Question 1

Does this product support Mac?

Accepted Answer

Hi,

I bought this for my Dad's laptop (Windows 7) and he uses all the time.

I tried with my Macbook Air  with Mac OS 10.8.5 and I was able to use both monitors and my laptop monitor at the same time.   I have not done full testing on it.

Question 2

Can you use both monitors as different extensions, making you able to use all three monitors?

Accepted Answer

Yes, I am able to extend the display to 2 external and the primary laptop display, however I think it will depend on your Laptops hardware more than the Dock's capability's.

Question 3

Will this docking station work with a KVM?

Accepted Answer

The short answer to the question is no. I'm very technical and tried numerous tricks but the bottom line is I could never get it to work well. I had some partial success but no joy, ultimately, so I used a different approach that is really great. I don't know what the goal here is but I wanted to have my Mac and my PC set so I could switch back and forth with all the screens on either computer. I did use this docking station and I love it for what it does, but switching between machines is not one of those things. I connected my Mac using the native screen and extending it with the dock and 2 more USB to DVI adapters plugged into the dock for a total of 5 screens. Then I connected to my PC using remote desktop and setting it to use all screens. Now, if I want to work on my Mac, I just run normally and if I want to switch to my PC, I launch the Remote Desktop app and I'm running all 5 screens as my PC. I switch back and forth just by minimizing or restoring the Remote Desktop app. The Mac app (from Microsoft) let's you choose which screen(s) you want your remote session on so you can have both PC and the Mac screens up at the same time and just move from one to the other by a simple movement of the mouse without switching via a KVM. It works great with two caveats. You don't want to use the PC as the host and remote into the Mac because it's far more complicated to setup and you have less control over selecting the screens to use for the remote. The other caveat is that to do remote desktop to your windows machine, it has to be the professional edition. You cannot remote into Windows Home Premium, but there is a workaround. Terminal Services Plus has a really slick program that allows your Home edition of Windows to provide you remote capability, for far less money than upgrading Windows. It even makes it possible to connect to your computer away from home. The required router and DDNS settings are beyond the scope of this but you can find instructions online.

Question 4

Is the software available other than through the supplied DVD (e.g., via internet)? Some new laptops don't come with an integrated CD/DVD, and the recommendation was to load software before hooking up device.

Accepted Answer

Yes, go to the startech dot com website and download the latest driver. Put in your model number (usb3sdockhd) and look on the right for the displaylink.zip.

Question 5

Will it work when plugged into a usb 2.0 port on an older laptop running windows 8.1 but doesn't support usb 3.0?

Accepted Answer

Addendum: Do not expect the Video Drivers to work as advertised since you are using a greatly reduced throughput.

It's possible that with USB 2.0 HS that it might work, but definitely not with vanilla USB 2.0.

Question 6

With this device can I have my laptop hooked up using email, etc... and then assign the two dual monitors to display a Remote Destop?

Accepted Answer

Yes you can assign the other 2 monitors to a remote desktop session.  They will act as an extension of your first monitor's desktop.  Just drag the remote desktop session to one of the two monitors and maximize it.  I purchased this docking station for my mom.  I wouldn't recommend using the 2 monitors for high intensity graphics (gaming / video editing) but for remote desktop sessions, word processing, browsing, and email it works just fine.  Just remember when you install the docking station, install the software / drivers *before* you plug the docking station into your computer.  Otherwise you will run into trouble.

Question 7

How many USB ports are available on the StarTech.com USB3SDOCKHD docking station?

Accepted Answer

The docking station has a total of 6 USB ports, which include 2 x USB 3.0 ports and 4 x USB 2.0 ports.

Question 8

What types of video outputs does the StarTech.com USB3SDOCKHD docking station support?

Accepted Answer

The StarTech.com USB3SDOCKHD docking station supports dual video outputs through HDMI and DVI.

Question 9

Does this work with Linux?

Accepted Answer

I would think it would.  I guess it would depend on the Linux drivers.

Questions & Answers