays up to 4K 60 Hz each or triple displays up to 2560x1440 each.  If you enable the option in the XPS 17's BIOS to have the NVIDIA GPU take direct control of the display outputs, then it's possible that the system would support DisplayPort 1.4/HBR3, which would allow higher end display setups with both of those docks -- but that has not been confirmed.  The specs only mention DP 1.2/HBR2, but the NVIDIA GPU would support DP 1.4/HBR3, so it's not clear if the specs just aren't accounting for this BIOS configuration scenario or if there's some other limitation in the system that restricts output to DP 1.2/HBR2 even with the NVIDIA GPU active.  (The Intel GPU itself only supports DP 1.2/HBR2, so the specs are accurate for that default scenario.)

Thank you both for the replies, very helpful.

He is right.

If you want to stay officially Dell that is the right direction.

My issue is; it is more then double the cost for less features. You have two ports on your computer so you can power your dell and still connect the other docking station.

I would assume since the XPS 17 is a new device that the WD19TB docking station is plug and play but looking at the documentation it seems that BIOS and all the drivers need updating before using. It also says the dock needs to be connected to the computer to update then a couple lines down it says to connect after updating.  Instructions a bit confusing to us that are novices.

Regards and thanks again for the help.

@jemsurvey1  It should be plug and play, but the information about updating is pretty standard language because Thunderbolt 3 in particular has had a bunch of firmware and driver updates over the years.  And I'm seeing more documentation overall for all sorts of devices generally recommending that updates be installed beforehand.  You're not going to break anything by connecting the WD19TB first, though.  Worst case you just might encounter some bugs that would be fixed by an update.  But if you want to play it safe, run Dell Update or Dell SupportAssist to check for any drivers and firmware updates that apply to the PC before connecting the dock.  Install them, restart if necessary, then connect the dock.  Then run it again, since at that point it would also check for driver or firmware updates that apply to the dock itself.

Thanks again for the help.

Since this is about dell docking station for XPS 17, may I ask would a D3100 work with the 9700? 

I currently have the D3100 connected to my 9360 with 3 1080p external monitors (fourth one is the 9360 screen). I have the dock connected to my laptop thru TB port (I am using a USB Type C to USB 3.0 Type B cable such as this (https://www.amazon.com/Cable-Matters-Type-C-USB-C-Black/dp/B00UXKTJE0?ref_=ast_sto_dp).  This setup has not given me any issues and is working well. 

I am planning to upgrade my laptop to 9700. The screen size on this thing would help me when I'm on the go and the GPU would greatly help with my graphics needs. I would not mind (for the moment) if I have to remove 2 cables when I come and go. 

Having WD19TB would be the ultimate setup. This would power on both the dock and the laptop all in one go and with having to deal with just a single cable interfacing the dock and laptop.  

@Lokdoi  The D3100 will work as long as you're not running displays beyond what it can handle and you can install the DisplayLink software onto your system to run it.  If that dock has worked fine for you thus far, then yes it will continue working the same way on the XPS 17 after you install DisplayLink.  But DisplayLink has some drawbacks that can be quite significant in some use cases.  I wrote about those in the post marked as the answer in this thread.  Again, if it works for you now, then no worries.  But just be aware of those potential issues in case you encounter them later, and understand that a "native GPU" dock like the WD19TB would avoid those issues.

Having a second power source is CRITICAL, whether it is a dock or power adapter. You have a back-up in case one goes bad.

I had one fail and then could not get another new one for a week. That means I could only work for a few hours of battery ... and then it was dead!

So, I always get a second power adapter with the last few laptops I bought. Back-ups are good.

@schultzeworks  I agree that it's always good to have a secondary power adapter, and I always have.  It's even easier now with USB-C since I don't have to have multiple proprietary adapters.

my laptop was dead when I first used the WD15 and so I can attest that despite the directions indicating otherwise right on the box  , I did NOT need to download drivers prior to using it. HOWEVER… while it will power it on and stay on while you have it plugged in, it will NOT actually charge it until you do, in fact, download the drivers and do the bios update . At least that’s what my experience was 

Hope Your XPS 17 9700 is still going strong. I just got an older Dell TB16 (the square thing) with a 240W charger and despite "not so good review" of the TB16 at the time of release, when connected to my 9700 the dock seem to both provide full power and drive a 4K 60Hz monitor over Displayport.

Very happy with it and would have bought a refurb unit earlier if I knew this one worked so well.

I have a Precision 5760 Xeon and a wd19tb. Do you know if those can support DP 1.4? ultimately I wish to connect a ultra wide 32:9 display to it but of a decent resolution when they come out.

Cheers,

Barry