2020 HP Spectre x360 Laptop - 15t-eb000 5CD038CVYN Docking Station, Thunderbolt info

[DennisHev]

HP upgraded my Spectre X360 T15 CH000 (about two years old) to a Spectre X360 T15 EB000 due to warranty issues. I am using a Dell TB16 Thunderbolt docking station. I like the TB16's. They are readily available used at a good price, and have every imaginable port on them. It worked fine with the CH000, but the monitors would not wake up after the monitor power-off timeout or sleep on the EB000.

HP's service was excellent -- they tried everything to get it to work, but to no avail. So I told them no problem, I would be happy to buy a new docking station. Please recommend something. They had no Thunderbolt recommendations. Ok, I run three USB 3.0 hard drives and other stuff, but could live with USB-C. Their recommendation for that was one of their "Travel Docks" with only one video port, no audio.... A pretty low-end unit. I need two video ports.

My son loaned me a Vava USB-C 8-in-1 hub with one HDMI port  to try, thinking if it worked, I could order a higher-end model with two video ports. It worked fine. I simply plugged it into the Thunderbolt port on the TB16, connected the monitor, leaving the drives and everything else connected to the TB16.

So I ordered a Vava 12-in-1 docking station from Amazon. About $80.   It plugs into the TB-16 and handles both monitors. I am not using the external power supply that came with this unit.

I also tried using this as a bona fide docking station. It works fine. No drivers to install. I was concerned that the 60-watt power rating would be insufficient to charge the laptop. HP claims that you need 130 watts. But it charges it as rapidly as the TB16 does. I did some research and found out that 60 watts is all that you can get thru that little USB C cable anyway. (There is apparently a new standard that can handle 100 watts, but I doubt this laptop can utilize that.) The power supply included with this product is actually 96 watts out.

The quality of construction is excellent. The case is aluminum.

https://www.amazon.com/VAVA-Docking-Station-Ethernet-Charging/dp/B086DS5Q6K/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_...

Here is some Thunderbolt information on this model.

This computer is advertised as having only one Thunderbolt port and one high-speed USB-C port.  The ports on the case are not labeled, so you have no idea which of the two ports are Thunderbolt, if it has Thunderbolt at all. (Thunderbolt uses a standard USB-C connector).   It turns out that it actually has two Thunderbolt ports.  My TB-16 docking station (thunderbolt only) works in either port.  You may also verify this by running the Thunderbolt Control Center, provided with the computer.  It shows two ports.

Normally, you have to authorize any devices plugged into a Thunderbolt port. A dialog pops when you plug in a Thunderbolt device.  This was the case with by CH000. However, that is not the case with this new EB000 unit. You plug it in and it just works.  This is also normal Thunderbolt behavior.  My reading revealed that most BIOSs have an option to require Thunderbolt authorization.  The EB000 does not.  It is always off,  which is fine with me. Authorizing attachment of hardware devices sounds like security overkill to me.