Use two docking stations with XPS 15 9560 non-simultaneously

Question

Hi y'all,

I have a XPS 15 9560 and two docking stations: WD15 and D6000. I am wondering if I could use both docking stations with my laptop, not simultaneously of course.
I have two work stations at home, and I'd like to be able to plug in my laptop at either work station.

The D6000 was purchased for using a 4K monitor at 60 Hz. But it does not provide the required 130W power and the laptop batter gets drained when running with GPU, so my AC adapter is used alongside with it.

The WD15 can provide adequate wattage for my laptop, but I have not used this docking station since I got the D6000.

Thank you.

jphughan · Accepted Answer

@KayJoyce  That's not a problem at all.  You'll just need the DisplayLink software to run the D6000 at full functionality.  Also note that the WD15 can only supply 130W to the attached system when the WD15 itself is powered by a 180W power supply.  The WD15 was also sold with a 130W power supply, and in that case it can only supply 90W to the attached system.

jphughan · Answer

@KayJoyce One other note. The WD15 and the D6000 handle video output in completely different ways, which affects the display setups they can run and how the displays behave. The WD15 taps into the native GPU output that can be wired to a USB-C port (which is available on the XPS 15). That's the more common setup. But due to the DisplayPort over USB-C standard supported by the WD15 and your system, you'll only be able to run dual displays up to 1920x1200 each or a single display up to 2560x1600 from that dock (or a 4K display but only at 30 Hz rather than the standard 60 Hz). By comparison, the D6000 uses "indirect display" technology called DisplayLink -- not to be confused with DisplayPort. The way that technology works allows it to support higher end display setups, and even work with systems that don't have native GPU outputs wired to their USB-C ports -- which is why it can also work when plugged into a USB-A "regular USB" port that doesn't natively support video at all. That's why it can run dual 4K 60 Hz displays plus a 4K 30 Hz display. But DisplayLink also comes with some drawbacks that can be significant in some use cases, which I've written about in the post marked as the answer in this thread.

If you're wondering if there's a type of dock that uses native GPU outputs to avoid the issues of DisplayLink but also allows higher-end setups, there is, and it would be a Thunderbolt 3 dock like the WD19TB. That dock uses native GPU outputs but can tap into 4x more video bandwidth from your system than the WD15 since it uses TB3 rather than regular USB-C. Consequently, when paired with your system it can run dual displays up to 4K 60 Hz each (although when dealing with a 4K 60 Hz display and any other display, there are restrictions around the combinations of outputs you can use). And the WD19TB comes standard with a 180W power supply, which allows it to supply 130W of power to the attached system, enough to run an XPS 15 properly.

KayJoyce · Answer

@jphughan  Thank you for the comments, very helpful!  I will try to set up WD15 again and see how it works.

XPS

Use two docking stations with XPS 15 9560 non-simultaneously

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