Laptop Dock or USB Hub

[zdxlc9p6 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close zdxlc9p6]

I just bought my daughter a laptop to replace her tower, but she still wants to use monitor, printer, keyboard, etc. Can one get by using a USB hub to plug all the peripherals into one USB port, or do I need to get a docking station?

[vintner Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close vintner]

You may need not only the hub, but adapters as well. Depending on your old tower, you likely need the 15 pin connector for the monitor, and the round DIN (i think) connector for the keypad. I don't know if they will adapt to use the USB hub. Not sure on what is out there now. I think I would go with the docking station.

[Montana Grizzly Member Find all posts View Profile Close Montana Grizzly]

Should be pretty easy

Most laptops I believe still come with a place to plug in an external monitor (just push F7 (one of the function keys) to change to the external monitor and if it is a usb keyboard it should be recognized and the same with a ps2 (again I think most laptops still come with a PS2 port). The external pins may be there too on the laptop but many printers are USB already so that shouldn't be a problem either.

Back to the keyboard. You may even be able to set it up so she can use both montitors just like many people have side by side monitors on their desktops.