Looking for a compatible docking station for the 13" Spectre x360 (ae003na)

[jaybels]

Hi,

Apologies if this has been answered in the past, but from my search there seems to a bit of conflicting information and advice in regards to this issue.

I'm basically looking for a docking station (thunderbolt 3 preferably) which I can use to power my laptop and run a 4k monitor at 60hz. Has anyone managed to find any product that actually works with this laptop. I was looking at the Caldigit TS3 Plus, but I had read in one thread that the dock doesn't actually provide power to the laptop, has this changed over the last few months? If Caldigit is a no go, are there any other thunderbolt 3 docks that work?

I had heard that the Plugable USB-C dock would provide power to the laptop, but would only run a 4k monitor at 30hz. If I did decide to go this route, would the halved refresh rate on the monitor be significantly noticeable?

Thanks!

[wahlsn · Accepted solution]

Hi,

I am happy with my Lenovo TB3 Dock used for my HP Spectre x360 13.3" (ac036ng).

I have 2 4k screens attached to it. Charging works well when Notebook is turned on. If plugged in to the dock while turned off, it is more tricky. But using an active TB3 Cable charging works fine as well!

[jaybels]

Thanks so much for your suggestion. The box looks like it is nice and compact. It's looking like I have to choose between this or the Dell TB16 dock.

By the way, have you noticed any of the common issues that I see pop up e.g. screen flickering, problems after laptop goes to sleep, problems recognising some of the usb 3 connections?

[wahlsn]

Yes, I have the same issue with screen flickering. Mostly, when I open the lid once it closed it while running (the notebook is running and not going to sleep when I close the lid). However, sometimes it just happens while working. So far, I never had flickering issues while connected to power, only when running on battery.

And it seems not to be related to my cell phone as I am mostly working in the basement without a cellphone next to me. However, wifi is enabled in this case, which is similar to a cell when running at 2.4 GhZ band.

I also did not have a problem running linux, although I have not thoroughly tested it. Now, as the kernel 4.19 seems to be quite energy efficient, I might give this a longer test run.

I also updated the Intel HD620 drivers to the newest from the Intel's webpage. Before, I saw flickering quite often. Since then, it only happened once. So, this does not solve the problem but might still be related.

With USB3 I never had problems so far. But I do not use the ports that often. Mostly, the TB3 for my dock.