If your laptop lacks many ports, the most impactful upgrade you can make is a good docking station. Right now, this Anker 10-in-1 docking station is on sale for just $79.99, the first time it’s been discounted since its launch in September. This is its lowest price ever and a good deal for the amount of ports and power you get with it.
This docking station has a built-in cable that plugs directly into your laptop’s USB-C port. Then anything you plug into the dock can be used by your laptop. HDMI and DisplayPort let you connect external monitors, USB-A are great for peripherals and storage drives, Ethernet gives you wired Internet, and the front USB-C and SD/microSD slots are great for quick transfers from cards and other drives.
Unlike many bases and hubs, this one has a digital display that shows all kinds of statuses in real time: which ports are being used, how much power is being delivered to connected devices, speed of active data transfers, operating temperature of the base, and more. The button at the top turns the screen on and off, but you can also double-tap to start a customizable timer that can be set up to 25 minutes.
There’s one big downside if you’re going to use it with a MacBook: with two monitors connected, you can only use them in “mirrored” mode (they’ll show the same content) rather than “extended” mode (extra desktop space).
Another caveat is that it is not the right dock for older laptops. This requires a full-featured USB-C port with USB4 or Thunderbolt 3/4/5 support to take full advantage of its features. It also doesn’t come with a charger, so you’ll need to provide your own (cable and power adapter) if you want to keep your laptop charged while connected to the dock.
This solid 20% discount is a real deal, bringing this Anker 10-in-1 docking station down to a new low price of $79.99. If it’s not right for you, check out some of our other favorites in our roundups of the best Thunderbolt docking stations and best USB-C hubs.
