I realized two things when the pandemic forced me to start working from home: I’m bad at hiding the rat’s nest of cables on my desk, and modern laptops don’t offer nearly enough ports. Laptop docks have become an indispensable part of most office setups because they solve both problems, but not all docks are built equal – nor are they particularly stylish.

The $399 Logi Dock goes a step further than most. It is designed as an all-in-one docking solution that allows you to completely ditch microphone headsets and poor quality audio recording/playback built into laptops during calls. In addition to the extra ports and laptop charging options that are common on docking stations, Logitech has added some controls in the assembly, a built-in speakerphone, and some funky under-lighting. It’s a much jazzier dock than the usual bland records handed out in corporate offices.

The Logi Dock supports up to two 4K 60Hz displays and delivers up to 100W of power to a connected laptop, which is enough to charge almost anything but power hungry gaming hardware. It weighs just over two pounds and has grippy rubber feet to prevent it from sliding across the surface it’s placed on. This dock is primarily intended for more permanent office setups while being light enough to throw in a bag as absolute is needed, the required power stone is a beast, making it cumbersome to carry around.

Most of the connections are located on the back of the dock, which is ideal for keeping your workspace clutter-free. On the back you will find two USB-A ports, two USB-C ports, one HDMI 2.0 and one DisplayPort 1.4 output. These feature in addition to the input for the Logi Dock’s included 230W power brick, a Bluetooth 5.1 pairing button, a Kensington lock slot, and a dedicated USB-C Upstream (marked with a purple port) that connects the dock to your laptop.

There’s also a third USB-C port on the side of the dock, so you don’t have to fiddle around the back of the device to connect additional peripherals. This particular port and one of the rear USB-A ports are marked with a lightning icon to indicate that they support 7.5W fast charging.

Which…well, isn’t exactly “fast” these days. It took about three hours to fully charge my iPhone 14 Pro Max at that speed, and the Logi Dock’s remaining USB ports can deliver up to 4.5W. More affordable offerings like the $130 pluggable docking station can support 20W charging on their secondary ports.

The Logi Dock does not offer Thunderbolt or USB 4 ports, the connectivity standards that can deliver power, high-speed data, and a video signal through a single connection. Instead, all USB ports are 3.1 Gen 1 and support meager 5 Gbps transfer rates. That’s disappointing considering the price, but it won’t be the end of the world for most day-to-day office workers. Thunderbolt’s biggest advantage is faster data transfer speeds (up to 40 Gbps for Thunderbolt 4), so unless you need to optimize the speed of your peripherals or regularly move large data files, you’ll be fine without it.

Besides the obvious lack of Thunderbolt support, I have a few problems with the port. First, none of the USB-C connectors support display output, so you can’t connect a monitor to them. (You have to rely on the HDMI and DisplayPort ports.) The Logi Dock also frustratingly lacks a standard 3.5mm audio jack and an Ethernet port, ports often found on other docks.

But credit where it’s due: the Logi Dock is visually the most beautiful docking station I’ve seen. Available in black or white, it features ambient under-lighting and an enveloping fabric skin that complements most modern office setups. It’s the same aesthetic as the one used on StreamCam from Logitech and reminds me of the optional cloth keyboard covers on recent Microsoft Surface Laptop generations. The fabric coating didn’t get particularly dingy after a few weeks of testing, but that’s something you might want to consider if you’re prone to mess around or live with kids.

I am giving this warning because you are expected to touch it a lot. There’s a selection of touch controls at the top of the Logi Dock that can be used to quickly join or leave conversations, adjust the speaker volume, and turn your webcam and microphone on or off. Both the webcam and microphone buttons turn red when they are disabled. You can also sync the dock with a Microsoft Office 365 or Google calendar. This enables the Logi Dock’s “one-touch-to-join” feature: the backlight turns purple when a meeting is about to begin, which you can join immediately by tapping the circular join button on top of the device.

These controls are supported in Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, Google Voice, Zoom, and Tencent Meeting. I only tested with Teams, Zoom, and Meet, but the controls worked as expected for all features. There are technically two models of the Logi Dock available: one with a Teams logo as a button to join a call and one with a regular circle. Aside from the design choice, there’s no real difference between the two models, so both work with all supported conferencing software.

The sound quality is surprisingly good. You’ll get much better results with dedicated microphones and desktop speakers, of course, but the Logi Dock still performs admirably by comparison. There are six beamforming microphones built in (see the small holes at the top) that picked up my voice well during calls. There were no obvious issues with clarity, although playback sounds a bit crunchy.

The results for the “noise cancellation” touted by Logitech were fairly mixed – for example, it completely removed the sound of me hitting my mechanical keyboard and clicking my mouse. It also didn’t create an echo by picking up its own audio output. However, some household noises running in the background of calls did come through, such as my electric dryer and my neighbors vacuuming.

The omnidirectional speakers are plenty loud and clear. I heard some slight interference when playing audio at a low volume, so I personally wouldn’t want to listen to background music while working. At higher volumes you can hear a lot of bass – I’d compare the quality to something like an old Bluetooth speaker. Otherwise, I had no trouble understanding what was being said during conversations. I’d advise placing the dock directly in front of you whenever possible, as the narrow sound stage can sound a bit disorienting when placed to the side.

Bluetooth support is a nice addition. You can dock wireless peripherals like keyboards, mice, and headsets to the Logi Dock (although most laptops have Bluetooth support these days anyway), and you can also connect your phone to it if you want to use it as a speakerphone or Bluetooth speaker. Logitech presents this as a solution for the office as well as for the home, but let’s face it: It’s no fun for everyone involved to blast your meeting audio in a busy office for everyone to hear. Don’t be that person.

There are a few other Logitech flavored quirks here. The Logi Dock is designed to work well with other products in the Logitech ecosystem – I didn’t have Zone True Wireless earbuds on hand to test the Easy Audio Switch feature, but I could easily use a Bolt-enabled keyboard and mouse through a single Logi Bolt receiver. It’s exactly the kind of ecosystem support I look for when I want to streamline my work setup.

That’s why I’m still fed up with Logitech software. You need to install Logi Tune – a program for optimizing Logitech headsets and webcams during meetings – to enable the Logi Dock’s calendar synchronization feature. That’s yet another Logitech app clogging up my laptop alongside Logitech Capture, Logitech Options, and Logi Options Plus (yes, really). I couldn’t even install Logi Tune on my work device without permission from a system administrator. That won’t be a unique situation and will be especially frustrating when you consider that the Logi Dock is aimed at working professionals.

Does all this mean that the Logi Dock is a bad product? Absolutely not. It pretty much delivers on everything it promises. I had no issues with the peripherals I connected to it, and it worked fine with both the M1 MacBook Air and the Dell XPS 15 I tested it with (although it’s worth noting that the M1 MacBook Air comes standard only one external support can provide). display). It’s reliable, surprisingly compact and does a great job of cluttering up your desk. The audio quality is also good enough to appease those who don’t want to struggle with clunky USB microphones or headsets, and it offers more ports and features than similar competing offerings like the $249 Microsoft Audio Dock.

The main problem here is that $399 price tag. Both leave out ethernet And Thunderbolt on a dock this expensive feels hard to justify. The lack of front-facing IO can also be a nuisance if you frequently switch between many accessories or peripherals, and moving the Bluetooth pairing button to the top or side of the dock would similarly improve accessibility.

If you can look past those shortcomings and think the idea of ​​a speakerphone conferencing system combined with a USB hub is appealing, then there aren’t many other options. I’m not a convert myself after testing it for a few weeks, but I have a committed relationship with my Sony WH-1000XM5 headphones and Rode NT1 XLR microphone. The audio quality of the Logi Dock simply can’t compete, and I don’t expect it to. It’s a great choice for those of you who already want to minimize your installation and add some extra ports – personally, I’d just wait until it goes on sale.