UniXpress USB Port Replicator offers Notebook users VGA & Dual-PC Support
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Image Gallery ( 2 images )May 27, 2005 Ever since Charles Darwin introduced his theory of evolution in the nineteenth century, countless scientists have searched for missing links - parts of the evolutionary line that should have existed, yet haven’t been found. Similarly, notebook users know all about missing links – between their laptops and desktops/peripherals when they return to the office. If you want to hook your laptop to your peripherals, you have to disconnect the cables from your PC and connect them to the laptop. If you need something from the desktop, you may well have to reverse the process and reconnect everything once again. Various “species” have evolved over the years to address this problem without ever being fully satisfactory. Docking stations, for example, are proprietary and work with only one specific laptop model. USB port replicators, on the other hand, are non-proprietary, but don’t function with a Video Graphics Array (VGA) connector – the connector that goes between the PC and the desktop monitor. Fortunately, a vital missing link in notebook evolution has finally been discovered – the UniXpress USB Port Replicator.
“UniXpress is the latest advancement in the notebook evolution, bridging the worlds of VGA, USB, and non-USB peripherals to the notebook with one single USB cable,” says Addlogix’ Matthew Chang. “And for the first time, road warriors can achieve 1280 x 1024 resolution via a USB connection from their laptop to a nearby monitor or even use a third screen without adding a video card.”
Docking Hazards
Docking stations for portable computers have existed now for a number of years. They are used in particular by frequent business travelers. Such people probably have long since decided that it is easiest to use the laptop as their primary computer. Therefore, he has everything loaded on it – databases, presentations, document files, and more. When they return to the office from a business trip, they need to connect their laptops to the printer, the network and an external monitor for a larger screen. Other peripherals might also need to be connected such as PDA’s. Plugging in one cable at a time becomes tedious -- printer, network, monitor, keyboard, mouse and perhaps others.
Docking stations emerged as an early solution to the problem. They basically consist of a piece of plastic the width of the computer and a large multi-pin proprietary connector. You connect it to your laptop and have all the other cables already hooked up to the docking station – whether they use serial ports, parallel ports, or USB. One connection, rather than half a dozen is a decent advancement in itself.
The downside, of course, is that these connectors are proprietary. A Dell laptop, for example, needs a specific type of docking station made for that model. A Sony laptop won’t work with that docking station, and a different model Dell probably won’t function either. When you decide to upgrade your notebook computer, you typically have to buy a new docking station too.
“Docking stations might be likened to the emergence of Neanderthal Man,” says Chang, “a definite improvement on what came before, but by no means the finished article.”
Port Replicators
USB port replicators evolved as a non-proprietary alternative to docking stations. One device could be used to connect any laptop to its various office peripherals. Their name is self explanatory – they replicate the peripheral ports on the back of the notebook.
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