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hp thunderbolt dock review

Unleashing Productivity: HP Thunderbolt Dock for UK Professionals

Stephen Mash
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This HP Thunderbolt Dock review will show how you can unleash your productivity by leveraging the benefits of adding a docking station to your workspace. Counterintuitively, adding this device can make your desk space less cluttered and easier to manage.
Modern computing technology is revolutionising working practices by allowing remote, hybrid and home working to be more accessible and practical for everyone, regardless of role and business type. One significant change for businesses is the move away from staff having an allocated desk in an office space. The impact is that it’s more challenging to route cabling to be out of the way. Fixed offices use ceiling and floor voids for cable ducts, the wiring being out of sight until it emerges from a hole in the back of the desk.
Setting up a usable working space at home can be challenging when cables run across the desk between devices. Wireless connectivity can help, but it won’t solve all the problems. Here’s where a docking station comes into its own.
Docking stations allow you to connect multiple devices, peripherals and accessories without worrying about excess cables getting in the way or finding adapters to make one device work with another manufacturer’s device.
However, the benefit of a docking station comes when you need to work when travelling or regularly switch between a home office and business premises. Moving your computer is just a case of an undock-and-go operation. Our HP Thunderbolt Dock for business users means no more unplugging multiple cables and remembering which ones you need to take when you move.

Introducing the HP Thunderbolt Dock

what is thunderbolt
The HP Thunderbolt Dock is a compact device that boosts excellent connectivity options that are ideal for business users. The trend of making laptops smaller and lighter comes with the downside of less physical room for connectors. However, an HP Thunderbolt Dock solves this problem but provides enough connectors to support all the typical peripherals and accessories in the modern working environment.
Our HP Thunderbolt Docks come with various connection options in addition to the Thunderbolt 4 port. These include USB-C and USB-A, HDMI, DisplayPorts™, and RJ45 ports.
USB-C and USB-A, or Universal Serial Bus Types C and A to give their full names, are two of the most widely used connector types. USB-C is comparable with Thunderbolt 4, uses the same connector and is interoperable. However, typically Thunderbolt 4 offers better performance than the USB connection. By contrast, USB-A uses a different connector form, offering significantly lower performance. However, it is still in everyday use for connecting computer accessories.
HDMI, or High-Definition Multimedia Interface in full, is a connection technology for sending uncompressed high-definition video data to displays and other audio-visual equipment.
DisplayPort connectors fulfil a similar purpose to HDMI but offer higher image resolution and connection speed performance. However, not all display equipment supports the DisplayPort technology, particularly at the budget end of the ranges. RJ45, or Registered Jack type 45, is the standard connector used for Ethernet networking.

What is Thunderbolt?

Thunderbolt is a networking technology that delivers multiplexed serial communications for data and video plus power to up to five connected devices over a single wire. Intel® and Apple jointly developed this technology to make connecting peripherals to computers more straightforward. Thunderbolt technology works with Windows, Mac, Linux, and Chrome OS; computer manufacturers provide Thunderbolt connectors on almost all the latest popular models.
Thunderbolt uses the standard USB-C connector to aid interoperability and will work with USB connections. However, connecting to a Thunderbolt-compatible connector gets the full performance benefits. This capability includes allowing legacy computers without a Thunderbolt connection to use the HP Thunderbolt Dock using USB technology.
The current Thunderbolt 4 standard provides a minimum bandwidth of 32 Gbits/s and a maximum bandwidth of 40 Gbit/s. This performance offers significant benefits over USB connections when moving large data volumes, performing fast file transfers or streaming high-definition video signals. Thunderbolt 4 can support an 8K 60 Hz display or drive two 4K 60 Hz displays simultaneously.
One of the main benefits of Thunderbolt 4 is the high connection bandwidth allows connection of external graphical processing units and external storage devices to enhance computer performance where customisation of internal graphics and memory capabilities is not possible due to space limitations.
Another benefit is that Thunderbolt connections between compatible computers offer an easy and secure high-speed network option for sharing files in collaborative working practices. The Thunderbolt 4 connection can also provide 100W of power for computer charging and up to 15W for any connected accessories.
All these features support boosting productivity with HP dock technology by using the power of your existing business computers smarter and more efficiently without compromising security.

HP Thunderbolt Dock key features

The HP Thunderbolt Dock 230W G2 is designed for small to medium size businesses and supports connection of up to two 4K displays with your computer with a maximum power delivery capacity of 230W for all devices.
HP Thunderbolt Dock 230W G2
This small, sophisticated docking station with a 10 x 10 cm footprint is ideal for a flexible workspace with fast USB-C technology. This device offers connectivity to wired networks and peripherals, dual displays, and computer charging.
An additional benefit of using the HP Thunderbolt Dock G2 is the audio features, including the audio conferencing facility via the cable-free attachment of the HP Thunderbolt Dock Audio Module onto your G2 docking station.
HP Thunderbolt Dock 120W G4
The HP Thunderbolt Dock 120W G4 is designed for enterprise users and supports connecting up to four 4K displays with your computer with a maximum power delivery capacity of 120W for all devices. Its key benefits are the support for remote endpoint management and security.
This secure solution uses the HP Sure Start application to prevent cyber-attacks on the docking station from accessing connected networks and devices, fully compliant with the US NIST 800-193 resiliency guidelines.
The docking station includes the Intel vPro™ Active Management Technology, allowing authorised administrators to start and install updates on any connected devices remotely.
It also supports Electronic Asset Management processes allowing endpoint tracking across networks by product name, serial number, and MAC Address.
The G2 and G4 Docks both include advanced network security and maintainability features such as MAC Address Pass-Through for endpoint security management, network booting using Pre-eXecution Environment (PXE) and Wake-on-LAN (WoL) to support remote computer access.

HP Thunderbolt Dock business benefits

thunderbolt dock benefits
Docking stations offer a wide range of connection technologies and protocols using standard connectors, so you don’t have to worry whether your computer has a suitable connector to work with a peripheral such as a monitor, printer or backup storage device.
If you regularly move between working locations, sitting down and connecting your computer to a docking station is significantly faster than connecting to each peripheral, assuming you can find all the right cables. It also reduces the wear and tear due to repeated connector operations, prolonging your computer’s life and reliability.
Docking stations provide power to your devices, so you don’t have to worry about batteries inconveniently running low at a critical point during the working day.
Docking stations can also include additional functionality to support business operations, such as speakers and microphones for around-the-table conferencing with remote attendees.
The HP Thunderbolt Dock offers security, maintainability and asset management capabilities for system managers to support remote device administration processes. The technology within the dock allows remote device management, including patching and update procedures and asset tracking.

Setting up your HP Thunderbolt Dock

The first time you connect an HP Thunderbolt Dock to your computer, you will need to authorise the connection to allow the dock access to your computer to enable the remote management functionality. An essential consideration for business users to bear in mind is that you need local administrator permissions to authorise the connection of the HP Thunderbolt Dock to your computer.
Once the connection to the dock is authorised, you can set up how your computer will manage future connections. You can allow the computer and dock to automatically connect for all future attachments, permit the computer and dock to connect for the current session only or choose to prevent the computer and dock from connecting.

Summary

The HP Thunderbolt Docks are built to support professional productivity with their comprehensive security and remote device management features that take this dock to a different level compared to simple connectivity hubs.
Their elegant and compact design makes them ideal for maintaining a clean, tidy workspace and simplifying frequent moving between business locations in hybrid working environments.
One of the impressive features of the latest HP Thunderbolt 4 Dock is its ability to drive four 4K external displays without compromising the 60 Hz refresh rate. Combined with Thunderbolt connectivity to an external graphics processing device, this ability can turn a simple laptop into a comprehensive creative media workstation that can handle the most demanding graphics design workflows.
You can learn more about managing your professional workspace with the HP Thunderbolt Dock and our other docking stations here on the HP Accessories page of the UK online store.

About the Author

Stephen Mash is a contributing writer for HP Tech Takes. Stephen is a UK-based freelance technology writer with a cybersecurity and risk management background.

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