The best Thunderbolt docking stations for laptops

Laptops are great, but a Thunderbolt docking station can make them even better. Anyone who had an older machine will miss the plethora of ports that was once available. USB-A, B, video outputs like VGA and HDMI, and even disc drives used to populate the sides of our mobile machines. Unfortunately, as laptops got thinner and more tightly integrated and the need for certain ports vanished, the ports slowly faded away. 

The Dell XPS 13 I’m typing on right now, for example, has a measly 2 USB-C ports and a combination headphone/microphone jack. To use multiple accessories these days, you’ll need to take a look at some Thunderbolt docking stations for your machine.

The best Thunderbolt docks: things to know