Posted in: Game Hardware, Games, Review, Video Games | Tagged: Dock Pro 60 USB-C 4K Station, IOGEAR, Review

We Review The IOGEAR Dock Pro 60 USB-C 4K Station

Published Sun, 19 Jul 2020 06:40:10 -0500

A little while ago we received something cool from IOGEAR as the company sent us a Dock Pro 60 USB-C 4K Station for review. It was a curious little thing that showed us that kind of got us intrigued. While mobile devices and the Nintendo Switch offer gaming on the go, sometimes you just want to see it on a bigger screen instead of in your lap, even when traveling. But how well does this device work when it comes to enhancing the mobile experience with a 4K TV? We tried it out for a few months and here's what we came up with.

Starting with the look, this is a small silver case with two USB A ports on the front end, with two USB-C ports and an HDMI port on the back. The case only comes with a single USB-C cord to power the device, but does not come with any kind of external adapter to plug into an outlet, leaving you to use your own accessories and whatever is available nearby to make the power happen. The primary goal of the Station is to take either an Android device or a Nintendo Switch through the USB-C and transfer the source to an HDTV via the HDMI. Eliminating the use for a Switch Dock, which is bulky to take around, and also make mobile gaming easier to play.

To get the full experience of this, we took it out on a few trips back before COVID-19 happened. We tried it out with our Nintendo Switch on a few different hotel room TVs, and to our amazement, it works pretty well. The USB ports on the front allow for you to hook up a mouse and keyboard to it if you'd like so you could turn your phone into a mini workstation using a TV as the monitor, or you can hook up a gaming controller and use that as the source to control the game. As far as the 4K conversion goes, it doesn't do much for the Switch as there's not a lot that can be done in that area, but there is no loss of frames, distortion, or bad audio. However, it does wonders for mobile devices as the quality goes up. In fact, it worked really well when we played the Disney+, Hulu, and Netflix apps on it and transferred it to the screen. Basically giving us a mobile version of those accounts without having to log in somewhere at a hotel using their gear.

Overall, IOGEAR did a pretty good job with the Dock Pro 60 USB-C 4K Station, but it's not perfect. While it's a nice system to have, the key things that they don't address are the important ones. It doesn't come with an HDMI cable, so you need to bring one of those along. It doesn't come with a second USB-C cord to hook up your device, so another cord you need on your own. The USB ports are only 2.0, which isn't necessarily a terrible thing, but it prevents anything you got with 3.0 to possibly not work correctly. It's a cool thing that requires a lot of externals to make it worth the money. If you want to get one, they're currently going for $80.

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