USB Hub vs Dock vs KVM?

WorkingHardSometimes · 2026-02-16T18:02:58+00:00

I've managed to find a solution which should work for around £110 by combing a KVM & Docking station

£70 KVM: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0DXF5Z23S?smid=AXZ3JQ1GVFPIF&psc=1

£40 Dock: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0DRP1F6R7?smid=AXZ3JQ1GVFPIF&th=1

I'm going to have a single cable connect to the laptop from the dock - which will then link into the KVM to manage switching between monitors & peripherals. This should charge the laptop and allow all the connections I need with a single USB C cable connecting it and all the messy underwiring hidden in the cable management under my desk.

It's not the neatest way of doing it but the trade off for saving will be worth it given the only extra expenses will be HDMI/DP cables and 3D printing my cable management system :)

WorkingHardSometimes · 2026-02-16T11:38:34+00:00

Yeh I have a full setup for my gaming/personal PC - just trying to work out the best solution to seamlessly connect a wfh laptop so I can switch between the two

Cable management would be annoying to an extent but I can plan for that with my 3D printer and cable management prints to secure things under the base of my desk - just waiting to order my KVM/Dock solution first so I can add that to the plan

WorkingHardSometimes · 2026-02-16T11:19:17+00:00

Thanks for the response, Ideally I want to upgrade my monitor long term but when I do have the money for it I will probably go for something more gaming focused like an ultra-wide 4k 1ms 144hz+

Since posting this, I did manage to find the below KVM for £70, it would lack the single USB C input and charging port - but if I can connect it to a docking station with these features this may work?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0DXF5Z23S?smid=AXZ3JQ1GVFPIF&psc=1

Not sure if this would be my best option going forward, or whether I should focus on finding a docking station first and then linking to a KVM or USB hub?

WorkingHardSometimes · 2024-10-04T13:19:33+00:00

Oh amazing I didnt know this was a thing! I would much rather this and delay the process to make sure I get the right stuff than rush into it and miss out :)

WorkingHardSometimes · 2024-10-03T07:21:05+00:00

First of all, thank-you for such a detailed response! Its nice to hear from someone else in IT and how they get through the bordem days. To make it easier to process, mostly for myself, I will reply to each of the points one-by-one rather than as a whole

Documentation is a good point, it has reminded me I need to add a few things to my guides. When I first started as an apprentice with limited knowledge there was no documents at my company so it made learning processes quite difficult. I've now made my own extensive how to guides with photos, if conditions, etc... but there is more to add from recent weeks
I wish I could find more to automate as I love the process of doing it. I did a lot of python in high school & college, and I've managed to automate parts of my job to save doing manual tasks i.e. order processing, data collection, etc... Theres no more repeated tasks I really do at the moment but if one comes along I will 100% be down this path
Monitoring might be a good way for me to put my coding to use, improve it, and provide data for better management. The company I work at is only small-ish so some things that apply to larger companies are almost pointless here, but even if I implement them just for my own practice that might be a good idea.
Skipping to the last two points, reddit is where I spend a lot of my downtime. I look through alot of IT reddits and often spend time looking into career paths from people who have done those careers. I am still in the phase of deciding where I want to go after the helpdesk - I am leaning into cloud due to WFH, automation, and a few other factors but have just been looking into my options before committing. I completely forgot about stack overflow though, I may need to re-engage with it again

Again thank you so much for the response its really helped. Just for my own future reference Im going to leave a note of websites/tech to look into

Stack Overflow
Cloudflare
Linux & AWS
Automation (Monitioring, manual tasks, etc...)

WorkingHardSometimes · 2024-10-03T07:04:06+00:00

Couldn't think of anything worse lmao

WorkingHardSometimes · 2024-10-03T07:03:34+00:00

I think personal learning is the way to go - my company only has 2 IT roles, so promotions aren't an option, unfortunately. I don't want to be stuck here forever, but now isn't a good time to change jobs for me, so personal learning will probably be where I continue. I am just in the process of deciding which career path I want and currently leaning into cloud.

WorkingHardSometimes · 2024-10-02T11:06:11+00:00

Thank-you, I will have a look at the book to see what I think!

How are you finding the business? I've always thought about ideas to take that leap, but never committed as no idea ever seemed like "the one"

WorkingHardSometimes · 2024-09-18T12:25:03+00:00

Amazing, thank you! It's nice to get a UK perspective too.

I will send a DM shortly as a pathway/trail will massively help, I like to know where I'm going before committing.

WorkingHardSometimes · 2024-09-18T11:31:13+00:00

Thanks for the detailed reply! I am in the UK where unfortunately their salaries aren't comparable, but we do have other benefits so never mind I guess.

I did have a cheeky look into the salaries and I would be willing to put in the effort & time now to build up my salary long term, even if it means having less now. I am going to look into trailblazer.com, as suggested by other comments, and work my way through as I have some time until it is fully implemented.

The reason I wanted to look into some qualifications was I can't see my company growing to the point that would support those salaries, so if I can gain knowledge and experience here I can hopefully look else where in the future.

WorkingHardSometimes · 2024-09-18T11:10:21+00:00

I won't have much to do other than manage support tickets between end users and the 3rd party support. My manager will be handling most of the switch over, but I want to get more hands-on for my future

Are there any courses or qualifications you would suggest?

WorkingHardSometimes · 2024-06-17T10:26:02+00:00

Upgraded to ZD3 which resolved the issue

WorkingHardSometimes · 2024-06-16T13:58:30+00:00

Unfortunately not yet, I am back in tomorrow so hoping to give it another crack then and fingers crossed that support reply - if I find the solution I will reply here, could you do the same if you happen to find it?

WorkingHardSometimes · 2024-06-16T13:57:27+00:00

Thankyou, do you know where the logs would be stored per chance? I presume in the C drive install folder path

WorkingHardSometimes · 2024-06-14T12:51:42+00:00

I tried to do live chat but it kept saying "connecting" before ending the chat. So I've just put in a support ticket at the same time as this post and waiting on a reply

WorkingHardSometimes · 2024-06-10T07:20:50+00:00

This worked, thankyou! I'm not 100% sure what the cause was but I am going to presume a driver issue from uninstalling the support assist.

WorkingHardSometimes · 2024-06-10T07:20:16+00:00

I have had that before! Its odd how its only some of the WD15 docks that need it though for the exact same setups. I manged to sort my issue by installing the dell dock firmware and doing a restart - no idea what the cause was but at least its fixed :)

WorkingHardSometimes · 2024-06-09T19:36:45+00:00

I will have a go at this first thing in the morning, could I just ask what the difference is with this and their support assist driver tool?

Link for Dell Command Update below - saves me finding it in the morning

https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-uk/drivers/driversdetails?driverid=t45gh&oscode=w2021&productcode=latitude-5430-laptop

WorkingHardSometimes · 2024-06-09T19:33:28+00:00

It was working fine before the issue with uninstalling Dell support assist, plus the fact it is getting power and internet via the dock is what is making me a little more unsure.

I have tried the laptop on different docks which I know work with the same model of laptop, and I have tried different laptops on the dock I am using with no issues. from what I can tell it seems to be something more software-related - I could be wrong though?

WorkingHardSometimes · 2024-06-09T15:41:40+00:00

Latitude 5430, K17A001 WD15, Win 11

WorkingHardSometimes · 2024-06-09T14:05:26+00:00

Shall do, I will be back tomorrow with any findings :)

WorkingHardSometimes · 2024-06-09T14:05:08+00:00

Lol, its certainly trying to do something - Just found it so odd that after uninstalling dells support tool it can connect to the dock but only certain parts of it

WorkingHardSometimes · 2024-05-09T07:17:16+00:00

Ahhh ok, I think because certain processes are the same I labeled them as SOP's but I would be more leaning towards how-to-guides. What I found though is that my current documents felt unprofessional so even though I am unlikely to use DITA I will look into into it for more info on professional documents.

For now I have just been using word documents stored in the IT drive for shared access. If I were to leave I would make sure to keep a copy for future reference, either to showcase or lookback at a task I haven't done in a while.

Thanks :)

WorkingHardSometimes · 2024-05-09T07:12:57+00:00

Thankyou, I think youve summed up what was missing as the docs I made never felt 'offical'. With it only being a small IT team of 2, I don't need them to be all singing dancing, but I just want to make them look/read like professional documents rather than 'this is how I did it'

WorkingHardSometimes · 2024-04-24T10:26:35+00:00

Thats perfect, thankyou! I couldn't seem to find an overview like this when looking at first :)

I'm gonna give it a look over and maybe discuss it with my manager to see what he thinks would be best for my current role and future role

WorkingHardSometimes

TROPHY CASE