Deutsch (Deutschland)
Español (España)
Français (France)
Magyar (Magyarország)
Nederlands (Nederland)Difference between Docking station, USB hub and Multiport adapters
Docking stations, multiport video adapters and USB hubs often overlap in function and appearance. Sometimes one can no longer see the wood for the trees, they all look alike. Below we explain what each type is and what they are suitable for.
What is a docking station?
With a docking station you turn your laptop into one complete workstation. With one cable you connect the dock to your laptop. Connect the monitor and all peripheral devices to the docking station. This is very convenient for a (flex) workspace at the office or at home.
Docking stations require external power, have multiple ports for connecting your peripherals such as a mouse, keyboard and one or more monitors. In addition, docking stations are always equipped with a network connection. This makes them larger than USB
hubs and multiport adapters. A docking station is a central fast connection to connect all your peripheral devices to your laptop. Docking stations are used to quickly and easily connect a laptop to multiple monitors and the network. These are permanent
workstations at home and at the office. Because connecting is quick and easy, docking stations are also often used at flexi-desks.
What is a (multiport) video adapter for USB-C?
A multiport or USB-C video adapter is a kind of converter that converts one signal to another. The terms adapter and converter are used interchangeably and provide the same function. This makes it possible to connect different devices that do not have the same connection. For example, connect your laptop with USB-C to a beamer or monitor with an HDMI, VGA or DisplayPort connection. Use a USB-C video adapter to make this possible. There are also USB-C adapters for just audio or a gigabit network (RJ45).
These USB-C adapters do not require an external power supply. Sometimes they do come with an extra power delivery port. This is very useful when charging your laptop, tablet or phone while using the adapter. The power delivery port is also often found on multiport adapters. The power delivery port cannot be used to charge other devices and is therefore only suitable for connecting an extra USB-C charger to charge your connected laptop, tablet or smartphone. With a multiport USB-C video adapter you combine multiple functions. For example, there are USB-C multiport adapters that combine an HDMI connection with USB ports, a network connection or a card reader.
In general, multiport adapters are more compact than docking stations, so they're easy to take with you and are super handy on the go when you have a presentation or meeting.
There are many types of adapters available that convert a USB signal to HDMI, VGA or DisplayPort. Check out our complete product overview of USB-C (multiport) adapters and discover the different features.
What is DisplayPort Alt Mode for USB-C
USB-C offers many advantages but it is also confusing because not every USB-C port supports the features we discussed above. The USB-C port should support DisplayPort Alternate Mode. This function makes it possible to connect an HDMI monitor to your USB-C port, for example. Usually there is one USB-C port on a laptop that is equipped with DisplayPort Alt mode. Unfortunately, this is not always clearly visible on the port. So always check this.
What is a USB hub?
A USB hub extends the number of USB ports on your laptop or PC. There are USB hubs with only USB-A ports, but there are also variants with a mix of USB-A and USB-C ports.
Nowadays, you'll find a mix of USB-A and USB-C ports on laptops. Above we discussed that a USB-C port equipped with DisplayPort Alt mode offers, for example, the ability to convert a video signal. Besides, USB-C ports that support DisplayPort alt mode (usually limited to one of the USB-C ports on your laptop) there are also USB-C data ports. These can be compared to the current USB ports on your laptop and are suitable for connecting a keyboard, mouse, webcam or hard drive. Read more about USB-C!There are multiple USB versions from USB 2.0 up to USB 3.2 Gen2. The latter supports a fast data throughput speed of 10Gbps.
In addition to the extra USB ports, a hub can also have other ports such as a Gigabit Ethernet port for a wired internet connection, a SD/ micro SD card reader and a PD Pass-Through port for charging the connected USB-C device. USB hubs are compact and therefore convenient for travelling. They are plug and play and are powered by the laptop's USB port, so you don't need an external power source.
