Plugable USB 3.0 Universal Laptop Docking Station Dual
Plugable USB 3.0 Universal Laptop Docking Station Dual Monitor for Windows and Mac, USB 3.0 or USB-C, (Dual Video: HDMI and HDMI/DVI/VGA, Gigabit Ethernet, Audio, 6 USB Ports)
This allows me to work using an MSI 5K main screen and two supporting 21″ HD monitors on M1 Mac Mini using the DisplayLink software, plus I have loads of peripherals running in it, too. Really very good. No issues, so far (a month, in).
Covers most requirements for a docking station and works well
The supplied USB 3 lead is very short.
Gives two video outputs HDMI and DVI/VGA(with adapter), 4x USB and Ethernet.
Has a separate power supply but will not power the laptop.
Expensive for a USB 3 dock and very expensive for the USB C versio
I have a lenevo 520 windows laptop with USB 3 but no thunderbolt port (wish I had known better when I bought it!). The usual monitor splitters didn’t work for me because the USB 3.0 output doesn’t drive 2 monitors. This thing does the job for me from a dual monitor standpoint. There are some niggling issues which pinch you sometimes (eg: my wireless keyboard and mouse become slow sometimes, the display output is not HD on both monitors, the USB headset sometimes stop working for zoom meetings). These weren’t big issues for me as I had extra ports on my laptop and my overall setup does the job I want it to do.
The dock works well but does have an issue of not recognising the monitors if you interrupt the power supply. Attached I have two monitors, a mouse and a keyboard. I needed an adapter for one of my monitors.
I didn’t have high expectations for this. I expected the USB speed to be a big limitation. I was wrong.
Been using it with my work Dell laptop instead of the docking station that came with it, with no issues.
Using it with my 8(?) year old desktop and cheap old HP laptop too. Works great. To be able to use the same mouse, keyboard, 2 screens, speakers, webcam and usb ports for all my pcs just by plugging into the USB port is fantastic.
In fact, the older laptop has poor resolution on its integrated screen, but with the dock I get access to my monitors with decent resolution, because the dock is like an external graphics card. Might not be good enough for games, but worked fine for watching videos for me (HD, not sure what bitrate/FPS).
Now I can keep my original docking station in the office and use this one for homeworking. With the uncertain future due to Covid, it’s a great buy.
I initially hesitated when buying it, but I really needed it as there was no other solution to connect 3 monitors to my laptop. I have now owned it for more than a year and a half, and I am very happy with it. It works really well and it allows me to connect all the screens.
Recently, with COVID, it has proven even more useful. I now have also my work laptop at home, and I can easily switch between using my work laptop and my personal laptop by just disconnecting the USB cable from one of them, and connecting it to the other laptop. If I would be able to connect all the monitors and I did not have this docking station, I would have to disconnect and connect 3 different cables, apart from the mouse and keyboard. This station allows me to switch my setup completely painlessly.
Already using one of these for myself, so bought one for the other half, who regularly disconnects the laptop from its desktop setup. Using a USB 2.0 port into the laptop as there weren’t any USB 3.0 ports available.
Followed the instructions in the box and Windows 10 Update installed the latest Plugable drivers, but the HDMI monitor didn’t flash up following the first reboot (mouse, keyboard & speakers all worked OK).
Did a straight swap with my laptop setup to check it wasn’t the new unit and that it still worked using a USB2.0 port.
All OK and once my other half’s laptop had been powered down and up again it worked perfectly.
4 stars for the ease of installation this time (it worked first time when I bought mine 2 years ago), but otherwise 5 stars.
Also noticed that Plugable also include a DVI-HDMI converter as well as a DVI-VGA converter, which saved me having to buy a smart DVI-HDMI cable this time.
Fantastic item, I had bought this following a realisation that working from home was going to be a thing for the foreseeable future and wanting to connect my laptop to 2 larger monitors. My laptop is definitely on the budget side but luckily does have the “ss” USB connection required. It’s worth noting that this item was originally a recommendation from a friend of mine who is a long standing IT technician.
Over all good. Could not get it set up for my desk top for some reason, but I did not persist as was never really for that, work first time for the two desk tops, although the mouse control can be slow sometimes on one of them. Overall though, happy with this device.
You need a computer with usb3 to make the most of this but it it eliminates a mess of cable being connected directly to your computer. Not too much of a problem if you use a desktop but if you use a laptop it makes connection/disconnection to all your stuff a one cable action. I’ve seen these twice the price. I’ve also seen cut down adapters and hubs etc that require separate installation of drivers/software but this is plug and play without any problem. It does need its own power source.
Really nice device, simple to use and has easily and quickly extended my MS Surface to allow me to have a total of three screens ( including the surface itself). It did need a download of the driver which was found with a quick google search for the product, but once installed I was away. It took longer to get the cabling looking neat!
The reason for 4 stars rather than 5 is as follows – the instructions suggest that Windows update will install all required drivers, however this wasn’t the case. Quick fix, but this would likely prompt some confusion amongst less tech savvy people. Overall a very good product though.
I brought this to dual screen two monitors off a laptop which I use at home for business use. The device was very simple to set up, needing no instructions as I had previewed some videos about the product before I purchased. The device worked first time for the laptop plugging it through the usb 3.0 cable and had to do nothing with the laptop to get it to work. I was very impressed.
I’d wanted to ditch my desktop PC and replace it with a tablet. Only real problem was additional screen ports. This give two independent screen ports, which can be used in addition to the tablets own screen. I don’t use it for gaming, so can’t comment on whether it is fast enough for that, but for MS Office applications, for example, it is great.
On top of that you get all the powered USB ports that you could want. Hidden away on my desk, all the USB wires plug into it, and I can unplug it simply when I want to use the tablet as a tablet.
The docking station arrived on time and well packed. I had considerable trouble with the instructions which are confusing.
step 1 says don’t attach station to computer before installing software, the next says to ensure computer has active internet connection, the third says connect docking station to computer. I e-mailed the manufacturer and got a link to a much better set of instructions.
2018-11-14_Plugable_UD-3900_QSG_OUTLINED.pdf
These gave me the link to get the software ( drivers). The noe from the manufacturer also said that just plugging the device into the computer would work ( NB I have Windows 10). I did the manual download and it worked fine.
The various leads to other bits of kit can be added one at a time. The HDMI to monitor worked at once as did connecting to my router via an ethernet cable to the station. The backup drive via the station USB3 seems to be working. All in all, the docking station after 2 days seems to be doing what I want.
Using a laptop rather than a desk top does not make for a tidy desk. I have to accommodate the Plugable itself, a leftover SSD, a backup drive, a keyboard and a DVD drive. A full desktop would in many ways be more convenient but not of course, portable.
Bought this to use with a Surface Pro tablet. I need to be able to run two monitors and some USB peripherals. The Microsoft OEM equivalent is another 50 and I needed better value for money. Not much desk space and so the tower design was more attractive than some of the “brick” alternatives.
The unit feels good quality, nice gloss finish on the case. It’s reasonably sturdy, but I did need to blu-tak the base to my desk to stop it being moved around by the weight of cables connected to it and to avoid having to hold it down while plugging into the USB ports.
It plugged and played pretty much straight out of the box, after a quick driver update. I did have an issue getting two displays connected, which I think was user error on my part and sorted out by restarting the PC. I logged a ticket with Plugable support and was pleased to get a response overnight and some suggestions to cure the problem, but this wasn’t necessary. However, good to know support is there.
I’m running two monitors (one on HDMI port, one DVI-HDMI) , speakers, a Logitech MX mouse and keyboard all the time and occasionally a webcam, optical drive and external HDD from the unit with no problems. I’ve been able to run three screens (Surface and monitors) successfully but don’t use this configuration. Occasionally the Surface is replaced by a Lenovo laptop, this has also just plugged and played with no trouble. I’ve not tried to connect the Ethernet port, but have no reason to doubt this would work.
Although the advert says it doesn’t support charging, I’ve been able to charge a phone from the USB sockets but haven’t tried with anything larger.
Only drawback is that there’s no USB 3.0 ports on the back, if I was using the external HDD all the time this would make the installation a bit more untidy, but I don’t so it’s a moot point.
Very happy with the unit and at this price, can’t fault it and can’t see any obvious alternatives for my requirements.
This is a great bit of kit. It has helped me breath new life into an old monitor and use the same desk to run two computers. I have one monitor running from the DVI/VGA port and one from the HDMI port. I have a keyboard and mouse connected via USB, along with some other peripherals. The unit is connected to my laptop and my desktop via a Plugable USB3 switch and a single USB 3 cable each. I can swap between computers by pressing a single button. I can use the same keyboard and mouse and same monitors for both machines.
Sometimes things go wrong and the test of a good company is how they deal with the problem. My first unit was faulty. I spent a while trying to figure out what I’d done wrong. In the end I contacted Plugable via their website, which transparently confirmed that someone else had a similar problem. Bob then contacted me, ran a remote diagnostic and confirmed there was a problem. He then sent me a new unit straight away. I received it after just a few days. The unit he sent had been already tested by his lab, so hopefully this one is good.
So, something did go wrong, but I am delighted in how Plugable and especially Plugable Bob went about rectifying it.
Second Plugable product – both with graphics first one USB 3 4k DP adaptor 3 years ago now this USB docking station.
I have three monitor’s DVI, HDMI, and pluggable 4k dp, Ethernet, 9 port usb 3 hub all connected.
All working smoothly. please note I don’t use this for gaming – mainly for construction design etc I use it on a I7 laptop with 16gb ram a 1tb SSD and 10GB of virtual memory.
As a foot note to this review my laptop developed an issue with MS office and none of the apps would load when I had this and another pluggable device connected. I isolated the problem to these graphic adaptors because all other USB devices worked. To assist me in curing the problem I contacted Plugable directly and explained the problem, they sent me a link to a diagnostic tool to check the computer, whist adding it was unlikely to be the graphic adaptors.
as a side note on one of the emails they suggested there maybe a possible fix within the office suite (which worked fine without USB 3 adaptors connected). I tried this fix and it worked. Without Plugable’s support – for a problem that wasn’t theirs – i would have remained in no mans land. Plugable gets 6 stars from me.
Thank you pluggable for your help.
I have just bought an UD-3900 for my home office as it met my requirements –
Drive 2 screens (1920×1080)
Enough USB2 ports for Keyboard, mouse and headset
USB3 ports for USB drives and memory sticks.
It nicely met my requirements as well as not taking up much space on the desk.
I plugged it in to my laptops USB3 port and WIndows 10 automatically loaded up the drivers and it was ready to use in about 90 seconds.
One monitor is connected via the HDMI port and the second via the DVI port and a DVI/HDMI adapter (not supplied) with no issues or configuration required.
It comes with a DVI/VGA adapter for those with older VGA screens.
I needed to rationalise my IT setup at home because I had started a new consultancy business. Much of my work is on my laptop, but in my home office I wanted to use by desktop monitor, keyboard and mouse so that I could move seamlessly from the road to home. I have a desktop PC, but keeping important stuff synced (especially emai) was a bit of a nightmare. This hub is just what I needed. Straight out of the box I connected everything to it, updated drivers, turned it on and it just worked! Brilliant purchase and I’m very happy now! Now, I have the best of both worlds and won’t look back!
Very good product, drivers installed automatically, so installation was just plug and play (though took a minute or two) did have an issue with monitor, the hdmi port was slightly tight.
I would of also preferred a dedicated speaker port at the back and a proper 3 pin plug (like many similar chargers there’s a swappable face to the plug with the UK 3 pin plug having a plastic third pin)
These very small quibbles don’t get in the way of this being an excellent device which is competitively priced
Needed a displayadapter for my aging 13′ Macbook Pro and was sceptic that I would find something that works under 120.
Ordered this unit and was honestly ready to have it sent back, as I expected it to not be compatible with OSX or simply not be able to extend the desktops correctly.
Boy oh boy was I in for a surprise.
This is a bargain! It extends my Macbooks display to TWO external ones. It also has a built in USB hub and other ports.
Overall this is a clear 10/10.
Very happy customer! 🙂
5.0 out of 5 stars Displayadapter for aging Macbook Pro (2011 model)
The Docking station is very easy to setup and use, small enough so it doesn’t get in the way, if it wasn’t for the convenience of the extra USB ports etc it could be easily hidden out of sight. All you have form the Docking station to your laptop is 1 USB cable, everything else connects to docking station and comes to laptop etc via the USB cable.
This has saved me loads of money by not having to buy a much more expensive laptop so i can use multiple monitors. I did have a problem with the DVI/VGA adaptor, but I used DVI/VGA cable I purchased in its place.
Don’t be put off by the adaptor that didn’t work, it might have been a 1 off, this device is brilliant,easy to set up and use. I will be getting another for 3 monitors soon for my wife to use.
My Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro’s micro HDMI port has not worked for over 2 years, I tried the method of trimming back the plastic on the cable as per internet recommendations, apparently worked for many people but not for me. It has been a real pain not being able to plug into a large monitor.
I saw a YouTube video showing how the Plugable docking station worked, so I thought I would give it a try. Could not believe it!! downloaded the software and installed, plugged laptop into the docking station and it worked straight away. Nothing seemed to happen at first, but after probably 30 secs monitor was working with laptop. Very pleased. still early days to see how reliable it will be, but first impressions over the moon.
Unsure whether it is limitation of the product or other. Basically the purpose of this purchase was to be able to work on multiple screen when I am working from home from the office. Whilst the dual screen accessibility function is working i.e. move one window across to the other screen etc. This function and dual screen accessibility is not permitted by the device when I am remote working from the office. The message I get is “you cannot use the function on remote access”. I have written to the seller for guidance, as my work IT department confirmed this is unusal and shouldn’t be the case. Anyone having the same problem? or any advised would be most welcome?
Needed to connect my laptop to desktop peripherals as desktop PC hard drive failed. Connected ethernet, screen, mouse, keyboard, printer, speakers and external hard drive to the UD3900 then simply one USB 3 connection to laptop. I still have 2 spare USB and a USB 2 available along with HDMI. I still need the laptop power lead connected but this is preferred anyway to ensure the correct power output. The UD3900 worked straight out of the box, simply plugged everything in. I did receive an email from Plugable suggesting I download the current drivers in readiness which I did. Very neat looking and feels quality product.
Easy to use providing you can install the drivers, if you are planning on using with a work laptop then you will likely need admin rights to install the display link driver. Occasionally I find some lagging especially if playing Spotify at the same time, it’s worth noting I’m running 2 screens at the highest resolution this is rated to. Photoshop disables some features as not supported by the driver and results in some issues while using PS. Also some things to consider, you need to open your laptop lid to turn on the power, you will need to change your default laptop settings so that when you close the lid it doesn’t shut down and the screens won’t show anything until you are in windows, so if you have a pre windows login such as those used with encrypted disks then you will need to do this on your laptop.. still a good bit of kit but if my laptop supported display port that would be a much better optio
I’m not sure if it’s my Surface Pro 3 (i7 – 8GB RAM – 500GB H/D) that’s struggling or is it this device but one of them is when the device is plugged in. Overall, It was super easy to install and set up, but my laptop is struggling when for example I’m playing Netflix on my first large screen and when I’m working from the second large screen. If I swap things around then Netflix is struggling and my development environment is ok. Note that if I carry out the same tests just on my SP3 screen, it does not struggle at all. Could be the device or a combination of using both. If I just display word/email/excel/etc… on one screen and work of the other there is no problem so it might just struggle with apps that are more memory or video card memory hungry/intensive.
I purchased this device to replace an Anker USB3 docking station which had mysteriously failed – the 2nd device to do so. Installation of the Plugable device should have been simple, only no-one tells you that you need to uninstall the previous DisplayLink software first. This turned out to be a real issue, as no matter what I did Windows insisted on re-installing it every time I rebooted. Eventually I succeeded, but it took several attempts and some manual intervention in the control panel to finally get rid of it.
Once I had cleaned out the old stuff, installing the Plugable version was a breeze, the only slightly confusing thing was that the software never told me when to connect the docking station to my laptop. Like most installs, the hardware shouldn’t be connected until everything is finished, so I waited until then and plugged in. Hey-presto instant video on my 2nd monitor and all USB and Ethernet ports working.
The unit has a nice green USB indicator that lights up when a device is connected, a nice touch. The only thing missing, and this seems to be the norm these days, is a power switch so I don’t have to keep going round the back to pull out the power cord every time something goes wrong. Other than that, it works exactly as expected.
After my desktop died, I was in moarning despite having a laptop, as I prefer a proper mouse, keyboard, screen, etc., and it was really inconvenient to keep connecting everything to my laptop. Now I have this, everything connects to this and all I have to do is connect one USB 3.0 lead to my laptop.
They sent me an email even before the item arrived with a link to download the software/drivers and all I had to do when it came was to plug everything in and turn it on. Could not have been easier!
I’ve not had any performance issues, in fact performance is much better with the ethernet cable permanently in the docking station so I’m not using WiFi.
Very happy bunny – I now have a desktop and a laptop for 100!
This is a very good product but it looks a little bit generic for an item with this price tag. After using it a day I realized that the purpose I both this for can be achieved by using two other products that together are half price as I couldn’t take advantage of all the products features in my set up.
It was my mistake but there was no issue in returning this for a full refund no questions asked (thank you Amazon and Plugable) and purchased what I actually needed.
All the products specs, capabilities and limitations are available on both Plugables website and Amazon so I would recommend doing a complete research before deciding to buy.
It just works. So easy. Although it only has one dvi port i use the other hdmi port and a hdmi to dvi cable to run my other monitor. So I run 2 monitors. There is no noticabke lag between them. No dodgy connections. No intermittent flickering or unexpected long term problems which i uses to have with a ‘surface’. This is such an excellent product. The extra ysb ports are really useful too. I have tried so many things in the past and this wins hands down.
This is a great piece of kit. I run two 24 inch monitors in 1080p in addition to my laptop screen, a keyboard, mouse, 2 speakers and it’s connected to the router by ethernet. I was easy to set up, essentially plug-and-play. It looks smart and sleek, it’s small and barely noticeable on the under-shelf of my black desk.
Delivery was fast and so far I’ve had no issues with delay on the keyboard/mouse. Only reason this doesn’t get 5-stars is because it has only 1 hdmi slot, which means I have to use a DVI > HDMI converter, which is a fairly minor gripe.
This is an excellent port replicator which is able to transform my laptop into of a fully-fledged desktop. When attaching the laptop (via the supplied USB 3 cable) to the replicator, I am able to use my 24″ monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers, and external hard-drive. And I am still left with a few spare usb ports. The performance has been very good, and I haven’t noticed any lag when using my keyboard or mouse. The speakers (attached to the headphone socket at the front of the unit), work perfectly.
Context: Why did I decide to get this product? I had been using my desktop for 7 years, and had begun to notice a gradual degrade in performance, as well as the loud humming. I thought long and hard about replacing it with another desktop and was on the verge of getting a new one. Then, I began to consider the idea of a port replicator that I could use with my laptop, which is much newer (18 months) and much more responsive than the ageing desktop. I thought that if the replicator worked, then I would end up saving a fair amount of money, and make use of the existing peripherals, which all work perfectly fine. Having read the various customer comments, as well as PC magazine reviews online, I decided to get the Plugable device.
So far, so good. The only minor quibble I have is that many of the cables are now visible on my desk, whereas previously. when the peripherals were attached to the desktop, the cables were hidden behind the desk.
OK, first things first and with my apologies, this isn’t a docking station it’s a port replicator. There, my geek shield is back up to full strength now. Here’s the thing though, you can call it whatever you like but I would call it a marvel. Not just because it saves on cabling and makes my desk a tad tidier, reduces wear on my expensive ultra-sub-notebook-convertible-flipping-laptop-tablet-ego massager machine and does what it says on the packet. But because I now know if ever I buy a product from Plugable the people at the company tech support will bend over backwards to put things right if things go wrong. If I could give this six stars I would. Yet the first one delivered to me didn’t work.
Hold on, is this jerk saying that despite getting a broken product he would give the company an extra star rather than remove one for the hassle?
Yes. Yes he is. And less of the jerk.
Look, things can go wrong with tech kit. Sometimes a rogue model escapes the QA testing regime. It. Does. Happen.
It doesn’t define the company though, but it does help define what they stand for by how they deal with it. And Plugable dealt with it very well indeed.
I review things for a living, have done for the last 25 years in fact. I appreciate the value in how a company treats customers when things do not go smoothly.
So what happened? Well, the UD-3900 arrived and I cabled it up and plugged it in. Everything worked except for the main event, the dual display driving function. This was a surprise as Plugable had already sent me an email linking to the latest set of DisplayLink drivers ahead of the unit being delivered. Another brownie point for that.
I know a little about tech, or at least as a former Technology Journalist of the Year award winner here in the UK I would hope I still do. I couldn’t fathom anything obviously wrong. Next step was the Plugable support forums, and running the diagnostics routine so I could raise a ticket with support. Which I duly did.
I got a very quick response, allowing for time differences between the UK and US, from Marc Mounting. I am naming Marc as he went above and beyond, and deserves the kudos.
We went through a few things together, and after 48 hours or so of back and forth it became apparent it wasn’t working when it should be. The drivers were installed and running OK, the software was installed and running OK, my system (an HP Spectre x360 for the record) just refused point blank to recognise that a DisplayLink device was connected. Ethernet worked fine, USB in and out was fine, but no dual displays.
Marc then suggested either he could get another sent from Amazon stock for the next day, or have a pre-tested unit sent direct from the US. I opted for the latter, despite a 10 day delivery wait, as it meant if things still didn’t work we could rule out a faulty chipset and do some more detective work together on my laptop. We both suspected by now, I should point out, that something was fried on the device itself.
The unit arrived at my offices exactly 10 days later, and I plugged it in.
It. Just. Worked.
For the money this is a blinding bit of kit. Does everything it says on the tine, and my i5 powered lappy with 8Gb RAM has plenty enough grunt to drive the displays and everything else through a single USB 3 port without any noticeable slowdown.
It’s not the cheapest out there, but it is far from the most expensive. To be honest, the support is worth more than some of the cheaper units on its own.
Thinking about buying one? Just do it, you won’t be disappointed…
This is an amazing little appliance. For years, I have been running PC’s with a third monitor from USB2 with the Displaylink software and hardware from different vendors. So I was very curious what the Plugable could do from USB3.
Originally I ran two HD monitors of it because I needed my laptop’s HDMI for full-screen video on a third monitor (I’m a professional video-editor). And I also simultaneously use the audio output and the entire USB2 hub on the back, and a hard-drive on the front USB3. The only reason I don’t use the network connection is that I have also a gigabit on the laptop. As an edit setup this worked very well with Windows only occasionally getting confused about which monitor was where. I also use 3 DVI KVM switches (2 monitors and HDMI video output) for two other PC’s (Avid + Avid/Premiere) and a Mac Pro (FCP7/X) and HDMI and DVI splitters, two keyboards and mouses so that I can work on my couch or at my desk. So sometimes even I get confused what’s happening.
But I wanted to have a real pure video output so I bought an Intensity Shuttle USB3 from Blackmagic. Now this was a BIG gamble ’cause nowhere I googled did anyone say this would work on a laptop, or at all by USB3 because of the different chip-sets in use. And my preferred edit-program (Avid) is notoriously finicky when it comes to foreign (ie non-Avid) hardware.
Sure enough, no joy from the laptop’s USB3 ports. It worked once (30sec) and then never again. So my last (desperate) attempt was to attach it to the Plugable. I mean, the Intensity needs to be as directly connected to USB3 as possible. But hey, I had nothing to loose now. If this didn’t work I had to sell the Intensity again. And to my amazement it worked! And flawlessly! Again this little Plugable device simply works! And saves my bacon eeh Intensity. So I’m tempted to buy another one just in case this one might someday break (of which there is now absolutely no indication). I wish I could give it 11 stars! For other editors out there: HP Envy laptop i7 3GHZ quadcore HT, 12GB, Intel graphics/Gforce 970M, Avid 8.6. Monitor 1 HDMI laptop, Monitor 2 Plugable DVI, Intensity Shuttle on Front USB3, Plugable audio instead of laptop’s, USB2 hub on the back, with external DVD drive, 2x KVM USB and another USB2 hub. UPDATE: After 1,5 years this still works flawlessly! And with my Blackmagic Intensity Shuttle still on its’ USB3. The Plugable is the most reliable piece of hardware of my entire convoluted setup. Really, a hundred stars!
Terrifically easy….download the drivers from the website (the link kindly sent by email in advance of delivery without even asking for it), plug all your bits in and off you go….works flawlessly….and the VGA adapter included saved me buying a new screen with an HDMI socket. It makes no noise, doesn’t get warm, it just sits there and everything works….unplug the USB link and back on the road with the laptop. You need never have a desktop PC again, just spend your money on a decent laptop.
I was mean to give it just 4 stars….a power switch, and siting the audio cable socket on the back instead of the front would have gone to 5!
This does what I’d hoped. We have a lot of similar docking stations from another manufacturer at work and they don’t have quite the performance and versatility that this one does. I’m giving it five stars–even though the first one delivered didn’t work! However, the response and the service from Plugable was really quite excellent: I emailed explaining the problem and without making me jump through any more hoops they offered the choice of an immediate replacement from the UK or to send me a new, fully-tested one from the USA. Chose to have one shipped from the USA as wasn’t in any great hurry. Didn’t even have to return the old one: they asked my to recycle it locally. The whole thing was very well handled and the new unit works fine.
I was pleasantly surprised with this docking station. It has just plugged in and worked. Using a Windows 10 laptop, 2 monitors (HDMI & DVI to HDMI connections) you literally just turn on the laptop, close the lid, then when Windows boots up the 2 screens load up. I also have my my printer and mouse / keyboard connected. The great thing about this docking station is that it literally is just 1 cable that needs to be plugged into the laptop and I instantly have a full desktop setup, then when I need portability I can simply unplug the single USB3 connection and I’m off.
I am so impressed with this item! I made some pre-sales enquiries, and the company responding quickly, politely and efficiently, coming back to answer several additional points I’d raised. They warned me that I may have problems with streaming videos, but that hasn’t been the case so far. I have one monitor connected using the VGA port and another using the HDMI cable Plugable Active HDMI to VGA 6ft (1.8m) Converter Cable Supporting up to 1920 x 1080 (60Hz) . The addition of the USB graphics adaptor Plugable USB 3.0 to VGA / DVI / HDMI Video Graphics Adapter for Multiple Monitors up to 2048×1152 / 1920×1080 (Supports Windows 10, 8.1, 7, XP) means that I am able to run 3 monitors through this dock. Before I purchased this I had so many cables hanging off all the ports on my laptop that it was a real pain whenever I needed to move it. Now it’s just a simple matter of unplugging one cable. The dock is also running my ethernet cable, an external wireless adaptor (the built in laptop one is useless), a ten port USB3 hub, a mouse and the laptop cooler fan. It is barely warm, and completely silent. The unit itself is well built, looks good and is discrete tucked away at the back of the desk. The blue LED on light is not over intrusive, and the green USB light shows everything is working well.
Installation was easy, Plugable sent me an email as soon as the purchase was made with a link to download the latest drivers. These were installed before the unit actually arrived, so it was simply a case of plugging everything in on arrival. It just worked, and I was really surprised at how painless it was to get everything set up within minutes. I can’t fault this product, nor praise it highly enough. I have 3 external hard drives connected to the USB hub which have all my media on them, and this unit sends them all over the home network with the Plex server. My definition of good hardware is something you plug in and just forget is there because it works. This unit meets that definition.
For anyone running a multiple monitor set up, the addition of specialist multi-monitor software to control it makes everything a breeze. I use software called Display Fusion, […] and would highly recommend it. The support is also excellent if you should run into problems.
It works perfectly. Download a Displaylink driver and the HDMI and DVI ports will both work with no further effort.
I am especially happy with it as I have used it to attach 2 external monitors to my non-Retina 2012 13″ MacBook Pro (both through this USB dock – so my thunderbolt port is still free). I had previously tried several products (including an expensive Thunderbolt dock) but they did not work as the graphics card can only run one external monitor. using this, the monitors are run off CPU and so I can have two!! Thank you so much for a superb produc
This worked out the box and does exactly what it says it does. When I ordered it Plugable sent me an e-mail with a link to the drivers and I was able to install these before the box arrived. Once it arrived it was a synch to install. I’ve now been using it a couple of days and I love it. It’s made swapping between my work and home laptop in my office setup many times easier.
Only a couple of wishes. 1) It’s always on – regardless of whether your laptop is connected or not. It could with some kind of sleep mode (much like my monitor has). 2) Would it be possible to power the laptop off this docking station as well? That way everything would be in once place (this may be an impossible dream).
Purchased this about 3 months ago and use it daily – it’s great, although perhaps a tad expensive.
I have used this for a DELL Inspiron 15 (2015) (via USB 3.0 and USB 2.0) and a DELL Studio 1555 (2009) (via USB 2.0) and neither had issues using this Docking station.
The docking station sits under my desk out of view – so my desk stays neat and tidy without a mess of wires – but also it means I can easily plug and unplug one USB instead of a mass of different connections.
Connected to my docking station I have speakers, 2 monitors (1 HDMI and one DVI/VGA), various chargers and external HDDs plugged into the USB ports.
Although I do have a USB 3.0 port on my laptop – I prefer to plug it into my USB 2 port because of the side it sits on my laptop. I haven’t noticed any difference between using either port.
I mainly use my laptop for programming, browsing the net, watching videos and photo editing.
I just hope now that I get many years use out of this.
I got this with a new monitor to set my desk up as a laptop hub for my wife and I (we both have 2 laptops for business and personal use) Whilst it does exactly what I wanted it to do I think the setup could be a bit smoother. The drivers are not automatically detected by Windows (no surprises there) so I think clearer guidance on where to find them or even to have a utility on the device itself that can deploy to a laptop when connected to set it up would be highly desirable.
This has completely changed the way we use our home office, its now just a 1 cable switch job to have full connectivity to the monitor and all peripherals for a seamless working environment, love it.
This is a truly great piece of kit – very impressive and really well made.
I did a fair bit of research of hubs before I purchased, and this device has exceeded my expectations!
I use this with my Sony Vaio Duo 11 and Tap 20, and when connected directly to either of the devices, it works really well – and has made my desk space much tidier!!!!!!
I did try to share this hub between two computers using a Pluggable USB3 switch – but this caused all sorts of driver issues and connections instability.
The tech support guys at Pluggable were quick to respond to help with the ‘switch’ issues.
I am thinking about buying a second one of these to use at work – that’s how it has impressed me.
A new life now for my Surface Pro, i use it with all ports at use and so far it does what is supposed to do, USB 3.0 discs at max data transfer, ethernet 100% with no drops, sound is also nice… it replaces all the adapters that i have to buy for my surface to be usable as a desktop.
I still need the Mini DisplayPort but i have it on a DVI LG standard Full HD Monitor and for video and other normal windows tasks works great but for gaming and flash stuff DisplayLink is not enough.
I guess in general this is an excellent product i just hope it lasts!
This Plugable docking station is brilliant. It allows my Asus T100 10″ hybrid with its USB 3 port to not only be a tablet and netbook sized laptop (ie with a proper “heavy enough” keyboard) but ALSO to be a desktop (making do with a micro SDXC card for its “hard drive”, taped in so it can’t escape) when I simply plug it into the T100’s USB 3 port.
I see reviewers in 2013 (last year) were complaining about driver issues. I’m using it on a new Bay Trail Asus T100 10″ hybrid and a four year old I5 laptop, both running Windows 8.1 and am having no problems whatsoever. High speed graphics (videos etc) does, unsurprisingly, require USB 3. It works fine on USB 2 but the lower speed can be quite noticeable on the display. e.g. I find the mouse pointer isn’t as smooth
I use it on a wired 1GB network because even wireless N is nowhere near 1GBPs genuine throughput and I often transfer large files around. The UD-3900 achieves a full 100MBytes/s Ethernet throughput whilst watching a video (USB 3 of course)
does work well for me (4 core i7 intel, windows 7).
ordered instead of matrox unit which did not work, and cost me hours of setting up . This unit with Dual Video Outputs” is a very good product. after taking out of the box and plugging to usb 3.0 – drivers installed by windows 7, one reboot – and two additional monitors are working very well. using it now for a couple of days – and looking good. so I have now a working display to the extent of 65″, resolution 1920×1080 and i am very happy.
Highly recommended.
few weeks later:
ps: recently added another monitor by connecting it directly to the HDMI input on the laptop itself – so have now the laptop 17″ monitor plus 3 external monitors of 24″ – 1920×1080. quite cool.and all working well – no crashes.
and the docking facility with Ethernet connection is working well too
I purchased this for my Microsoft Pro 2 given that I had lost the will to live waiting for Microsoft to provide a docking station to the UK.
I read the specs, read the reviews and watched the Videos on YouTube prior to making my decision, and it was the best one that I made.
I have the following connections.
* Network
* HDMI
* USB 2.0 to USB switcher to allow wireless keyboard sharing.
* Audio Out
This device has so many expansions options, with the 10 port USB 3 hub purchased at the same time the opportunities are endless. I thought at first I had an issue with playing Video; however it was the Video at fault and not the device. I raised a query at 22:12 and 45 minutes later had a response at 23:00 in the evening UK time, this is an excellent service and they really care. Thanks Roze
I have a 3 year old laptop that has internal USB3 available via Express port where I have a USB3 express card with 2 USB3 ports. Into this I plug the UD-3900 Universal Docking station. It does what it says on the tin with some minor quirks. It must be plugged into external power in order to function reliably so I use a USB charger which has a USB2 socket for that. I often dual boot my laptop into Windows Server 2008R2 via an external drive via the eSata port on my laptop and that too works fine. I end up with 3 screens up and running including my laptop with one being WUXGA (1920 8 1200) and the laptop and an external screen at 1920 * 1080. I also sometimes connect via Citrix to a company’s network where they only make a certain maximum size available and that case I am forced to eject the Express card and rely just on the laptop’s 1920 * 1080 max screen resolution. That however is a limit imposed by an external system. When I do unplug the Express card, the two external screens that are plugged into the docking station stay displaying the last image and I just switch them both off. The speeds of the USB3 ports are fine. The extra USB2 ports are welcome. This does the business for me.
Recently posted a poor review on an equivalent hub which I am sending back due to a number of issues. One thing I want to take back is my own mistake of plugging in speakers and it not working. For this sort of USM hub you need to switch your default sound settings. In saying that the previous hub still is only worth 2 stars. Amazon posted this new one out out and arrived the next day. I’m afraid the difference in quality is worth far more than the additional 6 to buy. Main points are.
– small point but is heavier and more solid – unlike the other hub it’s not pulled over by the slightest misaligned lead.
– As well as the HDMI it has DVI instead of the previous hub’s VGA – there is a difference in quality. The HDMI is linked to main monitor 27″ Acer and the DVI to the second monitor 24″ Acer. Could bring the actual Acer ultrabook into play as well but would start to look like a scene out of ’24’
– 2 USB (3.0) at the front including one that can be used for charging. No problems putting in the dongle for the keyboard unlike the other hub which could not connect to the keyboard unless it was sitting right next to it.
– Performance is excellent. My ultrabook has an i7 processor but I’m fairly positive this would not affect performance with i5 or i3
Everything working the way it should. As an accountant it’s brilliant to work on a 27″ screen and have a supporting document on a 24″ screen just to the left.
Plugable appears to be a good make and its products get good reviews. Not the dearest but not the cheapest either. However, don’t try to save a few pounds by going for something that is not an established make.
The device does everything it promises. I have a lenovo twist which I am using as my main work computer. I needed a good dockig station since the twist has only 2 usb3 ports and I would also wanted to drive two monitors. The UD-3900 performed flawlesly out of the box (I had installed the driver from the manufacturer’s site first). It drives two full HD monitors + gigabit ethernet + an external 3.0 usb drive + keyboard and mouse.
The only minor issue I have as that when the laptop goes to standby (so does the UD-3900) and then wakes up again the device is not connected (the green led on the device stays off). Even if I disconnect and reconnect the device. I have to restart the laptop (or go to hibernation and then back again) for the device to be connected again.
In total I am very pleased with the device.
I use a laptop as my primary machine and work at home with it hooked up to two 24 inch 1920 x 1200 monitors, a wired keyboard, a USB sound card and a printer. Previously I used a “Village Dock” ViDock 3 using the PC Express Card slot on My Viao Z12. This was bulky and slightly temperamental (You couldn’t power up with it plugged in and hibernation was always a problem. In addition the ViDock was very difficult to set up). Upgrading to a Vaio Pro I needed a new docking station as there is no PC Express slot. This was incredibly easy to set up (install the drivers from the website then plug in and go), works flawlessly with the above set up (including full screen video) and there is no issue about when and if you plug it in or remove it.
Update End May 2014. Still very impressed. Have added a Blu-Ray Reader/Writter and USB microphone (for Dragon dictation software) to the mix and it still performs flawlessly. It also providing plenty of power to both of these devices (The Blu-Ray drive comes with an extra USB plug to get extra power but this is not needed here).
I bought this as someone else used it to connect 2 monitors successfully to the same laptop i have i.e. a Dell XPS 12
I connected the plugable to my laptop first to let my win 8.1 update the drivers, and then connected my 2 viewsonic monitors to it, and nothing happened – neither monitor was detected. I then went to screen resolution to ask win 8.1 to detect the monitors – nothing. I rebooted the laptop and then some displaylink software initialised – and then 1 of the monitors got detected – this was the 1 monitor i connected via the HDMI port. The other monitor i connected using a DVI to HDMI cable as i wanted to use the HDMI input on both monitors – but i couldnt get it to work. I ended up using the DVI to VGA adapter that comes with pluggable and connecting to the VGA input on the monitor to get both monitors working.
I then added a mouse to the usb 2.0 port on the pluggable – a microsoft touch mouse – this was unusable – the mouse movement became very slow and jumped over large areas of the screen – i moved the mouse back to a usb port on my laptop to restore responsive behaviour.
Be good if the product had more HDMI ports, and replaced the usb 2.0 ports with usb 3.0 ones.
As an I.T consultant I have used this product for other clients and find it smart, reliable and efficient.
This allows me to work using an MSI 5K main screen and two supporting 21″ HD monitors on M1 Mac Mini using the DisplayLink software, plus I have loads of peripherals running in it, too. Really very good. No issues, so far (a month, in).
Covers most requirements for a docking station and works well
The supplied USB 3 lead is very short.
Gives two video outputs HDMI and DVI/VGA(with adapter), 4x USB and Ethernet.
Has a separate power supply but will not power the laptop.
Expensive for a USB 3 dock and very expensive for the USB C versio
I have a lenevo 520 windows laptop with USB 3 but no thunderbolt port (wish I had known better when I bought it!). The usual monitor splitters didn’t work for me because the USB 3.0 output doesn’t drive 2 monitors. This thing does the job for me from a dual monitor standpoint. There are some niggling issues which pinch you sometimes (eg: my wireless keyboard and mouse become slow sometimes, the display output is not HD on both monitors, the USB headset sometimes stop working for zoom meetings). These weren’t big issues for me as I had extra ports on my laptop and my overall setup does the job I want it to do.
Good product as generic. Slight issue with connection as sometimes a bit lose.
Ordered a number of the docking station and one was faulty but was replaced pretty quickly. Good quality service.
The dock works well but does have an issue of not recognising the monitors if you interrupt the power supply. Attached I have two monitors, a mouse and a keyboard. I needed an adapter for one of my monitors.
I didn’t have high expectations for this. I expected the USB speed to be a big limitation. I was wrong.
Been using it with my work Dell laptop instead of the docking station that came with it, with no issues.
Using it with my 8(?) year old desktop and cheap old HP laptop too. Works great. To be able to use the same mouse, keyboard, 2 screens, speakers, webcam and usb ports for all my pcs just by plugging into the USB port is fantastic.
In fact, the older laptop has poor resolution on its integrated screen, but with the dock I get access to my monitors with decent resolution, because the dock is like an external graphics card. Might not be good enough for games, but worked fine for watching videos for me (HD, not sure what bitrate/FPS).
Now I can keep my original docking station in the office and use this one for homeworking. With the uncertain future due to Covid, it’s a great buy.
I initially hesitated when buying it, but I really needed it as there was no other solution to connect 3 monitors to my laptop. I have now owned it for more than a year and a half, and I am very happy with it. It works really well and it allows me to connect all the screens.
Recently, with COVID, it has proven even more useful. I now have also my work laptop at home, and I can easily switch between using my work laptop and my personal laptop by just disconnecting the USB cable from one of them, and connecting it to the other laptop. If I would be able to connect all the monitors and I did not have this docking station, I would have to disconnect and connect 3 different cables, apart from the mouse and keyboard. This station allows me to switch my setup completely painlessly.
Already using one of these for myself, so bought one for the other half, who regularly disconnects the laptop from its desktop setup. Using a USB 2.0 port into the laptop as there weren’t any USB 3.0 ports available.
Followed the instructions in the box and Windows 10 Update installed the latest Plugable drivers, but the HDMI monitor didn’t flash up following the first reboot (mouse, keyboard & speakers all worked OK).
Did a straight swap with my laptop setup to check it wasn’t the new unit and that it still worked using a USB2.0 port.
All OK and once my other half’s laptop had been powered down and up again it worked perfectly.
4 stars for the ease of installation this time (it worked first time when I bought mine 2 years ago), but otherwise 5 stars.
Also noticed that Plugable also include a DVI-HDMI converter as well as a DVI-VGA converter, which saved me having to buy a smart DVI-HDMI cable this time.
Fantastic item, I had bought this following a realisation that working from home was going to be a thing for the foreseeable future and wanting to connect my laptop to 2 larger monitors. My laptop is definitely on the budget side but luckily does have the “ss” USB connection required. It’s worth noting that this item was originally a recommendation from a friend of mine who is a long standing IT technician.
Over all good. Could not get it set up for my desk top for some reason, but I did not persist as was never really for that, work first time for the two desk tops, although the mouse control can be slow sometimes on one of them. Overall though, happy with this device.
You need a computer with usb3 to make the most of this but it it eliminates a mess of cable being connected directly to your computer. Not too much of a problem if you use a desktop but if you use a laptop it makes connection/disconnection to all your stuff a one cable action. I’ve seen these twice the price. I’ve also seen cut down adapters and hubs etc that require separate installation of drivers/software but this is plug and play without any problem. It does need its own power source.
Really nice device, simple to use and has easily and quickly extended my MS Surface to allow me to have a total of three screens ( including the surface itself). It did need a download of the driver which was found with a quick google search for the product, but once installed I was away. It took longer to get the cabling looking neat!
The reason for 4 stars rather than 5 is as follows – the instructions suggest that Windows update will install all required drivers, however this wasn’t the case. Quick fix, but this would likely prompt some confusion amongst less tech savvy people. Overall a very good product though.
I brought this to dual screen two monitors off a laptop which I use at home for business use. The device was very simple to set up, needing no instructions as I had previewed some videos about the product before I purchased. The device worked first time for the laptop plugging it through the usb 3.0 cable and had to do nothing with the laptop to get it to work. I was very impressed.
I’d wanted to ditch my desktop PC and replace it with a tablet. Only real problem was additional screen ports. This give two independent screen ports, which can be used in addition to the tablets own screen. I don’t use it for gaming, so can’t comment on whether it is fast enough for that, but for MS Office applications, for example, it is great.
On top of that you get all the powered USB ports that you could want. Hidden away on my desk, all the USB wires plug into it, and I can unplug it simply when I want to use the tablet as a tablet.
The docking station arrived on time and well packed. I had considerable trouble with the instructions which are confusing.
step 1 says don’t attach station to computer before installing software, the next says to ensure computer has active internet connection, the third says connect docking station to computer. I e-mailed the manufacturer and got a link to a much better set of instructions.
2018-11-14_Plugable_UD-3900_QSG_OUTLINED.pdf
These gave me the link to get the software ( drivers). The noe from the manufacturer also said that just plugging the device into the computer would work ( NB I have Windows 10). I did the manual download and it worked fine.
The various leads to other bits of kit can be added one at a time. The HDMI to monitor worked at once as did connecting to my router via an ethernet cable to the station. The backup drive via the station USB3 seems to be working. All in all, the docking station after 2 days seems to be doing what I want.
Using a laptop rather than a desk top does not make for a tidy desk. I have to accommodate the Plugable itself, a leftover SSD, a backup drive, a keyboard and a DVD drive. A full desktop would in many ways be more convenient but not of course, portable.
Bought this to use with a Surface Pro tablet. I need to be able to run two monitors and some USB peripherals. The Microsoft OEM equivalent is another 50 and I needed better value for money. Not much desk space and so the tower design was more attractive than some of the “brick” alternatives.
The unit feels good quality, nice gloss finish on the case. It’s reasonably sturdy, but I did need to blu-tak the base to my desk to stop it being moved around by the weight of cables connected to it and to avoid having to hold it down while plugging into the USB ports.
It plugged and played pretty much straight out of the box, after a quick driver update. I did have an issue getting two displays connected, which I think was user error on my part and sorted out by restarting the PC. I logged a ticket with Plugable support and was pleased to get a response overnight and some suggestions to cure the problem, but this wasn’t necessary. However, good to know support is there.
I’m running two monitors (one on HDMI port, one DVI-HDMI) , speakers, a Logitech MX mouse and keyboard all the time and occasionally a webcam, optical drive and external HDD from the unit with no problems. I’ve been able to run three screens (Surface and monitors) successfully but don’t use this configuration. Occasionally the Surface is replaced by a Lenovo laptop, this has also just plugged and played with no trouble. I’ve not tried to connect the Ethernet port, but have no reason to doubt this would work.
Although the advert says it doesn’t support charging, I’ve been able to charge a phone from the USB sockets but haven’t tried with anything larger.
Only drawback is that there’s no USB 3.0 ports on the back, if I was using the external HDD all the time this would make the installation a bit more untidy, but I don’t so it’s a moot point.
Very happy with the unit and at this price, can’t fault it and can’t see any obvious alternatives for my requirements.
This is a great bit of kit. It has helped me breath new life into an old monitor and use the same desk to run two computers. I have one monitor running from the DVI/VGA port and one from the HDMI port. I have a keyboard and mouse connected via USB, along with some other peripherals. The unit is connected to my laptop and my desktop via a Plugable USB3 switch and a single USB 3 cable each. I can swap between computers by pressing a single button. I can use the same keyboard and mouse and same monitors for both machines.
Sometimes things go wrong and the test of a good company is how they deal with the problem. My first unit was faulty. I spent a while trying to figure out what I’d done wrong. In the end I contacted Plugable via their website, which transparently confirmed that someone else had a similar problem. Bob then contacted me, ran a remote diagnostic and confirmed there was a problem. He then sent me a new unit straight away. I received it after just a few days. The unit he sent had been already tested by his lab, so hopefully this one is good.
So, something did go wrong, but I am delighted in how Plugable and especially Plugable Bob went about rectifying it.
I have three monitor’s DVI, HDMI, and pluggable 4k dp, Ethernet, 9 port usb 3 hub all connected.
All working smoothly. please note I don’t use this for gaming – mainly for construction design etc I use it on a I7 laptop with 16gb ram a 1tb SSD and 10GB of virtual memory.
As a foot note to this review my laptop developed an issue with MS office and none of the apps would load when I had this and another pluggable device connected. I isolated the problem to these graphic adaptors because all other USB devices worked. To assist me in curing the problem I contacted Plugable directly and explained the problem, they sent me a link to a diagnostic tool to check the computer, whist adding it was unlikely to be the graphic adaptors.
as a side note on one of the emails they suggested there maybe a possible fix within the office suite (which worked fine without USB 3 adaptors connected). I tried this fix and it worked. Without Plugable’s support – for a problem that wasn’t theirs – i would have remained in no mans land. Plugable gets 6 stars from me.
Thank you pluggable for your help.
Drive 2 screens (1920×1080)
Enough USB2 ports for Keyboard, mouse and headset
USB3 ports for USB drives and memory sticks.
It nicely met my requirements as well as not taking up much space on the desk.
I plugged it in to my laptops USB3 port and WIndows 10 automatically loaded up the drivers and it was ready to use in about 90 seconds.
One monitor is connected via the HDMI port and the second via the DVI port and a DVI/HDMI adapter (not supplied) with no issues or configuration required.
It comes with a DVI/VGA adapter for those with older VGA screens.
Recommended for home offices.
I needed to rationalise my IT setup at home because I had started a new consultancy business. Much of my work is on my laptop, but in my home office I wanted to use by desktop monitor, keyboard and mouse so that I could move seamlessly from the road to home. I have a desktop PC, but keeping important stuff synced (especially emai) was a bit of a nightmare. This hub is just what I needed. Straight out of the box I connected everything to it, updated drivers, turned it on and it just worked! Brilliant purchase and I’m very happy now! Now, I have the best of both worlds and won’t look back!
Very good product, drivers installed automatically, so installation was just plug and play (though took a minute or two) did have an issue with monitor, the hdmi port was slightly tight.
I would of also preferred a dedicated speaker port at the back and a proper 3 pin plug (like many similar chargers there’s a swappable face to the plug with the UK 3 pin plug having a plastic third pin)
These very small quibbles don’t get in the way of this being an excellent device which is competitively priced
Ordered this unit and was honestly ready to have it sent back, as I expected it to not be compatible with OSX or simply not be able to extend the desktops correctly.
Boy oh boy was I in for a surprise.
This is a bargain! It extends my Macbooks display to TWO external ones. It also has a built in USB hub and other ports.
Overall this is a clear 10/10.
Very happy customer! 🙂
The Docking station is very easy to setup and use, small enough so it doesn’t get in the way, if it wasn’t for the convenience of the extra USB ports etc it could be easily hidden out of sight. All you have form the Docking station to your laptop is 1 USB cable, everything else connects to docking station and comes to laptop etc via the USB cable.
This has saved me loads of money by not having to buy a much more expensive laptop so i can use multiple monitors. I did have a problem with the DVI/VGA adaptor, but I used DVI/VGA cable I purchased in its place.
Don’t be put off by the adaptor that didn’t work, it might have been a 1 off, this device is brilliant,easy to set up and use. I will be getting another for 3 monitors soon for my wife to use.
My Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro’s micro HDMI port has not worked for over 2 years, I tried the method of trimming back the plastic on the cable as per internet recommendations, apparently worked for many people but not for me. It has been a real pain not being able to plug into a large monitor.
I saw a YouTube video showing how the Plugable docking station worked, so I thought I would give it a try. Could not believe it!! downloaded the software and installed, plugged laptop into the docking station and it worked straight away. Nothing seemed to happen at first, but after probably 30 secs monitor was working with laptop. Very pleased. still early days to see how reliable it will be, but first impressions over the moon.
Unsure whether it is limitation of the product or other. Basically the purpose of this purchase was to be able to work on multiple screen when I am working from home from the office. Whilst the dual screen accessibility function is working i.e. move one window across to the other screen etc. This function and dual screen accessibility is not permitted by the device when I am remote working from the office. The message I get is “you cannot use the function on remote access”. I have written to the seller for guidance, as my work IT department confirmed this is unusal and shouldn’t be the case. Anyone having the same problem? or any advised would be most welcome?
Needed to connect my laptop to desktop peripherals as desktop PC hard drive failed. Connected ethernet, screen, mouse, keyboard, printer, speakers and external hard drive to the UD3900 then simply one USB 3 connection to laptop. I still have 2 spare USB and a USB 2 available along with HDMI. I still need the laptop power lead connected but this is preferred anyway to ensure the correct power output. The UD3900 worked straight out of the box, simply plugged everything in. I did receive an email from Plugable suggesting I download the current drivers in readiness which I did. Very neat looking and feels quality product.
I purchased this device to replace an Anker USB3 docking station which had mysteriously failed – the 2nd device to do so. Installation of the Plugable device should have been simple, only no-one tells you that you need to uninstall the previous DisplayLink software first. This turned out to be a real issue, as no matter what I did Windows insisted on re-installing it every time I rebooted. Eventually I succeeded, but it took several attempts and some manual intervention in the control panel to finally get rid of it.
Once I had cleaned out the old stuff, installing the Plugable version was a breeze, the only slightly confusing thing was that the software never told me when to connect the docking station to my laptop. Like most installs, the hardware shouldn’t be connected until everything is finished, so I waited until then and plugged in. Hey-presto instant video on my 2nd monitor and all USB and Ethernet ports working.
The unit has a nice green USB indicator that lights up when a device is connected, a nice touch. The only thing missing, and this seems to be the norm these days, is a power switch so I don’t have to keep going round the back to pull out the power cord every time something goes wrong. Other than that, it works exactly as expected.
They sent me an email even before the item arrived with a link to download the software/drivers and all I had to do when it came was to plug everything in and turn it on. Could not have been easier!
I’ve not had any performance issues, in fact performance is much better with the ethernet cable permanently in the docking station so I’m not using WiFi.
Very happy bunny – I now have a desktop and a laptop for 100!
This is a very good product but it looks a little bit generic for an item with this price tag. After using it a day I realized that the purpose I both this for can be achieved by using two other products that together are half price as I couldn’t take advantage of all the products features in my set up.
It was my mistake but there was no issue in returning this for a full refund no questions asked (thank you Amazon and Plugable) and purchased what I actually needed.
All the products specs, capabilities and limitations are available on both Plugables website and Amazon so I would recommend doing a complete research before deciding to buy.
It just works. So easy. Although it only has one dvi port i use the other hdmi port and a hdmi to dvi cable to run my other monitor. So I run 2 monitors. There is no noticabke lag between them. No dodgy connections. No intermittent flickering or unexpected long term problems which i uses to have with a ‘surface’. This is such an excellent product. The extra ysb ports are really useful too. I have tried so many things in the past and this wins hands down.
Delivery was fast and so far I’ve had no issues with delay on the keyboard/mouse. Only reason this doesn’t get 5-stars is because it has only 1 hdmi slot, which means I have to use a DVI > HDMI converter, which is a fairly minor gripe.
Context: Why did I decide to get this product? I had been using my desktop for 7 years, and had begun to notice a gradual degrade in performance, as well as the loud humming. I thought long and hard about replacing it with another desktop and was on the verge of getting a new one. Then, I began to consider the idea of a port replicator that I could use with my laptop, which is much newer (18 months) and much more responsive than the ageing desktop. I thought that if the replicator worked, then I would end up saving a fair amount of money, and make use of the existing peripherals, which all work perfectly fine. Having read the various customer comments, as well as PC magazine reviews online, I decided to get the Plugable device.
So far, so good. The only minor quibble I have is that many of the cables are now visible on my desk, whereas previously. when the peripherals were attached to the desktop, the cables were hidden behind the desk.
Hold on, is this jerk saying that despite getting a broken product he would give the company an extra star rather than remove one for the hassle?
Yes. Yes he is. And less of the jerk.
Look, things can go wrong with tech kit. Sometimes a rogue model escapes the QA testing regime. It. Does. Happen.
It doesn’t define the company though, but it does help define what they stand for by how they deal with it. And Plugable dealt with it very well indeed.
I review things for a living, have done for the last 25 years in fact. I appreciate the value in how a company treats customers when things do not go smoothly.
So what happened? Well, the UD-3900 arrived and I cabled it up and plugged it in. Everything worked except for the main event, the dual display driving function. This was a surprise as Plugable had already sent me an email linking to the latest set of DisplayLink drivers ahead of the unit being delivered. Another brownie point for that.
I know a little about tech, or at least as a former Technology Journalist of the Year award winner here in the UK I would hope I still do. I couldn’t fathom anything obviously wrong. Next step was the Plugable support forums, and running the diagnostics routine so I could raise a ticket with support. Which I duly did.
I got a very quick response, allowing for time differences between the UK and US, from Marc Mounting. I am naming Marc as he went above and beyond, and deserves the kudos.
We went through a few things together, and after 48 hours or so of back and forth it became apparent it wasn’t working when it should be. The drivers were installed and running OK, the software was installed and running OK, my system (an HP Spectre x360 for the record) just refused point blank to recognise that a DisplayLink device was connected. Ethernet worked fine, USB in and out was fine, but no dual displays.
Marc then suggested either he could get another sent from Amazon stock for the next day, or have a pre-tested unit sent direct from the US. I opted for the latter, despite a 10 day delivery wait, as it meant if things still didn’t work we could rule out a faulty chipset and do some more detective work together on my laptop. We both suspected by now, I should point out, that something was fried on the device itself.
The unit arrived at my offices exactly 10 days later, and I plugged it in.
It. Just. Worked.
For the money this is a blinding bit of kit. Does everything it says on the tine, and my i5 powered lappy with 8Gb RAM has plenty enough grunt to drive the displays and everything else through a single USB 3 port without any noticeable slowdown.
It’s not the cheapest out there, but it is far from the most expensive. To be honest, the support is worth more than some of the cheaper units on its own.
Thinking about buying one? Just do it, you won’t be disappointed…
Originally I ran two HD monitors of it because I needed my laptop’s HDMI for full-screen video on a third monitor (I’m a professional video-editor). And I also simultaneously use the audio output and the entire USB2 hub on the back, and a hard-drive on the front USB3. The only reason I don’t use the network connection is that I have also a gigabit on the laptop. As an edit setup this worked very well with Windows only occasionally getting confused about which monitor was where. I also use 3 DVI KVM switches (2 monitors and HDMI video output) for two other PC’s (Avid + Avid/Premiere) and a Mac Pro (FCP7/X) and HDMI and DVI splitters, two keyboards and mouses so that I can work on my couch or at my desk. So sometimes even I get confused what’s happening.
But I wanted to have a real pure video output so I bought an Intensity Shuttle USB3 from Blackmagic. Now this was a BIG gamble ’cause nowhere I googled did anyone say this would work on a laptop, or at all by USB3 because of the different chip-sets in use. And my preferred edit-program (Avid) is notoriously finicky when it comes to foreign (ie non-Avid) hardware.
Sure enough, no joy from the laptop’s USB3 ports. It worked once (30sec) and then never again. So my last (desperate) attempt was to attach it to the Plugable. I mean, the Intensity needs to be as directly connected to USB3 as possible. But hey, I had nothing to loose now. If this didn’t work I had to sell the Intensity again. And to my amazement it worked! And flawlessly! Again this little Plugable device simply works! And saves my bacon eeh Intensity. So I’m tempted to buy another one just in case this one might someday break (of which there is now absolutely no indication). I wish I could give it 11 stars! For other editors out there: HP Envy laptop i7 3GHZ quadcore HT, 12GB, Intel graphics/Gforce 970M, Avid 8.6. Monitor 1 HDMI laptop, Monitor 2 Plugable DVI, Intensity Shuttle on Front USB3, Plugable audio instead of laptop’s, USB2 hub on the back, with external DVD drive, 2x KVM USB and another USB2 hub. UPDATE: After 1,5 years this still works flawlessly! And with my Blackmagic Intensity Shuttle still on its’ USB3. The Plugable is the most reliable piece of hardware of my entire convoluted setup. Really, a hundred stars!
I was mean to give it just 4 stars….a power switch, and siting the audio cable socket on the back instead of the front would have gone to 5!
I was pleasantly surprised with this docking station. It has just plugged in and worked. Using a Windows 10 laptop, 2 monitors (HDMI & DVI to HDMI connections) you literally just turn on the laptop, close the lid, then when Windows boots up the 2 screens load up. I also have my my printer and mouse / keyboard connected. The great thing about this docking station is that it literally is just 1 cable that needs to be plugged into the laptop and I instantly have a full desktop setup, then when I need portability I can simply unplug the single USB3 connection and I’m off.
Highly recommended!
Installation was easy, Plugable sent me an email as soon as the purchase was made with a link to download the latest drivers. These were installed before the unit actually arrived, so it was simply a case of plugging everything in on arrival. It just worked, and I was really surprised at how painless it was to get everything set up within minutes. I can’t fault this product, nor praise it highly enough. I have 3 external hard drives connected to the USB hub which have all my media on them, and this unit sends them all over the home network with the Plex server. My definition of good hardware is something you plug in and just forget is there because it works. This unit meets that definition.
For anyone running a multiple monitor set up, the addition of specialist multi-monitor software to control it makes everything a breeze. I use software called Display Fusion, […] and would highly recommend it. The support is also excellent if you should run into problems.
This is a super product.
It works perfectly. Download a Displaylink driver and the HDMI and DVI ports will both work with no further effort.
I am especially happy with it as I have used it to attach 2 external monitors to my non-Retina 2012 13″ MacBook Pro (both through this USB dock – so my thunderbolt port is still free). I had previously tried several products (including an expensive Thunderbolt dock) but they did not work as the graphics card can only run one external monitor. using this, the monitors are run off CPU and so I can have two!! Thank you so much for a superb produc
This worked out the box and does exactly what it says it does. When I ordered it Plugable sent me an e-mail with a link to the drivers and I was able to install these before the box arrived. Once it arrived it was a synch to install. I’ve now been using it a couple of days and I love it. It’s made swapping between my work and home laptop in my office setup many times easier.
Only a couple of wishes. 1) It’s always on – regardless of whether your laptop is connected or not. It could with some kind of sleep mode (much like my monitor has). 2) Would it be possible to power the laptop off this docking station as well? That way everything would be in once place (this may be an impossible dream).
Purchased this about 3 months ago and use it daily – it’s great, although perhaps a tad expensive.
I have used this for a DELL Inspiron 15 (2015) (via USB 3.0 and USB 2.0) and a DELL Studio 1555 (2009) (via USB 2.0) and neither had issues using this Docking station.
The docking station sits under my desk out of view – so my desk stays neat and tidy without a mess of wires – but also it means I can easily plug and unplug one USB instead of a mass of different connections.
Connected to my docking station I have speakers, 2 monitors (1 HDMI and one DVI/VGA), various chargers and external HDDs plugged into the USB ports.
Although I do have a USB 3.0 port on my laptop – I prefer to plug it into my USB 2 port because of the side it sits on my laptop. I haven’t noticed any difference between using either port.
I mainly use my laptop for programming, browsing the net, watching videos and photo editing.
I just hope now that I get many years use out of this.
I got this with a new monitor to set my desk up as a laptop hub for my wife and I (we both have 2 laptops for business and personal use) Whilst it does exactly what I wanted it to do I think the setup could be a bit smoother. The drivers are not automatically detected by Windows (no surprises there) so I think clearer guidance on where to find them or even to have a utility on the device itself that can deploy to a laptop when connected to set it up would be highly desirable.
This has completely changed the way we use our home office, its now just a 1 cable switch job to have full connectivity to the monitor and all peripherals for a seamless working environment, love it.
This is a truly great piece of kit – very impressive and really well made.
I did a fair bit of research of hubs before I purchased, and this device has exceeded my expectations!
I use this with my Sony Vaio Duo 11 and Tap 20, and when connected directly to either of the devices, it works really well – and has made my desk space much tidier!!!!!!
I did try to share this hub between two computers using a Pluggable USB3 switch – but this caused all sorts of driver issues and connections instability.
The tech support guys at Pluggable were quick to respond to help with the ‘switch’ issues.
I am thinking about buying a second one of these to use at work – that’s how it has impressed me.
A new life now for my Surface Pro, i use it with all ports at use and so far it does what is supposed to do, USB 3.0 discs at max data transfer, ethernet 100% with no drops, sound is also nice… it replaces all the adapters that i have to buy for my surface to be usable as a desktop.
I still need the Mini DisplayPort but i have it on a DVI LG standard Full HD Monitor and for video and other normal windows tasks works great but for gaming and flash stuff DisplayLink is not enough.
I guess in general this is an excellent product i just hope it lasts!
This Plugable docking station is brilliant. It allows my Asus T100 10″ hybrid with its USB 3 port to not only be a tablet and netbook sized laptop (ie with a proper “heavy enough” keyboard) but ALSO to be a desktop (making do with a micro SDXC card for its “hard drive”, taped in so it can’t escape) when I simply plug it into the T100’s USB 3 port.
I see reviewers in 2013 (last year) were complaining about driver issues. I’m using it on a new Bay Trail Asus T100 10″ hybrid and a four year old I5 laptop, both running Windows 8.1 and am having no problems whatsoever. High speed graphics (videos etc) does, unsurprisingly, require USB 3. It works fine on USB 2 but the lower speed can be quite noticeable on the display. e.g. I find the mouse pointer isn’t as smooth
I use it on a wired 1GB network because even wireless N is nowhere near 1GBPs genuine throughput and I often transfer large files around. The UD-3900 achieves a full 100MBytes/s Ethernet throughput whilst watching a video (USB 3 of course)
ordered instead of matrox unit which did not work, and cost me hours of setting up . This unit with Dual Video Outputs” is a very good product. after taking out of the box and plugging to usb 3.0 – drivers installed by windows 7, one reboot – and two additional monitors are working very well. using it now for a couple of days – and looking good. so I have now a working display to the extent of 65″, resolution 1920×1080 and i am very happy.
Highly recommended.
few weeks later:
ps: recently added another monitor by connecting it directly to the HDMI input on the laptop itself – so have now the laptop 17″ monitor plus 3 external monitors of 24″ – 1920×1080. quite cool.and all working well – no crashes.
and the docking facility with Ethernet connection is working well too
I purchased this for my Microsoft Pro 2 given that I had lost the will to live waiting for Microsoft to provide a docking station to the UK.
I read the specs, read the reviews and watched the Videos on YouTube prior to making my decision, and it was the best one that I made.
I have the following connections.
* Network
* HDMI
* USB 2.0 to USB switcher to allow wireless keyboard sharing.
* Audio Out
This device has so many expansions options, with the 10 port USB 3 hub purchased at the same time the opportunities are endless. I thought at first I had an issue with playing Video; however it was the Video at fault and not the device. I raised a query at 22:12 and 45 minutes later had a response at 23:00 in the evening UK time, this is an excellent service and they really care. Thanks Roze
I have a 3 year old laptop that has internal USB3 available via Express port where I have a USB3 express card with 2 USB3 ports. Into this I plug the UD-3900 Universal Docking station. It does what it says on the tin with some minor quirks. It must be plugged into external power in order to function reliably so I use a USB charger which has a USB2 socket for that. I often dual boot my laptop into Windows Server 2008R2 via an external drive via the eSata port on my laptop and that too works fine. I end up with 3 screens up and running including my laptop with one being WUXGA (1920 8 1200) and the laptop and an external screen at 1920 * 1080. I also sometimes connect via Citrix to a company’s network where they only make a certain maximum size available and that case I am forced to eject the Express card and rely just on the laptop’s 1920 * 1080 max screen resolution. That however is a limit imposed by an external system. When I do unplug the Express card, the two external screens that are plugged into the docking station stay displaying the last image and I just switch them both off. The speeds of the USB3 ports are fine. The extra USB2 ports are welcome. This does the business for me.
Recently posted a poor review on an equivalent hub which I am sending back due to a number of issues. One thing I want to take back is my own mistake of plugging in speakers and it not working. For this sort of USM hub you need to switch your default sound settings. In saying that the previous hub still is only worth 2 stars. Amazon posted this new one out out and arrived the next day. I’m afraid the difference in quality is worth far more than the additional 6 to buy. Main points are.
– small point but is heavier and more solid – unlike the other hub it’s not pulled over by the slightest misaligned lead.
– As well as the HDMI it has DVI instead of the previous hub’s VGA – there is a difference in quality. The HDMI is linked to main monitor 27″ Acer and the DVI to the second monitor 24″ Acer. Could bring the actual Acer ultrabook into play as well but would start to look like a scene out of ’24’
– 2 USB (3.0) at the front including one that can be used for charging. No problems putting in the dongle for the keyboard unlike the other hub which could not connect to the keyboard unless it was sitting right next to it.
– Performance is excellent. My ultrabook has an i7 processor but I’m fairly positive this would not affect performance with i5 or i3
Everything working the way it should. As an accountant it’s brilliant to work on a 27″ screen and have a supporting document on a 24″ screen just to the left.
Plugable appears to be a good make and its products get good reviews. Not the dearest but not the cheapest either. However, don’t try to save a few pounds by going for something that is not an established make.
The device does everything it promises. I have a lenovo twist which I am using as my main work computer. I needed a good dockig station since the twist has only 2 usb3 ports and I would also wanted to drive two monitors. The UD-3900 performed flawlesly out of the box (I had installed the driver from the manufacturer’s site first). It drives two full HD monitors + gigabit ethernet + an external 3.0 usb drive + keyboard and mouse.
The only minor issue I have as that when the laptop goes to standby (so does the UD-3900) and then wakes up again the device is not connected (the green led on the device stays off). Even if I disconnect and reconnect the device. I have to restart the laptop (or go to hibernation and then back again) for the device to be connected again.
In total I am very pleased with the device.
I use a laptop as my primary machine and work at home with it hooked up to two 24 inch 1920 x 1200 monitors, a wired keyboard, a USB sound card and a printer. Previously I used a “Village Dock” ViDock 3 using the PC Express Card slot on My Viao Z12. This was bulky and slightly temperamental (You couldn’t power up with it plugged in and hibernation was always a problem. In addition the ViDock was very difficult to set up). Upgrading to a Vaio Pro I needed a new docking station as there is no PC Express slot. This was incredibly easy to set up (install the drivers from the website then plug in and go), works flawlessly with the above set up (including full screen video) and there is no issue about when and if you plug it in or remove it.
Update End May 2014. Still very impressed. Have added a Blu-Ray Reader/Writter and USB microphone (for Dragon dictation software) to the mix and it still performs flawlessly. It also providing plenty of power to both of these devices (The Blu-Ray drive comes with an extra USB plug to get extra power but this is not needed here).
I bought this as someone else used it to connect 2 monitors successfully to the same laptop i have i.e. a Dell XPS 12
I connected the plugable to my laptop first to let my win 8.1 update the drivers, and then connected my 2 viewsonic monitors to it, and nothing happened – neither monitor was detected. I then went to screen resolution to ask win 8.1 to detect the monitors – nothing. I rebooted the laptop and then some displaylink software initialised – and then 1 of the monitors got detected – this was the 1 monitor i connected via the HDMI port. The other monitor i connected using a DVI to HDMI cable as i wanted to use the HDMI input on both monitors – but i couldnt get it to work. I ended up using the DVI to VGA adapter that comes with pluggable and connecting to the VGA input on the monitor to get both monitors working.
I then added a mouse to the usb 2.0 port on the pluggable – a microsoft touch mouse – this was unusable – the mouse movement became very slow and jumped over large areas of the screen – i moved the mouse back to a usb port on my laptop to restore responsive behaviour.
Be good if the product had more HDMI ports, and replaced the usb 2.0 ports with usb 3.0 ones.