Docking station comparison.

[Gregg Eshelman]

Having just got a fancy docking station for my PC
laptop, I noticed how similar this 1998 piece of
Toshiba equipment was to my DuoDock 1.

Common features rundown.

Power dock/undock on both.

Expansion slots on both. 2 NuBus for Apple, 1 PCI and
2 ISA/PCI for Toshiba.

Internal 50 pin narrow SCSI connector on both.

External SCSI connector, HDI 30 on Apple, HD-50 on
Toshiba.

Keyboard, mouse, serial, audio ports on both.

Neither has built in ethernet. :P

Floppy drive on both. (I need to get one for the PC.)

Bay for hard drive. HD only on Apple, open front 5.25"
half height on Toshiba. (Can take just about any SCSI
or IDE device that'll fit.)

Monitor port on both.

Kensington style lock slots. (Plus additional flip out
metal cable lug on Desk Station.)

Features only on DuoDock.

Enhanced video support with more VRAM built in.
(Have to add videocard to Desk Station.)

Modem jack. (Built in modem on Tecra 8000 on _side_
of laptop, not rear, so can be accessed while docked.)

"One piece" integrated unit for monitor to set on.
(Desk Station has non-integrated seperate monitor
stand that looks like a metal reinforced plastic
tray table with legs.)

Features only on Desk Station.

Internal IDE device port.

SelectBay that supports floppy drive, CD-ROM, hard
drive and any other SelectBay devices, if you have
the right adapter. (It's actually _not_ a Tecra 8000
SelectBay. It was designed for some other Toshiba
laptop and needs an adaptor for the 8000 series
drives.)

Dual Type III CardBus slots.

Ability to use docked laptop's screen, keyboard and
pointing device instead of having to use external
ones.

Summed up, it shows how advanced the Duo concept was,
well ahead of the times! :) Too bad neither Apple nor
any PC maker has thought to do a major update of the
Duo theme with a super stripped down laptop with only
a hard drive, but with a really nice screen, and
a docking station that adds all the desktop bells and
whistles.

The laptop would only need one USB port, one FireWire
port and a phone jack for the built in v.92 modem.
Maybe a 10/100 ethernet port too.

Today's technology ought to be able to keep the thing
down to around 2 pounds, maybe less, especially when
organic/plastic light emitting diode display
technology
matures. The lid could be only 1/8" thick with much of
that just the shell for support.

An ideal laptop for the person who works while
travelling, never ever installs software or plays a
CD or DVD on the road, just needs a lightweight and
powerful computer that will do what needs to be
done. This sort of person typically "docks" at home
or work to make any software changes or lets the IT
department at work handle it. He or she normally
doesn't need to print anything away from work and
gets files on and off the computer by logging into
a network remotely. The major selling point would be
the light weight!

The two Duos I have were considered very light weight,
not having a floppy drive or any ports other than the
printer and the phone jack. But the 1995 Dell Latitude
XPi P75D wasn't much heavier and it had a full
complement of ports to make it fully "desktoppable"
without the docking station and it had a built in
floppy drive. (But no built in sound like the Duos.)

What a difference a couple of years makes, eh?

Who here would like to see a new Duo from Apple?

=====
"When you are wrestling for possession of a sword, the man with the handle always wins." Hiro Protagonist

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