Article

AT&T adds new a Netgear 5G hotspot that you will actually be able to buy | CNet

From the horse’s mouth

AT&T

NETGEAR Nighthawk 5G Hotspot Pro Arrives at AT&T Sept. 18 (Press Release)

5G Product Page (announcing pending arrival of this Mi-Fi hotspot)

NETGEAR

NIGHTHAWK® M5 MOBILE ROUTER (MR5200) – Product Page

My Comments

Telstra has become the first telco in the world to offer a “Mi-Fi” mobile-broadband router that supports both 5G mobile broadband across all bands including mmWave on the Internet side and Wi-Fi 6 connectivity on the LAN side. This was offered when they initially launched their 5G mobile broadband service and this kind of coverage was important for Australian use where 5G services are likely to be deployed in sparsely-populated regional and rural areas.

AT&T now is offering to the general American public a Mi-Fi device that works on the full 5G waveband for its Internet connection side, and Wi-Fi 6 for its local network side. Here, that covers the lower frequencies of the 5G waveband along with the higher frequencies associated with mmWave coverage.

They previously offered a 5G Mi-Fi device but this was offered to a very limited customer base. Also Verizon offers a similar device with 5G and Wi-Fi 6 but their device only works the mmWave bands rather than the whole of the 5G band.

In addition, the Netgear Nighthawk 5G Mobile Hotspot Pro, also known as the MR5200,  that AT&T offers has an Ethernet LAN connection for use with printers, network-attached storage devices, desktop computers and smart TVs. It has USB-C connectivity, most likely for power and data (5G modem) functionality.

The Netgear Nighthawk 5G Mobile Hotspot Pro is fit for purpose with American emergency service thanks to its ability to work with FirstNet, which is AT&T’s LTE emergency-services communications network,

This device is expected to cost US$510 upfront or US$17 / month over 30 months before service costs. As well, AT&T are offering data service plans for this device with you paying US$60 per month for a 15Gb monthly data allowance or US$85 per month for 35Gb.

Their overage fee is US$10 for every 2Gb over your plan’s limit and, at the moment, they don’t have a “throttled bandwidth” option available for their plans in lieu of that. That will limit AT&T’s 5G mobile-broadband service’s role to a secondary or temporary Internet service. It is symptomatic of an American telecommunications and Internet-service that has become highly concentrated over the last five years with it heading slowly back to the “Ma Bell” days.

AT&T is rolling out 5G mobile-broadband coverage over most of the key cities in the USA that matter with this coverage increasing at the moment.

But AT&T’s Netgear Nighthawk 5G Mobile Hotspot Pro is one of the first devices of this kind offered to a dense Northern-Hemisphere country that ticks all the boxes for the latest wireless mobile-communications technologies. That is to provide 5G mobile broadband across the low frequency bands and high-frequency mmWave bands and supply this data across a Wi-Fi 6 LAN.

It is showing that mobile-telephony carriers are fronting up with Mi-Fi devices that work the 5G mobile broadband and WI-Fi 6 standards, leading to some very capable devices and services.

Product Listing – Officeworks Australia

This J Burrows lap desk which can be used with your laptop computer is available through Officeworks Australia. Similar desks may be available through other office-supply or similar stores.

Reading Portable Laptop Table – Oak and Black (AUD$29)

My Comments

You may find that your local office-supply superstore chain offers a “bed desk” that allows you to use your laptop computer while you are in bed or on the couch. This is something worth having for someone who is ill or convalescing and has to stay in bed, or it could allow one to use that laptop on the couch while you are working or playing games. Some of these can even become a surface to rest a keyboard on or move a mouse around if you have your computer resting on the coffee table.

These accessories are very important when it comes to using a laptop or similar regular computer running a desktop operating system while you are in bed or on a couch. A situation I have witnessed for myself with a child using a laptop for playing games and lying on a bed was an increased risk of overheating while the computer is on a bed. This is because the blankets, doona (comforter or duvet) and quilt can easily stifle any ventilation that is designed in to the laptop.

These kind of desks can be used with your laptop and on a sofa

In the living room, these bed desks will earn their keep when you use them on the couch or armchair for eating, taking notes or using a portable computer. This is more important when you have no table space near the couch to place your laptop on while you aren’t using the computer. As well, you aren’t tempted to place your laptop computer on the couch where it is at risk of being sat on and damaged or overheating due to being nestled in or rested on scatter cushions.

This one which Officeworks Australia offers under their J Burrows private label, that I am highlighting has swing-out metal legs so it straddles over you or a typical seat space on a sofa and has a swing-up panel for if you wanted a desireable working angle. That is something that may come in handy for reading or if you use a tablet or a 2-in-1 in tablet mode.

Of course having it lie flat is important not just for use as a food-service tray but if you are using it with a laptop or or use a 2-in-1 convertible in the “viewer”, “tent” or “laptop” modes. This brings forth the flexibility that this particular bed table offers. The Officeworks design identified here has no flanges at the back that rise above the top of the desk thus allowing for the laptop computer to cool itself effectively.

It is also worth paying attention to other “bed desks” or tray tables which can sit on a bed or couch if you are wanting something that suits your needs better. Here, they could be found at homewares stores, office-supply stores or the second-hand market especially at op-shops (thrift stores) or jumble sales.

If you buy any of these on the second-hand market, make sure that the tables are still intact can collapse and expand properly and smoothly when they want to. Here, it may be a good idea to try them out at the store or sale before you part with them, including expanding them and placing something as heavy as a loaded food tray or a laptop on the tray to make sure they don’t collapse under weight.

The tray-table that straddles across a bed or couch can be considered viable as we use computer technology in an increasingly-portable manner.

Article

Gateway Is Back and Making Laptops | Gizmodo

Gateway PCs return as Walmart exclusives, priced from $200 to $1200 | PC World

Holy cow! Gateway laptops return via Walmart exclusive | ZDNet

From the horse’s mouth

Walmart USA

Product Listing with prices

My Comments

Gateway, initially known as Gateway 2000, was a computer brand associated with affordable DOS/Windows personal computer packages that conveyed an increasing amount of value for money. This meant that you could get something decent and reliable for a price you wouldn’t quibble about.

Here, this company assembled the computers within the USA and sold them through bricks-and-mortar computer stores through a significant number of cities in North America. It is similar to how Radio Shack operated around the world through the 1970s and 1980s where you could get a decent piece of equipment at an affordable price. This happened from the mid 1990s to the early 2000s but they were known for a particular brand identity.

This identity was conveyed in the products’ packaging using spots associated with some dairy-cow breeds, relating to the company kicking off in rural America. As well, they ran multi-page ads in the various American computer magazines which effectively told a story and set a scene that related to American life through the years while advertising the various computer specials.

But it was taken over by Acer and subsequently extinguished. Bow Gateway has made a comeback to the USA market with a range of Windows laptops and Android tablets being sold at affordable prices.

Gateway equipment will end up being sold through Walmart, as part of the brand’s original vision to sell through a bricks-and-mortar storefront. It is very similar to how some of the consumer-electronics brands we have loved and reminisce about like AWA or Rank Arena are being sold – exclusively through particular big-box discount-store chains. Some people see this approach of bringing hack these classic brands, often associated with decent value-for-money goods, as a way for retailers to evoke nostalgia that surrounds them. This kind of brand comeback occurs during hard times as people seek comfort in the nostalgia of prior brands

In other countries for example, Aldi is doing something very similar by selling some computers and consumer electronics equipment through their discount supermarkets under their own Medion or Tevion brands.

The Windows-powered laptop range offered by Gateway will use Intel or AMD CPU and NVIDIA RTX graphics horsepower and be available at the different performance classes expected of today’s laptops. There will also be mobile-platform tablets that run Android in Gateway’s product line.

For example, their Ultra Thin series of laptop computers starts at USD$200 for a machine kitted out with a 11.6” Full HD screen, and an AMD A4 processor at least.. Here, a decent machine would set you back around US$500 and give you an Intel Core i5 current-spec CPU, 16Gb RAM and 256Gb SSD storage, 14.1” Full HD screen and an HD webcam. The most expensive option would be a multimedia laptop for US$999 having a 15.6” screen and performance specifications for gaming and content creation. This one even has NVIDIA RTX 2060 GPU for its graphics infrastructure.

This return to form by Gateway is being seen as viable due to reinvigorated market interest in regular computers especially laptops, and mobile-platform tablets being used at home. This is due to COVID-19 driving us more to work, run our businesses or study from home and we are relying on these devices for these activities including the many Zoom calls we make.

This will open up a stronger interest in second-tier brands including retailers’ private labels and distributor-exclusive labels stepping up to the plate when it comes to offering value-priced open-platform computing equipment for consumers.

Articles

Dell is offering variants of the latest XPS 17 desktop-replacement laptop that will be pitched at prosumers and content creators

What is Dell’s XPS 17 ‘Creator Edition?’ | Windows Central

Dell Reveals Redesigned XPS 15 and Powerful New XPS 17 Aimed at Creators | Petapixel

Dell’s new XPS Desktop looks to be a premium powerhouse PC | PC World Australia

From the horse’s mouth

Dell

XPS 17 Series (USA product page with Creator Edition packages)

XPS Desktop series (USA product page with Creator Edition packages)

NVIDIA

RTX Studio program (Product Page)

My Comments

As I have previously reported, computer-equipment manufacturers are waking up to the realisation that prosumers and content creators are a market segment to address. This group of users was heavily courted by Apple with the MacOS platform but Windows-based computer vendors are answering this need as a significant amount of advanced content-creation and content-presentation software is being written for or ported to Windows 10.

Here, the vendors are shoehorning computer specifications for some of their performance-focused computers towards the kind of independent content creator or content presenter who seeks their own work and manages their own IT. This can range from hobbyists to those of us who create online content to supplement other activities towards small-time professionals who get work “by the job”. It can also appeal to small-time organisations who create or present content but don’t necessarily have their own IT departments or have the same kind of IT department that big corporations have.

Lenovo answered this market with a range of prosumer computers in the form of the Creator Series which encompassed two laptops and a traditional tower-style desktop. Now Dell is coming up to the plate with their Creator Edition computer packages. Here, this approach is to have computers that are specifiied for content creation or content presentation but aren’t workstation-class machines identified with a distinct “Creator Edition” logo.

The first of these are the Creator Edition variants of the latest Dell XPS 17 desktop-replacement laptop. These have, for their horsepower, an Intel Core i7-10875H CPU and a discrete GPU in the form of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX-2060 with 6Gb display memory, based on the NVIDIA Max-Q mobile graphics approach. This will run RTX Studio graphics drivers that are tuned for content-professional use and will be part of the RTX Studio program that NVIDIA runs for content professionals.

The display used in these packages is a 17” 4K UHD touch display that is rated for 100% Adobe RGB colour accuracy. The storage capacity on these computers is 1 Terabyte in the form of a solid-state disk. The only difference between the two packages is that the cheaper variant will run with 16Gb system RAM and the premium variant having 32Gb system RAM.

Dell is also offering a Creator Edition variant of its XPS-branded desktop computer products. This will be in the form of a traditional tower-style desktop computer but is equipped with the latest Intel Core i9 CPU, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 Super graphics card and able to be specced with RAM up to 64Gb and storage of up to 2Tb. It has all the expandability of a traditional form-factor desktop computer, something that would come in handy for project studios where special audio and video interface cards come in to play.

What is being shown up here is that computer manufacturers are recognising the content-creator and prosumer market segment who wants affordable but decent hardware that can do the job. It will be interesting to see who else of the large computer manufacturers will come up to the plate and have a product range courting the content creators and prosumers.

Articles

The next affordable unmanaged Ethernet switch will soon appear as a multi-gigabit type

The cheapest multi-gigabit switches (2.5G, 5, & 10Gbps) you can buy now – Affordable 10GbE & 2.5GbE networking | Just Android (UK)

My Comments

A trend that is starting to appear is the increased availability of multi-gigabit wired network hardware at reasonable prices. This is a trend that will continue to appear over the next few years.

Examples of this include affordable PCI Express network interface cards for traditional desktop computers and USB3 Ethernet adaptors that support 2.5Gb network speeds.These will use Category 5 cable and RJ45 modular plugs.

It also extends to standard-form-factor motherboards for “three-box” desktop computers being pitched at the performance end of the market being equipped with multi-gigabit Ethernet connections.

As well, newer high-end Synology and QNAP network-attached-storage units are being equipped with the ability for users to upgrade their device’s network connection to 2.5Gb Ethernet at a reasonable price. This is in conformance with the way Synology and QNAP are designing their NAS units to be computers in their own right.

Let’s not forget that some affordable Ethernet switches are appearing with at least one 2.5Gb Ethernet connection like this 5-port unmanaged unit from QNAP. The use of extant Category 5 cabling infrastructure for a 2.5Gb Ethernet run means that you don’t have to pull new cabling through to upgrade an existing “wired-for-Ethernet” installation to that speed.

Of course the 10Gb idea will be seen as more expensive because of the use of newer cable types that support the higher bandwidth. A cabling upgrade of this kind can be done to an existing “wired-for-Ethernet” setup with the legacy cable being used to pull the newer cable type through. This avoids the need to drill through walls to replace new cable.

What do I see as driving the takeup of multiple-gigabit Ethernet networks for home and small business use?

One of these trends is Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 7 wireless networks having the possibility of multiple-gigabit speeds. Here, you could use high-performance Wi-Fi 6 access points, including distributed-wireless systems supporting that technology, with a multi-gigabit Ethernet as a wired-network backhaul for those access points. This is especially if you want stable operation from a multi-AP Wi-Fi 6 or Wi-Fi 7 network.

As well, some countries and neighbourhoods are laying the groundwork for high-speed Internet. This is through strong efforts to increase the penetration of fibre-optic next-generation broadband infrastructure through a neighbourhood, with cities and towns wanting to claim bragging rights to “Gigabit City” or “Gigabit Town” titles. That is where every household or business has the ability to have Internet bandwidth of at least 1Gbps.

The bar for these communities will then be raised to multiple-gigabit levels through “in-rack” upgrades done to existing fibre-optic networks. This is where a network is upgraded simply with the upgrading of network infrastructure electronics that exists in the equipment racks at ISP central offices, headends and exchanges. It is rather than rolling out trucks and digging up roads to pull new fibre-optic cable through a neighbourhood.

Another is the increased ubiquity of 4K UHDTV with an increased number of affordable sets with the right screen size pitched for the entry-level or  secondary-lounge-area/bedroom use appearing on the market. It would lead to multiple 4K UHDTV sets being installed around a house. This is underscored by an increased number of video-on-demand services delivering 4K UHDTV content with reasonable subscription prices in the case of SVOD services. This will lead to concurrent viewing of 4K video content in multiple-adult households.

Infact the multiple-adult household is being seen as the norm especially in urban areas where land prices are increasing rapidly. This is because housing, whether to own or rent, will become very expensive for a young couple in these areas. Similarly, there is the appeal of multiple-generation living with a family living with their older parents. It facilitates the concept of “ageing at home” which avoids the need for older parents who need extra care being sent to questionable aged-care facilities.

Another key driver is the rise of content creators working from home with their jobs involving large files. Examples of this would include video content with a resolution of 4K or higher, or multichannel / multitrack sound mixes. Such users, especially those who work for themselves on a “job-by-job” basis or use this to support a hobby or other endeavour are now considered a key market segment for personal IT. As well, it is even driven by the COVID-19 pandemic which has had us work from home more.

What will hinder the takeup of this kind of connection

At the moment, the main hindrance to multiple-Gigabit wired Ethernet being ubiquitous is the current-generation Internet connection offered to most people. This includes the routers, modems and other equipment installed at the customers’ premises.

As well, use cases associated with multiple-gigabit Ethernet need to be demonstrated to the greater populace in order to justify this concept. This may be about including a higher-throughput backbone for Wi-Fi 6 distributed-Wi-Fi applications, having a network that handles multiple 4K UHDTV streams or simply being ready for higher-bandwidth broadband Internet service.

How should you go about this kind of upgrade?

A content professional, whether working for someone else or running their own shop, would justify this kind of network. It is more so where large multimedia files are the norm for the work. This can also extend to other professionals like architects and designers who are dealing with large files.

But it can be seen as a long-term wired-network upgrade goal especially if you are wanting to create a high-speed trunk link between multiple network-device clusters. This can be facilitated with a single few-port multiple-gigabit switch at the “hub” of your home network and a few Gigabit Ethernet switches which have one multiple-Gigabit Ethernet socket on them at each “branch” of the network. Here, this creates a “data freeway” between the different clusters. Even if you start out with the single few-port multiple-gigabit switch at the hub of your home network’s wired Ethernet segment, it will be about the switch creating its own “high-performance data freeway” within itself.

Such a setup can also come in to its own if you are upgrading a Wi-Fi 6 network to access points that are capable of using that kind of connection for a wired-backhaul option. As well, the new Wi-Fi 7 wireless-network technology will underscore more of a need to upgrade your wired Ethernet network towards multi-gigabit technology.

The 10 Gigabit tecbnology will also appeal to people who are considering an optical-fibre LAN link like a robust link between a house and an outbuilding. Here, such a link will satisfy future needs and avoid the problem of an inter-building link becoming unstable due to weather conditions. Such links could go up to 300 metres for multimode fibre or 40 kilometres for single-mode fibre which is more costly.

Conclusion

The idea behind the affordable multi-gigabit Ethernet technology for local area networks is to provide an upgrade path for wired network infrastructure to support higher bandwidth. It is more useful as a long-term upgrade approach or whenever you are dealing with many large files.

Updates

Originally posted on 7 September 2020 and updated 13 March 2024 to factor in the arrival of Wi-Fi 7 wireless network technology with multiple-Gigabit Ethernet gaining more relevance as a wired backhaul for Wi-Fi 7 wireless networks.

Article

You can use the same XBox One controller with your Windows computer as well as that console

How to use an Xbox One controller with your PC | Windows Central

My Comments

If you do play games using your Windows computer, you may want to use a game controller as a better alternative to the keyboard and mouse or trackpad. This may be of importance with most fast-paced games where games-console-style controllers may suit you better.

The same game controllers that work with Microsoft’s XBox One games console can work with your Windows computer out of the box. This is without needing to add any extra drivers to your Windows setup.

It doesn’t matter what form factor the controllers come in so that flight-yoke or steering-wheel controllers designed for the XBox One can work with Windows computers. As well, the XBox Adaptive Controller which brought video gaming to those with limited abilities can also work with Windows computers.

This also applies to the XBox Adaptive Controller and its custom switches that opens up gaming for those of us with limited mobility

For that matter, the XBox Adaptive Controller could open up the same kind of real-world-interface programming that was pitched during the 1980s for computers of the BBC Micro or Commodore 64 ilk. This would be feasible if you know how to write XBox controller functionality in to the software you are developing.

Physical connections

Wired setup

This is very simple if you have a full-function “charge and sync” Micro-USB cable on hand of the type that was used to charge or transfer data to “open-frame” mobile devices. These will typically have a standard USB Type-A connection which will work with most computers.

USB-C and Thunderbolt 3 docks and adaptors like the Dell WD19TB Thunderbolt 3 dock can allow you to use the XBox One game controllers with your newer laptop’s USB-C port

If your computer uses USB-C or Thunderbolt 3 as its only peripheral connection option, you can buy a USB-C to Micro-USB cable  (Amazon, Harvey Norman) and use that instead of the aforementioned USB-A to MicroUSB cable for connecting your controller. Or you simply use a USB-C adaptor with a USB-A female socket with your existing cable for your USB-C-based computer. As well, if you use the computer with a USB-C hub or dock that has at least one USB-A port, you can use the ordinary Micro-USB cable with that setup.

You may also find that connecting two controllers directly to the host or via a USB hub may work for local multiplayer games.

Wireless setup

Older XBox One game controllers will need to be used with a Microsoft XBox Wireless Adaptor which is a USB transceiver dongle for XBox One game controllers. This plugs in to any USB Type-A port on your computer but look at the notes in the above secton about wired setups if your computer just has USB-C ports.

If your computer like this Dell Inspiron 15 Gaming high-performance laptop supports Bluetooth, you don’t need to use a receiver dongle if you use very recent XBox controllers

If your computer supports Bluetooth which most laptops, all-in-ones and low-profile computers do; current-generation game controllers will support Bluetooth connectivity. It also holds true if you are using a Bluetooth adaptor dongle or expansion card with your desktop computer that doesn’t have Bluetooth connectivity. In all these cases, you have to be sure that your computer’s Bluetooth functionality is turned on and active.

Pairing your games controller with your Windows computer is very simple, but you have to have the games controller turned off beforehand. This typically asks you to open “Settings” in Windows by clicking on the “gear” icon in the Start menu. Then you click the Devices option which has your computer able to listen for devices about to “come online”.

Press the large X button on your XBox games controller to turn it on. Subsequently, your Windows regular computer will list it as a newly-discovered device. Click this device to finish off the pairing process.

IF you are setting up multiple controllers for a local multiplayer game, you may have to repeat this process for each controller.

Further notes

You will need to install the XBox Accessories app from the Windows Store to get the most out of your controller. This is important for setting up different control layouts which may be necessary for different games and different players.

It will also enable a “co-pilot mode” to allow two controllers to manipulate the same character in a game. This can be of use in helping novice players get the hang of a game or can allow you to use two different controller types as complementary controllers.

What this will mean for people who play games using the XBox One console or a Windows computer is that they only need to have one set of controllers that can be used with both devices. That is rather than having to retain a controller for your PC and one for the XBox One.

Article – From the horse’s mouth

The Dell WD19TB Thunderbolt 3 dock – an example of the modular USB-C docks that Dell offers

Dell

WD-19TB Thunderbolt 3 dock (Product Page)

My Comments

Dell has defined a series of business USB-C docks that can have their host connectivity technology upgraded or replaced by the user.

What are these docks about?

This series of expansion modules, known as the Dell WD19 family have in common video connections in the form of a single HDMI, two DisplayPorts and a USB-C with DisplayPort alt mode connectivity. The above-mentioned USB-C DisplayPort-enabled port, along with another USB-C port located up front offer data transfer and Power Delivery power-source functionality. There are three USB 3.1 Type-A sockets with one up-front along with a Gigabit Ethernet network-adaptor function. As well, there is a basic USB sound module that has a headphone/microphone socket up front and a line-out socket behind, which may suit the use of a wired headset, powered speakers or that old stereo amplifier connected to those old speakers you use for computer sound.

The devices are pitched for business use, especially with large businesses who practice hot-desking a lot, using shared workspace setups where you connect a laptop computer to at least one large screen as well as a full-size keyboard, full-size  mouse and Ethernet network connection.  This leads to separate modules being available for USB-C connectivity, Thunderbolt 3 connectivity and dual-USB-C connectivity depending on the performance needs of the workspace’s user group.

The power available on these units is up to 90 watts for equipment adhering to the current USB Power Delivery specification. But Dell takes this further to 130W for their own products because this specification currently doesn’t address the likes of the XPS 17 which demand more power output. This may be something that will be investigated by the USB Implementers Forum for supporting USB Power Delivery on higher-powered devices namely powerful large-screen laptops or “next-unit-of-computing” desktops.

For that matter, the Thunderbolt 3 variant has another USB-C port that supports Power Delivery, USB-C and Thunderbolt 3 data transfer and DisplayPort alt mode.

If you are buying the docks, you can choose between the different units offering the different host connectivity types and pay appropriately for the connection type. But Dell sells these modules as a separate accessory so you can upgrade your dock to a better host-connectivity type like Thunderbolt 3.

What I like about this family of docks and the user-replaceable host-connectivity modules that Dell offers is if a host-connectivity module fails and the dock becomes useless, you can just replace that module. There is also the ability to upgrade your dock to newer expectations at a later time.

Although this is optimised to work primarily with Dell computers, the WD19 series of docks can work with any computer that has a USB-C or Thunderbolt 3 connection. This is in a totally “plug-and-play” manner without the need to install device drivers.

Room to innovate

But it could allow Dell to have a range of business-class docks ready for full-on USB4,  Thunderbolt 4 or any future host-peripheral connection technology. This is with the ability for users to upgrade them to that technology when the time comes.

Also having user-replaceable host-connectivity modules could open up to Dell the idea of external graphics modules with soldered-in graphics chipsets that can be added on to these docks. Most likely this idea would be limited to high-end mobile graphics chipsets that give a bit of “pep” to your Ultrabook’s graphics rather than desktop graphics chipsets that provide the full performance.

As well, having the dock part as a separate module can allow Dell to build on this system further. For example, it could also be about creation of a multimedia variant of this dock with a better sound module having line inputs or SPDIF connectivity along with more USB connections. Similarly, there could be a dock with multiple-Gigabit Ethernet connectivity that could appeal to “workstation-class” network computing.

Limitations that are identified

From all of the material I have seen on the Internet about these devices. there are some limitations that show up here.

For example, for the single-USB-C or Thunderbolt-3 connection modules, Dell could fit each module with a USB-C socket for the upstream (host-side) connection rather than using a captive USB-C cable. This could allow the user to use longer USB-C cables thus allowing for installation flexibility. It can also allow the user to replace a broken cable themselves, something that will become real if they frequently plug and unplug their laptop from the dock.

From a video review that I had seen, there could be the ability to support Thunderbolt-level multiple-screen display for three outputs for the Thunderbolt 3 variant. This could work better with the Apple Macintosh platform, but “open-platform” implementations like Windows don’t need to worry about this issue much. But it may not work properly with the modular approach behind this dock’s design.

Conclusion

But the Dell WD19 business USB-C dock family underscores the reality that you have to pay dearly for something that is robust and will last you in to the long term. It can also show that a design platform can be achieved for premium, business and multimedia docks where there is a goal to see them last longer and be future-proof.