For example, HP doesn’t offer Mac-compatible audio or Ethernet drivers. With regards to OS compatibility, there are a few limitations for non-Windows users. (I took the photos in the hotel before we moved over to the apartment during the current trip.) But I’ll be getting a display for this configuration soon. My office setup there is for now a work in progress, meaning it’s non-existent, and so far I’ve used it sans external display. (They’re all HPs, too, go figure.) But after a short test at home, I decided to bring the Dock G4 to our new apartment in Mexico City since we were traveling this week and time was tight. In any event, I’ve long worked at home, of course, and I have a variety of displays from which to choose, including some pro/work-oriented models. (That said, I was confused why previous generations didn’t offer HDMI.) This probably explains the addition of HDMI, since this connection type is far more common out in the world. But in this new hybrid era, HP sees a new major scenario at play, where workers will split workdays between home and an office, and they will need docking at home, along with multiple displays and other peripherals. This includes MAC address passthrough-where IT can see the MAC address of the connected PC and display information-and PXE Boot capabilities.ĭocking has long been a fairly obvious capability for office workers, and in pre-pandemic times, I suspect that one of the more common use cases was employees who docked at work and then disconnected the notebook and brought it home on nights and weekends. I won’t be able to test this aspect of the Dock G4, but it is Intel vPro compatible and supports electronic asset management so that IT departments can remotely update and image systems even when the connected PC is off or asleep. (HP says it is unaware of any previous firmware attacks against its docks, but it’s acting proactively based on its experiences with PCs and other devices.) The idea is to prevent malicious firmware attacks when the system is offline, ensuring that when you boot the PC, there are no compromises. Here, it’s worth noting another new feature: the G4 supports the same Sure Start firmware protection that HP provides with its commercial PCs and workstations, although this implementation is limited to integrity verification and recovery. Connectivity is automatic, of course, but I checked the HP Support Assistant app to see whether it would detect the Dock and perhaps offer a firmware update, and it did. I’m reviewing the base 120-watt model, and I’ve paired it with an HP ZBook G8 portable workstation that normally uses a standard 60-watt USB-C power supply. It also provides another 50 watts of power to the ports for a total of 280 watts But now there is a second model with two cables-one USB-C, and one a barrel-type connector that’s compatible with HP commercial PCs and portable workstations-that deliver a total of 230 watts of power, 130 watts of which happen over that second cable. Looking just at the 60 Hz capabilities, the DisplayPort 1.4 ports support up to two 4K displays or 1 8K display, and the Thunderbolt 4 ports support u to two 4K displays.Īs for power, the base model of the Thunderbolt Dock G4 delivers 100 watts over its single non-detachable USB-C cable, as before, with another 20 watts for powering the various ports for a total of 120 watts. They make the G4 much easier to recommend, and to a much wider audience.įor those interested in multiple displays, the Dock G4 supports multiple configurations and should meet just about any need. Without an HDMI port, the previous generation versions were somewhat esoteric, almost HP-specific (really, HP commercial PC-specific). These may seem like minor changes, but in my book, they’re fairly profound because of the much broader compatibility. The rest of the ports-two USB 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps) ports with 7.5 watts of charging power, two DisplayPort 1.4 ports, one Ethernet port (with support for both 1 Gbps and 2.5 Gbps Ethernet), one USB-C 3.2 Gen 1 DisplayPort, and one Thunderbolt 4/USB4 port-remain roughly the same (with some USB generational upgrades). Next, where the previous-generation (G2) version of the Dock provided a single full-sized USB-A 3.0 port on one side, the G4 version provides two full-sized USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 charging ports (with 5 Gbps of data transfer speed), one on each side.įinally, HP has replaced the VGA port on the back with a much more useful HDMI 2.0 port. And the port selection has changed for the better. First, HP has dispensed with the top-mounted expansion capability, which only accommodated a single add-on, a mono speaker for conference calls. If you’re familiar with previous generation HP Thunderbolt Docks, there are three obvious changes this time around.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |