Docking stations are devices that you can use for mobile devices such as laptops to connect for example peripherals, power, monitors, and networks.
Laptop manufacturers make their laptops slimmer and slimmer nowadays, and chances are that you’re going to need an extra device to provide all the ports you need if you want to use it like a desktop PC.
That being said, are docking stations good for gaming with a laptop computer?
Yes. A docking station allows you to connect external monitors and peripherals while still keeping slots free for other use. Overall, docking stations are a must-have depending on your laptop configuration. Modern docking stations also come with newer versions of Display Port which allows for high-resolution and refresh rate monitors to be connected to the laptop.
As you can tell, whether you need a docking station or not depends on your setup. In this article, we’re going to discuss whether docking stations are worth it for gaming and what the pros and cons are. Keep reading!
Are Docking Stations Good For Gaming?
For the most part, docking stations provide a lot of benefits to users who want to use laptops for gaming. Let’s go over some of those benefits.
The primary benefit you get from a docking station is the great increase in ports and slots to your laptop. As I mentioned earlier, you can connect everything from monitors to peripherals to a docking station.
Furthermore, a lot of laptop screens aren’t optimal for gaming, and as a result of this, a lot of gamers use external monitors to play games on. This goes perfectly with a docking station, as you can connect the monitor directly to the docking station.
Most modern docking stations also come with modern versions of the Display Port, which allows you to connect high-resolution and refresh rate monitors to your laptop.
That’s a definitive plus for someone who plays games. People who play single-player games usually like monitors that can run at high resolutions, and high refresh rate monitors are really good for playing shooters such as Counter-Strike.
Another massive plus with docking stations is that you gather all of your cables onto one device, without having to clean up after every time you have used the laptop for gaming.
All of your peripherals and other cables can be connected to your docking station at all times, and you can simply remove your laptop from the station if you want to take it with you somewhere.
One of the problems that people face with docking stations, however, is that gaming laptops require a lot of power. This means that they need a lot of charging power to maintain the battery.
A lot of docking stations will hamper this because they won’t provide the needed power to the gaming laptop and therefore, the battery will slowly drain while playing games. You can solve this, however, by having a dedicated 300W charger connected to your laptop while playing (typically, a USB-C PD provides 100W), but this depends on your laptop.
Overall, docking stations solve a lot of problems for gamers. For me, one of the biggest benefits was not having to tinker with cables whenever I wanted to leave with the laptop. The docking station is always there, ready to be used.
Do Docking Stations Lower FPS?
Yes, it’s possible. In simple terms, the laptop you’re using needs to do more work by copying the image through your docking station and putting it on your screen.
Moreover, when connecting your monitor through a docking station, your games might use the docking station’s graphics chip to render games instead of your discrete GPU, which isn’t optimal, to say the least.
Some users have solved this by deactivating their docking station’s display adapter in the device manager. This will most likely increase your battery usage greatly, however.
It’s been shown, however, that playing with an external monitor will improve your performance over playing on your laptop screen. So, if you can find a way of connecting your peripherals and monitor to a docking station with Thunderbolt, or use the monitor directly into the laptop, you’ll be all set.
If you want to know more about why playing with an external monitor will boost your performance, watch this video.
What Are the Pros and Cons of Docking Stations When Gaming?
There are a number of advantages and disadvantages to playing games with a docking station. Let’s go over all of them, so you can more easily decide whether or not it’s worth it for you.
Cons
- Price: Docking stations are by no means cheap, and you’ll have to splash out anywhere between $50-$200 depending on the features. Docking stations with Thunderbolt are more expensive and usually cost between $100 to $200, and if you want more features, such as additional hard drive bays, it’ll probably cost you $200+.
- Performance: Possible performance issues when gaming can’t be ignored, whether that be FPS drops or latency issues because of the dock.
- Other alternatives: Gaming laptops oftentimes have enough ports for setting peripherals and additional monitors, so it might be more worthwhile getting a gaming laptop instead of shelling out money for a regular laptop plus a docking station.
Pros
- Connectivity: Provides additional ports for peripherals, monitors, and more. This is, clearly, the main benefit of a docking station.
- Simplicity: Connecting everything to a docking station will organize all of your cables into one place, and you don’t have to connect and disconnect them to your laptop every time you want to use them. Simply connect your laptop to the docking station, and you’re set.
- Organization: Having all of your cables and peripherals in one place can be very beneficial for keeping things tidy and nice. A docking station accomplishes this for you.
Are Docking Stations Better Than USB Hubs?
There are discussions online about whether you should get a USB hub or a docking station, which is somewhat confusing because they do two different things. Let’s go over the differences between them.
USB hubs aren’t meant to be an all-in-one solution for laptop users, but they are used to expand the number of USB slots in a device. Of course, you can still use a USB hub to connect your peripherals if that’s what you’re looking for.
Docking stations, on the other hand, are all-in-one solutions for people who want increased connectivity to their laptops (and some other devices). You can connect a lot of other things than units that connect with USB.
They are comparable, however, because you can accomplish the same things with either device depending on what you want to do, and USB hubs are significantly cheaper than docking stations.
Let’s compare prices for a second. As I said earlier, you can buy a docking station for about $50-$200 dollars. A basic USB hub with 4-5 ports, however, will cost you as little as $10.
Of course, there are more expensive USB hubs as well, but if you only need expansion ports for your peripherals, you might as well go with a USB hub.
Spec-wise, docking stations are more powerful than USB hubs, but USB hubs are more portable. In short, what matters are your needs.