The Belkin Connect 11-in-1 USB-C Pro Dock has nearly each information and AV connection a laptop computer consumer might need. With solely a small want record of options for the following era, I feel Belkin put collectively a improbable, grab-and-go USB-C workstation.

Belkin Join 11-in-1 USB-C Professional Dock

$125 $150 Save
$25

Professionals and multitaskers alike can broaden the utility of their pocket book with this Belkin Common 11-In-1 Professional Dock. Providing strong connectivity choices, the Professional Dock can streamline your desktop setup for a cleaner look with out compromising utility.

Professionals & Cons

• Helps as much as three displays
• Has a 100-watt PD port
• Unobtrusive and transportable
• 2.5Gbps Ethernet
• No energy provide required

• Refresh charge is capped at 60Hz
• Constructed-in USB-C wire may very well be longer
• Dated look

See Our Course of

How We Test and Review Products at How-To Geek

We go hands-on with each product to make sure it is price your money and time.

Value and Availability

The Belkin Join 11-in-1 USB-C Professional Dock retails for $150 and is out there to buy at Amazon, Walmart, B&H Picture-Video, or straight by means of the producer.

Travels Properly in Luggage and Baggage

The Belkin Join 11-in-1 is 10.2 inches vast, which is a lot of the left-right footprint of a 13-inch laptop computer. Belkin supposed for laptop computer customers to dock their Apple and Home windows machines on this USB hub, and it’s the proper size for my late 2020 MacBook Professional.

From entrance to again, the unit is 3.5 inches, and it’s solely 0.9 inches tall. You’ll have zero points taking this Belkin workstation from A to B, whether or not that’s 10 minutes down the street or the opposite aspect of the globe. All ports are housed on the again of the machine, and flipping the hub over reveals wraparound silicone padding to forestall the Belkin Join from sliding round and scuffing surfaces.

I’ve come round to the cosmetics of this Belkin hub, however at first, it struck me as one thing you’d discover on cabinets 10 or 15 years in the past. It’s simply not completely modern-looking, which most likely received’t be an enormous deal for most people. That stated, I do want Belkin would have added one other two or three inches to the built-in USB-C result in make the dock simpler to make use of on the go.

Stable Ports and Options

Belkin went for an everything-but-the-kitchen-sink structure for the Belkin Join, a choice most media creatives will likely be happy with.

I additionally prefer it when the businesses that make these USB-C hubs nonetheless trouble to incorporate a couple of USB-A port and SD card slots. Although USB-C is about as mainstream because it’s ever been, most of the devices in a content material creator’s arsenal nonetheless use these older connections.

One of many essential advantages of the Belkin Join is its skill to output video to as much as three shows concurrently. The Join does so by the use of Silicon Movement know-how, and also you’ll wish to be sure to’ve obtained the most recent drivers downloaded on no matter laptop computer you’ll be hooking as much as the Belkin Join, obtainable by means of the Silicon Motion download page.

Do remember the fact that solely the left-most HDMI port can output as much as 4K/60Hz. The opposite port defaults to 4K/30Hz, whereas the VGA solely pushes as much as 1080p.

Another noteworthy port perks embody 10Gbps switch speeds throughout all USB ports, as much as 85-watt PD charging from the host connection, and a lightning-fast 2.5Gbps Ethernet hookup. There’s even a 3.5mm auxiliary that works as each an enter and output! The Belkin Join helps pass-through charging, too, although you might wish to allocate duties to a devoted power bank.

Belkin even offers a free Mac and Home windows Belkin Dock Utility that can assist you handle your community safety, offering options like MAC deal with monitoring and interface administration.

Placing My Workstation to the Check

I needed to understand how the Belkin Join would determine into the typical 9-to-5 of a video or picture editor, two professions I feel the oldsters at Belkin had been pondering so much about after they constructed this dock. Firstly, I went and popped the Belkin Join in my laptop computer bag and quested off into the wilderness.

Arriving on the workplace, it took lower than a minute to attach the dock to my 13-inch MacBook Professional. Relying in your workstation structure, one factor to remember is that each one the Belkin Join’s ports and host USB-C are on the again of the unit. This can be nice for most people, however others could have a selected bodily workflow that may’t or shouldn’t be fussed with.

I had zero points wiring up two HD displays to the Belkin Join. Once more, simply make certain you could have the suitable Silicon Movement drivers put in on no matter laptop computer you propose on utilizing your Belkin Join with. In my case, MacOS really required me to obtain show software program referred to as InstantView. Then, all I needed to do was join one monitor to HDMI 1 and the second to HDMI 2.

Connecting a USB flash drive to the Belkin Join, I went forward and cued up 5 HD film recordsdata for switch, together with 15 hi-res images. It took barely over a minute to add all the pictures and simply shy of 11 minutes to add 8GB price of HD cinema.

Some could discover it handy to make use of the Belkin Join as a laptop computer stand. Admittedly, the inch or so raise supplied some wrist reduction when tying on my MacBook, however I most popular conserving it off the Join. To not point out the ports are a lot tougher to get at when your laptop computer is sitting on prime of the dock.

What Concerning the Competitors?

Is there something this dock isn’t good for? Technically, you might use it as part of your PC gaming rig, however the 4K/60Hz cap goes to forestall sure video games from reaching their full potential, at the least when it comes to response time. If you happen to plan on doing any PC gaming, I’d advocate the Razer USB-C Dock as a substitute.

It’s a bit cheaper than the Belkin Join, and whereas decision and refresh are nonetheless capped at 4K/60Hz, you’ll be able to sacrifice onscreen pixels to recreation in HD at as much as 240Hz. If you wish to save much more on a USB-C hub, I’d advocate the Anker 553 8-in-1 USB-C Hub. Its Ethernet speeds aren’t as quick because the Belkin Join, and also you get two fewer USB-C ports.

Ought to You Purchase the Belkin Join 11-in-1 USB-C Professional Dock?

The Belkin Connect 11-in-1 USB-C Pro Dock is a improbable desktop companion or on-the-go accent for content material creators but in addition for informal customers who simply want one or two extra ports for an on a regular basis laptop computer.

Belkin Join 11-in-1 USB-C Professional Dock

$125 $150 Save
$25

Professionals and multitaskers alike can broaden the utility of their pocket book with this Belkin Common 11-In-1 Professional Dock. Providing strong connectivity choices, the Professional Dock can streamline your desktop setup for a cleaner look with out compromising utility.