The Razer USB-C Dock Will Improve Your Home Office Workspace

A dock for your computer can really level up your home workspace and make it even more efficient and productive. I look at the new Razer USB-C Dock and how it has performed under heavy usage for the past month. Can it improve your home workspace?

The Razer USB-C Dock allows you to make one connection to your laptop and have a myriad of ports at your disposal when working at your desk. This may sound like a simple thing, but having a dock that works seamlessly and allows you to connect to your peripherals easily will make your workflow much more efficient.

The Razer USB-C Dock features an all-metal casing made from a thermally optimal aluminum alloy. This gives it a very durable feel, while measuring only 120 mm x 70 mm x 15.5 mm and weighing 185 grams. While I have predominantly been using this device at my home office desk, it would be simple to pack up and take on the road.

The dock includes a number of ports, 11 to be exact, to help you have many options to connect various peripherals to your computer. These include 2 USB-C ports, 4 USB-A ports, a Gigabit Ethernet port, an HDMI port supporting 4K 60 Hz out, a UHS-I SD card slot, a MicroSD card slot, and a 3.5mm audio combo jack.

The Razer dock also supports 85-watt laptop charging and power delivery, meaning you can keep your laptop charged through the same port you connect the dock to.

The Razer USB-C Dock is compatible with Windows and Mac, as well as iPads and Chromebooks. It has a two-year warranty.

Initial Impressions

The Razer USB-C Dock's black and green packaging was simple and clean, only slightly larger than the dock itself. Inside the box was a well-packed USB-C dock, an information pamphlet with diagrams of the device and ports, QR codes with links to the getting started with the device page, and, of course, a link to their support site should the need arise. Some Razer logo stickers were also included in the box.

The device itself is small, lending itself well to not taking up a lot of space on a clean desk and also for traveling. The aluminum metal body finish also gives the USB-C dock a high-quality feel and a bit of ruggedness, making me feel comfortable transporting it for travel.

I was impressed with the care and attention to detail in the packaging and presentation, so I was excited to connect it all to my desktop peripherals.

My Usage

Most of my testing was done with a MacBook Pro and in my home office over several weeks, which is what I would consider heavy usage. I also did some testing with an iPad Pro, which I will discuss later.

The Basic Setup

In my office, the Razer USB C Dock was connected to my 27” ASUS ProArt monitor via HDMI. The dock was also connected to my office Ethernet connection and a USB-A webcam. I connected the dock to my laptop via the USB-C connection, and I had the dock connected to a USB charger so my laptop would stay charged throughout the day.

During this usage, the Razer USB-C Dock performed remarkably well. There were no annoying disconnects or monitor flickers—it was truly, plug in the dock, the monitor would come to life, my network connection would switch to the faster Ethernet port, and just work.

I’ve used many USB-C docks in the past in corporate environments, and they were always so annoying. There was almost always the daily dance of a monitor going out or a peripheral not working that required unplugging the dock, giving it a few moments, plugging it back in, and waiting for everything to connect back up. Annoying.

I did not experience that at all with the dock. Every time, it was as simple as plugging in one cable to my laptop, and everything just worked. Even when my laptop would fall asleep, everything connected right back up with no issues.

Heavier Usage

As a photographer and content creator on YouTube, I work a lot with various forms of removal media, holding raw photo files and video files from multiple cameras. Over the course of several weeks, I used the USB-C dock and used both the built-in SD and MicroSD card slots, the USB-C ports to connect external SSD drives, and the USB-A ports to connect card readers and even an older external hard drive. I even utilized one of the USB-C ports to connect a teleprompter for the video recording sessions I used one of those.

During the several weeks I used the Razer USB-C Dock, I copied many GBs of photos from SD cards and CFExpress cards to various external USB-C SSD drives, all connected through the dock. I even tried pushing the dock and editing videos directly off an external USB-C SSD drive.

The Razer USB-C Dock performed very well even under these heavier data usage scenarios. File copies were fast, and my other connected devices performed well during these intensive data operations using the USB-C dock.

iPad Pro Testing

I also tested the iPad functionality with the Razer USB-C Dock, though my iPad use case is more simple compared to my office usage. My primary use of a dock with the iPad is to allow me to back up photos in the field without carrying a laptop. So, I connect a card reader and an external SSD drive and copy files from one to the other using the Files app.

I tested this with my iPad Pro. I connected the USB-C dock to my iPad, connected a card reader and an external SSD drive, and copied the files from one to the other. I had no issues. The media was readily seen by the Files app, and I was successfully able to back up files from a card to the external SSD drive.

My Thoughts

Prior to testing this USB-C Dock from Razer, I was doing a lot of manual connections in the office to my laptop. This often resulted in me using my laptop in my office but not taking advantage of the nice, big monitor or faster network speeds by using the Ethernet cable instead of wireless. Years of frustrations with the reliability of USB docks had left me in no hurry to acquire one.

With the arrival of the Razer USB-C Dock, I have seen the functionality and efficiency of my office usage take a significant turn for the better. It is now a simple matter of putting my laptop on the desk, making one connection to the dock, and all my peripherals work.

Having the built-in SD card reader has helped keep more ports free to connect several external drives at once, which is handy for file copies or if I want to access data on multiple drives while I am working on a project. Prior to the Razer USB-C Dock, I used to have to connect and disconnect different devices to get the files I needed. I welcome any efficiency gains to my content creation.

While there is very little that needs improving, I could see a case being made for removing a USB-A port or two and adding a USB-C port. As more of my devices become USB-C enabled instead of USB-A, a move towards more USB-C ports would help avoid any future port contention.

What I Liked

• Seamless connection and performance
• Durable, all-metal casing made from thermally optimal aluminum alloy
• Compact and portable design, making it easy to travel with
• Variety of ports (2 USB-C, 4 USB-A, Gigabit Ethernet, HDMI, UHS-I SD card slot, MicroSD card slot, 3.5 mm audio combo jack)
• 85-watt laptop charging and power delivery support
• Compatibility with Windows, Mac, iPads, and Chromebooks
• Reliable performance with no disconnects or monitor flickers
• Efficient workflow improvement with a single connection to the dock
• Built-in SD card reader, keeping more ports free for other devices
• Fast file transfers and good performance under heavy data usage
• Excellent packaging and presentation

What I Didn't Like

• Could benefit from additional USB-C ports
• Some might find the number of USB-A ports unnecessary
• Minor potential improvements in port configuration to avoid future port contention

Conclusion

The Razer USB-C Dock has been a welcome addition to my home office setup and set the bar for any other USB docks I might use in the future. The quality build and reliability of the Razer dock is stellar!