diff between port replicator and docking station

[Lian Shen]

Hi there,

Could someone tell me what the difference between port replicator and
docking station is? (except the price :=)

thanks!

lian

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| Lian Shen Unix (IRIX) System Administrator |
| Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich ETHZ, CH-8092 |
| |
| "God is a mathematician of very high order, and he used very |
| advanced mathematics in constructing the universe." (Dirac) |
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[Plato90s]

Basically, a port replicator is the bare basics, gives you additional ports
that you can have hardware already hooked up. Saves time.

A full docking station has all the features of a port replicator, plus open
slots to insert things like modular CD/floppy for those who use them, full size
PCI/ISA slots and 5 1/4" slots just like a desktop. The major utility is to be
able to put in a more powerful video card or a SCSI controller. The additional
slots you can use to put in a large HD or a fast CD.

**************

[Mike Marquis]

As I understand it, port replicators are just conveniences for allowing
easy hookup to fixed assets at your desk, such as power, printer,
network, keyboard, monitor, etc. by just sliding it in and NOT messing
with cables and such. Docking stations contain more intelligence and
some expandability such as ISA slots, SCSI slots, HD bays, video cards,
etc.

Mike

Lian Shen wrote:
>
> Hi there,
>
> Could someone tell me what the difference between port replicator and
> docking station is? (except the price :=)
>
> thanks!
>
> lian
>

[Hugh Sparks]

Lian Shen <li...@math.ethz.ch> wrote:

: Could someone tell me what the difference between port replicator and

: docking station is? (except the price :=)

The terms are not always used to make any distinction. It depends
on the manufacturer.

In the case of Toshiba, the docking station lets you add standard
IDE & PCI cards. It has to be a big box with power supply and room
for the extra cards. Toshiba also makes a "Port Replicator". This is
a passive block of connectors that lets you leave all your cables
hooked up to the replictor when you take the computer away. The
computer has a special wide connector on the back that, in effect,
hooks up all the other cables at once.

-Hugh Sparks, spa...@winternet.com

[Betsy Cohn]

Ah, be careful. A port replicator CAN add functionality that the laptop
itself doesn't have. An example, which I find totally bewildering, is
the lack of a serial port on the butterfly 701 IBM laptops. It is there
on the port replicator.

[que sera sera]

In article <350444F0...@math.ethz.ch>, Lian Shen <li...@math.ethz.ch> wrote:
>Hi there,

>
>Could someone tell me what the difference between port replicator and
>docking station is? (except the price :=)
>

>thanks!
>
>lian
>

Port replicators generally do what its name suggests--replicate the ports,
e.g., serial, parallel, CRT, PS/2, etc. of the notebook so that the user can
connect to all his/her peripherals in one step instead of having to do so
individually. There are "enhanced" port replicators such as the one I have for
my Toshiba that also adds extra PCMCIA/PC Card slots.

A docking station, on the other hand, does everything that the port replicator
does and some even offer the ability to add full-size peripherals, e.g., video
cards, hard drives, cd-roms via ISA/SCSI bays. It's also, not surprisingly,
more expensive than the port replicator.

[Ari Kukkonen]

I'd like to buy a port replicator that fits the olivetti echos.

Ari
--
Ari Kukkonen - Enjoy daily http://www.iki.fi/aku/today.html
A myth is a religion in which no one any longer believes.
- James Feibleman, "Understanding Philosophy", 1973