As we move into an age where seemingly all but the charging port and a USB-C connector are removed from laptops, you sometimes can’t help being cynical that manufacturers are finding new ways to increase their product price by selling add-ons that give you back that functionality.
I mean, it’s all well and good saying that certain ports have been removed to make the form factor thinner and therefore more portable, but now I have to carry around a big block of extra ports that I then have to dangle from my expensive portable as well. Thanks a lot.
Of course, Apple started this trend, but it’s definitely made it’s way along to other high-end laptops and tablets, such as the Surface from Microsoft, and shows no sign of abating.
The original Surface Dock – Microsoft’s answer to removing all the ports from their machine – was bemoaned by users for having a ridiculously short cable and even then, not even being able to supply enough power to the attached USB devices, meaning that power-hungry add-ons simply would not function.
There were also no USB-C connections on it, which is a weird choice as we move towards that standardization.
A German Windows site, however, has discovered a listing on a Belgian store for a forthcoming model, where there appears to be an effort to correct some of the flaws on the V1 device. They have even mocked up an image of how it might look.
In comes a longer cable and USB-C connections, but more importantly, it now supposedly delivers 200W of power – more than double the original, so you should be good to go to connect all your equipment.
It still connects with Microsoft’s proprietary Surface connection, and the price also seems to have gone up. The asking price we believe will be about $270, compared to the $200 of the predecessor.
So. If you bought the first version and now need the second, that’s the best part of $500 to get some basic functionality back. How’s that trendy, slim laptop working out for you now?
