At a look
Expert’s Rating
Pros
- Support for three shows
- Both DisplayPort and HDMI are supported
- Six USB-A ports
- 60W of laptop computer energy
- Three shows over only a 5Gbps cable is loopy good
Cons
- Great, secure picture high quality breaks down barely with video
- No USB-C ports
- No fast-charging ports
Our Verdict
Plugable’s UD-6950PDZ USB-C Triple Display dock is a distinct segment DisplayHyperlink dock, admirable for what it could actually do however with particular limitations.
Best Prices Today: Plugable USB-C Triple 4K HDMI and DisplayPort Display Horizontal Docking Station (UD-6950PDZ)
$199.95
Three shows? Three? If you’re the kind of one who takes a maximalist method to shows, then the Plugable USB-C Triple 4K HDMI and DisplayPort Display Docking Station (UD-6950PDZ) is for you. This DisplayHyperlink USB-C dock provides you the facility of Thunderbolt, however with out the associated fee — and a few options.
You may think about the Plugable UD-6950PDZ to be the bigger cousin of the Plugable UD-6950PDH, a double-display docking station that we reviewed beforehand. Neither the UD-6950PDZ nor the UD-6950PDH are “true” Thunderbolt docks. Instead, they each use the DisplayHyperlink protocol, which approximates Thunderbolt capabilities however makes use of the DisplayHyperlink drivers and protocol as a way of knowledge compression. The distinction between the 2 is that the UD-6950PDH routes two shows over this bus, whereas the UD-6950PDZ that we’re reviewing right here connects three shows as an alternative.
A promoting level of many, although not all, Plugable docks is the inclusion of extra show ports than you possibly can ever need. Most docks ask you to decide on between DisplayPort and HDMI, and even use a direct Thunderbolt connection. Plugable presents each: On the again of the UD-6950PDZ dock are three units of DisplayPort 1.2 and HDMI 1.4/2.0 ports, so to use no matter shows and cables you may have available. That’s far more flexibility than the rest available on the market. There are additionally 4 extra 5Gbps USB-A ports.
The Plugable UD-6950PDZ presents simply two 5Gbps USB-A ports on the entrance of the dock, together with a 3.5mm mic/headphone jack. A Kensington lock slot is mounted on the aspect.
The dock is constituted of plastic, with venting on the underside. It grew to become heat underneath load, however to not worrying ranges.
Further studying: See our roundup of the very best Thunderbolt docks, which incorporates USB-C DisplayHyperlink docks, to find out about competing merchandise.
Mark Hachman / IDG
Some phrases about DisplayHyperlink
DisplayHyperlink docks aren’t a “cheap” model of Thunderbolt. Instead, they’ve confirmed to be a secure, cheap different to a Thunderbolt dock, sufficient that we lump them into the identical class. They do lack the uncooked horsepower of a 40Gbps Thunderbolt dock, working over a 10Gbps bus as an alternative. On the opposite hand, driving shows tends to eat the majority of that bandwidth — precisely what DisplayHyperlink was designed to offset.
It’s even weirder: Plugable says that the 3-foot cable between its dock and your PC runs at simply 5Gbps, and someway squeezes three 4K shows value of knowledge over that. Black magic! The included cable was stiffer than I’d like, nevertheless, with not a lot tolerance for my laptop computer’s USB-C port. It nearly felt like I used to be forcing it into the slot.
This dock is powered by the Synaptics DL-6950 chip, which includes what the corporate calls DL Compression 3.0, which does a greater job adapting to the calls for of what you’re seeing on display screen. What the UD-6950PDZ does is use the DL-6950 chip to kind two units of both an HDMI 2.0 or DisplayPort 1.2 connection, in addition to use your laptop computer’s means to straight drive HDMI or DisplayPort over a 3rd channel. It’s complicated! Essentially, the dock is doing two-thirds of the work to allow three shows, together with your laptop computer contributing the opposite third. As with most docks of this kind, your expertise will profit from a contemporary laptop computer.
The Plugable UD-6950PDZ can be dependent in your PC. If your PC’s USB-C port can output DisplayPort 1.4, the dock will help a 4K show at 60Hz. If it solely helps DisplayPort 1.2, 4K30 is the utmost decision it’s going to help. Unfortunately, this may be one of many irritating issues a few DisplayHyperlink or Thunderbolt dock, because it’s depending on options that always your laptop computer maker doesn’t essentially spotlight.
Mark Hachman / IDG
How nicely does the Plugable UD-6950PDZ work?
On our take a look at laptops, the Plugable UD-6950PDZ supported three shows: a 1440p widescreen at 100Hz, and two 4K shows operating at 60Hz. (The dock’s show outputs aren’t truly locked to a specific decision; it’s simply that the obtainable bandwidth is finest suited to a number of shows at sure fastened resolutions.) I attempted a number of configurations and cables, and it doesn’t appear to matter whether or not I used a DisplayPort or an HDMI cable, and the place I plugged it in — the output was the identical.
If you’re working in e-mail, or Excel, or an internet web page with unmoving, fastened content material, you ought to be completely tremendous with this dock.
Don’t push it too arduous, although. One of the assessments we carry out performs again a 4K YouTube video, simply to see what YouTube’s algorithm will ship. The dock additionally performed again Netflix movies on all three screens, proving that DRM didn’t intervene.
The precise YouTube decision (measured by YouTube’s “viewport” description) was lower than what we anticipated, various between a bit underneath 1080p decision and 1440p relying on the setup. Hardly any frames dropped. However, there was some slight, noticeable choppiness in how the frames performed again that might show to be annoying.
We noticed one thing comparable with our storage assessments. Running PCMark’s storage benchmark, we recorded about 10MB/s much less bandwidth (120.79MB/s) than different docks we’ve examined, which isn’t dangerous. But once we examined the storage benchmark whereas streaming our take a look at video, the video dropped 234 out of 10,000 frames, which is much more than we’d hope for. That’s positively noticeable.
There’s one other catch: There aren’t any USB-C ports in any respect, which signifies that this dock isn’t a fantastic resolution for charging a smartphone from the commonest USB-C chargers. Don’t fear about shopping for an adapter, both: the USB-A ports solely provide 2.4W by our measurements, sufficient to solely slow-charge a smartphone over a number of hours.
The Plugable UD-6950PDZ additionally provides a bit much less energy than different docks, a rated 60W that works out to 56.7W on our assessments. That’s completely tremendous for a productiveness laptop computer, but when your laptop computer has a discrete GPU that’s energetic, or when you have it operating in a high-performance mode, the port might not provide sufficient energy to cost it whereas on the dock. (In that case, the laptop computer will drain energy, albeit extra slowly than if it had been operating solely on battery.)
Our conclusion? This is a distinct segment dock for individuals who want three shows. Otherwise we’d lean in direction of the dual-display model, the Plugable UD-6950H, at a barely extra inexpensive $200 or so. We additionally miss the shortage of smartphone charging, although it’s not a deal-breaker. What the Plugable UD-6950PDZ accomplishes is spectacular, although it has its limits.
…. to be continued
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