Docking Station for Spectre X360 15t

[Bill9469]

I bought an Anker 7 in 1 Premium USB-C docking station for my 15-ap012dx and it does not show any video. I also could not get USB-C charging of the laptop to work with the Anker dock.

I have worked with Anker support and they were very helpful and responsive, but no luck. I connected the Anker to my son's laptop and everything is fine.

I found a post here on HP that says that display over USB-C on this model is not supported. 

https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-Video-Display-and-Touch/Connecting-two-monitors-to-a-laptop/t...

Are there any HP or 3rd party docks that will work with this laptop? I would love to have a one plug solution to charge, HDMI, Ethernet, and USB connect? If that is not possible, is a USB3 universal dock the way to go?

[EddyK · Accepted solution]

Hello @Bill9469,

Nice choice. I personally love Anker's products.

Unfortunately, there is nothing Anker support could do in your situation because your laptop's USB-C port, indeed, does not support video. Instead, it's just a USB 3.0 port disguised in the form of USB-C. 

Some hubs you could get and theoretically get it working include the following:

https://store.hp.com/us/en/pdp/hp-usb-c-to-usb-a-hub

https://www.anker.com/products/variant/usb-c-to-ethernet-adapter/A8341041

Best regards,

Eddy

[Bill9469]

Thanks Eddy,

   Yeah I made an assumption that when I bought the laptop that the USB-C port was a Thunderbolt 3. Live and learn. I am talking to Anker about swapping my docking station out for their universal USB 3.0 dock and not use the USB-c connector at all.

Bill

[EddyK]

Hello @Bill9469,

Well, I'm glad to hear you've got it sorted out.

I was wondering, is there perhaps a lightning looking logo beside the USB-C port that may have fueled the confusion?

Best regards,
Eddy

[Bill9469]

Yes, the USB-C connector has a lightning bolt, but so do all of the USB-A connectors. I was an enterprise architect in IT at Stanford at the time I bought it. I didn't know much about USB-C or Thunderbolt at the time. I got pretty educated about it over the past week. Shame on me for not doing the research before buying the dock. But all in all it has been a good laptop. I tossed a 1 TB SSD in and  I run Linux Mint and VirtualBox for Windows 7 & 10 guests. No real complaints. 

Thanks again,

Bill 

[EddyK]

Hello @Bill9469,

Sounds like a great laptop. Just wondering.😉

I made an internal complain a few weeks ago that HP should stop using a lightning icon beside USB-C ports on their new devices as this has caused a lot of confusion - specifically with Thunderbolt 3.

Thank you.

Have a nice day,

Eddy

[gibu]

Hi, I just got this same laptop and ordered a Thunderbolt 3 docking station at the same time that doesnt seem to be working?.....  I cant be reading this right.... Just to be sure Im not crazy I just re checked the hp store specs for the HP Spectre x360 - 15-ch011dx https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c05927047 and it VERY clearly shows 

1 HDMI; 1 Thunderbolt™ 3 (Data up to 40 Gb/s, Power Delivery, DP1.2, HP Slep and Charge); 1 headphone/microphone combo; 1 USB 3.1 Gen 1 (HP Sleep and Charge); 1 USB 3.1 Type-C™ Gen 1 (Data up to 5 Gb/s, Power Delivery, DP1.2, HP Sleep and Charge)

I ordered...  

Sabrent Thunderbolt 3 Docking Station with Power Delivery up to 60W Charging for Windows/MacOS Devices - Dual-4K Display (DS-TH3C)

This says it has a thunderbolt 3 and I ordered a thunderbolt 3 dock......  right??  Video isnt an issue for me, I just want all the other stuff to work, and work fast.