What's the performance on USB docking stations, and can they be used when laptop is closed?

I'm looking into a docking station for a Dell Studio laptop. I don't see the traditional docking stations I'm familiar with - the kind (for a Dell Latitude, for example) where you sit the laptop on top of a long row of pins. Instead, I'm seeing a lot of USB docking stations.

1. When I close my laptop, I want it to go into sleep mode (not turn off - just go to sleep). If I then connect a USB docking station to the laptop while it's closed, will it wake up?


2. What's the performance on USB 2.0 docking stations with a new Dell Studio? Can all of the video and internet traffic really go through a USB 2.0 connection while still providing the best video frame rates and internet speeds?


3. When you undock, I assume you'd have to use the "Safely Remove Hardware" feature in Windows. Will that successfully 'remove' everything attached to the docking station - external drives, thumb drives, etc?

Answer

if you have a Dell laptop, it will not be a problem for the points listed in your question. I've been using a Dell lattitude D620 and I've been playing WOW on it even when it was docked. Internet traffic won't be affected also. When you undock a Dell laptop, you can do this while the computer is on, off, sleeping... No issue or possibility of with that.

There is a lot of reviews, pros and cons regarding Dell Docking station on this website. and here for the dock your may lock for

I also used a Belkin model and it was the worst ever! When the user (CIO) closed the lid, the resolution given by the dock was 1024x768 at its max! It was also a pain in the nect to install it on Windows Vista...

Basically, Dell docking station are the most reliable and I miss that, since I have a toshiba

So, here is my answer from 1 to 3

Dell:

1: No, you have to power it on by youself.

2: No lost of performance, still good performances.

3: I never had to Safely Remove Hardware before undocking my laptop. I undocked it when my laptop was shutdown. But, I know you can dock/undock it when it's on without any problem.

Belkin:
Just don't use this...