Need docking station recommendations (180w Power Delivery)

[Caboose30]

I have a somewhat old Dell Precision 7740 laptop and I would love a docking station not from Dell to use with it. I have the one linked below currently, and they all suck. We use them at work and they have about a 40% failure rate. One thing that seems to happen a lot is the ethernet quits working. Ideally I could find one from another manufacturer that's figured out how to run QC properly and can still supply the 180w or so that this laptop needs to run and charge. As far as I've been able to determine, it's going to require a dual Thunderbolt/USB-C connector and since google is functionally broken now I haven't had much luck finding one. Bonus if it's got better than 1Gbps networking. Any recommendations are appreciated, thanks!

 

https://www.newegg.com/p/1B4-0016-05FX7?Item=9SIA3ERG918201

[OddOod]

I'm looking around and it seems you might be hooped. I think Dell is the only one that actually uses dual TB ports for the dock. 
I wonder if you could just use any old 100W PD USBC charging brick for one cable and use a standard TB dock for the other port

[OddOod]

UGreen has one dock that is able to put out 90W and 20W over two cables, but I'm not sure how well that would work.

[OddOod]

Also, it looks like there is a three year warranty. Is it possible to just keep a spare on hand and warranty them as they die? Honestly, I've never had a dock last more than 3 years

[Poinkachu]

14 hours ago, Caboose30 said:

I have a somewhat old Dell Precision 7740 laptop and I would love a docking station not from Dell to use with it. I have the one linked below currently, and they all suck. We use them at work and they have about a 40% failure rate. One thing that seems to happen a lot is the ethernet quits working. Ideally I could find one from another manufacturer that's figured out how to run QC properly and can still supply the 180w or so that this laptop needs to run and charge. As far as I've been able to determine, it's going to require a dual Thunderbolt/USB-C connector and since google is functionally broken now I haven't had much luck finding one. Bonus if it's got better than 1Gbps networking. Any recommendations are appreciated, thanks!

 

https://www.newegg.com/p/1B4-0016-05FX7?Item=9SIA3ERG918201

I'm not savvy about Dell or laptops charging, but....

I think you're stuck with using Dell ones if you really want to connect your power brick to it or if your laptop really charge at 180w through type-c or something.

 

Because AFAIK at above 100w, laptops uses proprietary protocol or some kinda proprietary charging routine at least.

Example : My Lenovo Legion 5 can be charged through Type-C PD at 135w, the power brick clearly states 20v, but standard PD max Ampere at 20v is 5A.

So normal USB charger won't be able to provide 135w, 100w tops.

The only way I can charge my laptop using let's say a GaN charger is if I buy and use Lenovo's special 135w or 140w GaN charger, which comes with it's own cables, and I'm guessing Lenovo proprietary protocol.

Standard PD = 20v / 5A  .  Lenovo charger = 20v / 6.75A

 

If I take a look in google the spec sheet of your laptop, the best port it has is Thunderbolt 3 port, while Thunderbolt 3 ports max wattage is AFAIK 100w.

https://www.thunderbolttechnology.net/blog/thunderbolt-3-usb-c-does-it-all

 

And if what I found on google is right, your laptop power brick is 19.5v

https://www.dell.com/support/manuals/en-au/precision-17-7740-laptop/precision_7740_setupspecs/power-adapter?guid=guid-5a86fcd1-ce3f-4ccc-a990-f468437723b3&lang=en-us

 

edit : And if you ask my amateur logic about the failure rate..., I'd suspect the 180w-ness ended up creating a lot of heat in the dock.

Edited June 12, 2024 by Poinkachu

[seanondemand]

That laptop used a non-standard charging method. You’ll be stuck with what you’ve already been doing.