What genius idiot at dell keeps designing crap like this?

thecomputerguy

thecomputerguy

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USB C ports on the left and dock USB C out on the left ... Yes the dock is upside down....

EITHER PORTS ON THE LEFT WITH CABLE ON THE LEFT or PORTS ON THE RIGHT WITH CABLE ON THE RIGHT >>>... WTF??

1727896527253.png
 
Most people are right handed, so easy solution, put the wire behind the laptop, to the right... now you have the dock around the right way and in front of your dominant hand. Allows for the cable to be out the way. If the cable exits the laptop and enters the hub on the same side, it means that you cannot have the hub close to the machine, this way, the cabling is nicely tucked away
 
Wezzel98765 said:
Most people are right handed, so easy solution, put the wire behind the laptop, to the right... now you have the dock around the right way and in front of your dominant hand. Allows for the cable to be out the way. If the cable exits the laptop and enters the hub on the same side, it means that you cannot have the hub close to the machine, this way, the cabling is nicely tucked away
Click to expand...

Yeah but ... a lot of people use the laptop itself as a 3rd or 4th screen
 
This is why I refused to buy a Thunderbolt dock. They all sucked royally. Why would I want the power cable to go out the FRONT of the dock??? Either that or I can have the power cable in the back and all the ugly a$$ cords going out the front.
 
My Dell monitor has a dock built in. I’m hoping to find more like it to recommend to clients. It’s a cleaner solution.
 
I'm afraid you will find most products are designed poorly these days when we talk about Type C and TB4 etc.

Some aren't even laptop users who use TB Docks because in theory it's a great way to expand ports in a compact form and keep a desk organized untill you realize they want you to be at an awkward angle whenever you use it.

My personal issue is that most of the docks are so light that you have to hold them down if you want to insert/remove a device. They should come with a clamp (I hear some finally do,but an optional extra) or weights to keep it in place.

I guess it really depends if both sides of the laptop have USB C. If not, then it's doubly insulting as it really reduces options.

It might help if you get 90° USB C cables as those can help with tight spaces and avoiding clutter by directing cables away.
 
In a perfect world, add USB C TB4 on all sides of the dock and make it bi-directional and use a separate cable so you can use it wherever you need to with the extra ports used for other things. It may just be too redundant and expensive to include power delivery and DP to all that.

Not sure if that's possible I'm no engineer.

USB C ports/cables on docks and computers already seem to be an extremely weak point ... physically.
 
When we first got into the "Tiny" form factor, we looked at HP, Dell & Lenovo. We chose Lenovo, not only because of the good recommendations from TN, but because they do cable management better. The Dell setup is just ugly and messy.
 
Dell or Lenovo docks are just rebranded Targus anyway.

I have the Dell dock above, but the two latitudes both have USB on the left side. The dock sits to the left of my displays, the monitors sit above everything high enough my laptop is below, centered and open! Yes, I use ALL THREE DISPLAYS. Keyboard and mouse are in front of the laptop in both locations I work, home and office. The former uses a sit/stand adapter tiny plate thing... the other is a full sit-stand desk that honestly is 3x the size I require.

The problem here is the laptop is off to the side, stop that... If you place the laptop to the side, it has to be in a holder over the top of the docking station, any other configuration is a mess.

The wiring mess here is the OP's fault, not the "design". There is no "design" to make this work if you insist on having your desk configuration not work with the hardware in question, and I for one am glad we don't have 3000 alternate SKUS for wires out the front... back... left... right... bleh screw that. I have a hard enough time getting docks that can handle two good monitors correctly. And I REALLY do not want more strain on my parts people, too many mistakes already!

Dual monitor pole mounts are stupid cheap: https://www.amazon.com/VIVO-Monitor-Adjustable-Screens-STAND-V002/dp/B009S750LA/

Get one, lift things... make more efficient use of your desk. Get a laptop stand if the user wants to have the laptop to the side: https://www.amazon.com/Gogoonike-Adjustable-Foldable-Ventilated-Compatible/dp/B0C7BKZ883/

My whole office is made out of these two configurations, clean, works with any dock / laptop combo.

Designing your working space is yet another skill, it's not the tech's fault the configuration of the desk is FUBAR.
 
Last edited:
Wezzel98765 said:
Using tabs is much faster and convenient than keep turning heads and looking at a million screens
Click to expand...

Couldn't agree more. These multi-screen layouts drive me to drink.

That being said, it's all about personal choice and what drives me to drink drives others to delight.

I feel about the same about multiple desktops, too, but at least those are "stacked" and you only deal with one at any given moment in time.
 
Myself I use two screens because even one at high res is hard on the eyes with everything in windowed mode. It's nice to have an extra screen to park certain items. More than two was hard for me when I did have it. But two is nice.
 
Wezzel98765 said:
Since when ?

Using tabs is much faster and convenient than keep turning heads and looking at a million screens
Click to expand...

Can I live in your world?

It's been a long time since I could organize myself on a single screen... the reduction in information I must take in would be wonderfully relaxing.
 
Sky-Knight said:
Can I live in your world?

It's been a long time since I could organize myself on a single screen... the reduction in information I must take in would be wonderfully relaxing.
Click to expand...
I always have multiple tabs on my web browser (30+) and a second web browser with multiple tabs and I CTRL+TAB and CMD+TAB (with and without SHIFT usage) to get what I need. Much more efficient, all on one screen
 
Wezzel98765 said:
I always have multiple tabs on my web browser (30+) and a second web browser with multiple tabs and I CTRL+TAB and CMD+TAB (with and without SHIFT usage) to get what I need. Much more efficient, all on one screen
Click to expand...
I'll take multiple monitors any day. Switching between tabs sucks royally, especially when you have lots of them.
I've always used multiple monitors, (up to 5 on one system) and I don't get the comment:
Wezzel98765 said:
keep turning heads and looking at a million screens
Click to expand...
Huh? Why are you "turning heads" when they are in front of you?
 
Wezzel98765 said:
I always have multiple tabs on my web browser (30+) and a second web browser with multiple tabs and I CTRL+TAB and CMD+TAB (with and without SHIFT usage) to get what I need. Much more efficient, all on one screen
Click to expand...
I've got a coworker that works like you do, 3000 tabs in a single browser I have no idea how he finds anything.

Meanwhile, I have all three major browsers open with different workloads, and Firefox has an addin to color code things and break stuff down even farther. I'm also constantly pulling data from one source to compare to another... as far as I'm concerned a computer has zero functional professional value without at least 2 screens, and for the way I work most of the time I need a 3rd.

But here's the thing, I never let any given browser instance get more than 6 tabs in it.
 
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