Hello everyone,
I have a Lenovo ThinkPad T480s laptop running Fedora 39 Kinoite. I would like to use it in a multi-display setup, so I am looking for a docking station. The laptop has a Thunderbolt 3 port. I have attached the details of my device at the end of the post.
People on Reddit are writing that "all Thunderbolt docking stations should work fine" and that's obviously not the case... I have this Dell Thunderbolt Dock (WD19TB) at home from work and the displays work when I plug it into the laptop but, for example, my mouse (connected via USB-A) doesn't work. When I connect it to the DELL laptop provided by the company, there are no problems at all.
Docking station requirements: Ethernet, 3x USB-A, 1x DisplayPort, 1x HDMI.
I have two 1080p displays: 75Hz and 165Hz. Obviously I'm not going to be playing any high-frame-rate games on this laptop, but even on a desktop it's sometimes nice to see a slightly higher refresh rate. So if it's possible, I'd like it to be able to display things above 60Hz...
I also have a Steam Deck OLED and would like to be able to use this dock with it.
I don't want to spend too much money on it. Do you have any experience in this area and can you help me choose?
I am from Poland if it helps in any way (maybe some brands are not available here).
LAPTOP DETAILS
Operating System: Fedora Linux 39
KDE Plasma Version: 5.27.9
KDE Frameworks Version: 5.111.0
Qt Version: 5.15.11
Kernel Version: 6.6.6-200.fc39.x86_64 (64-bit)
Graphics Platform: Wayland
Processors: 8 × Intel® Core™ i7-8550U CPU @ 1.80GHz
Memory: 15.5 GiB of RAM
Graphics Processor: Mesa Intel® UHD Graphics 620
Manufacturer: LENOVO
Product Name: 20L8S0SA00
System Version: ThinkPad T480s
On this page, in the list at the bottom, I can see both the T14 series and the Z16 series. However, there is no T480 (but there is a T490): https://smartfind.lenovo.com/accessories/#/products/40AY0090US So I am not sure if it fits... However, it does allow quite high resolutions at 60Hz (2x 3840x2160 @60Hz), so we can say with some confidence that 165Hz at 1080p won't be a problem. At 479 PLN (~122 USD), it is still affordable. In general, the case with pricing is that I paid 2200 PLN (~559 USD) for this laptop and I just don't want the docking station to be half the price of it :)
I think I will risk it with this model, considering the resolution/refresh rate.
I found the T480 here: https://www.lenovo.com/ca/en/p/laptops/thinkpad/thinkpadt/thinkpad-t480/22tp2tt4800
It says this dock is compatible: https://www.lenovo.com/ca/en/p/accessories-and-software/docking/docking_usb-docks-(universal-cable-docks)/40af0135us
Yeah, it looks really good.
https://www.reddit.com/r/thinkpad/wiki/newdocks/
So the 40AY looks like the best choice :) Thanks for your help!