"Logi Dock review: conference calls have never been so cute" by Jess Weatherbed

jaydiaz2013

May 29

Power, ports, and pretty lighting — for a price.

I realized two things when the pandemic forced me to start working from home: I suck at hiding the rat's nest of cables on my desk, and modern laptops don't provide anywhere near enough ports. Laptop docks have become an indispensable part of most office setups because they solve both of these issues, but not all docks are built equal — nor are they especially stylish.

The $399 Logi Dock goes a step above most. It's 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. Alongside the additional ports and laptop charging capabilities common on docking stations, Logitech has slapped on some in-meeting controls, a built-in speakerphone, and some funky underlighting. It's a much jazzier dock than the usual boring slabs handed out in corporate offices.

The Logi Dock can support up to two 4K 60Hz displays while delivering up to 100W of power to a connected laptop, which is enough juice to charge almost anything besides power-hungry gaming hardware. It weighs in at just over two pounds and has grippy rubberized feet to prevent it from sliding across whatever surface it's placed on. This dock is mostly intended for more permanent office setups, as while it's light enough to throw into a bag if absolutely necessary, the required power brick is a beast, making it cumbersome to carry around.

Most of the connections are located on the rear of the dock, which is great for keeping your workspace clear of cables. On the back, you'll find two USB-A ports, two USB-C ports, one HDMI 2.0, and one DisplayPort 1.4 output. These feature alongside the input for the Logi Dock's supplied 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 located on the side of the dock to spare you from fumbling around the back of the device to plug in any additional peripherals. This particular port and one of the USB-A ports on the rear 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 around three hours to fully charge my iPhone 14 Pro Max at that speed, and the Logi Dock's remaining USB ports can only output up to 4.5W. More affordable offerings like the $130 Plugable Docking Station can support 20W of charging on their secondary ports.

A photograph of the Logitech Logi Dock as viewed from the rear, displaying its various ports and connections. — *The Logi Dock doesn't provide a lot of ports, but it does make the USB-C uplink connection more identifiable by marking it in purple.*

A photograph of the Logitech Logi Dock viewed from the side, displaying a USB-C port. — *Don't be fooled by the lightning symbol — it represents 7.5W "fast" fast charging, not Thunderbolt.*

The Logi Dock doesn't provide any Thunderbolt or USB 4 ports, the connectivity standards that can deliver power, high-speed data, and a video signal over a single connection. Instead, all of the USB ports are 3.1 Gen 1 and support meager transfer speeds of 5Gbps. That's disappointing given the price point, but it won't be the end of the world for most everyday office workers. Thunderbolt's biggest advantage is faster data transfer speeds (up to 40Gbps for Thunderbolt 4), so unless you need to optimize your peripheral speeds or frequently move large files of data around, you'll get by just fine without it.

I have a few port-related gripes out the gate besides the obvious lack of Thunderbolt support. Firstly, none of the USB-C connections support display output, so you can't hook up 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 that are commonly found on other docks.

But credit where it's due — the Logi Dock is visually the best-looking docking station I've seen. It's available in either black or white and features ambient underlighting and a wrap-around fabric skin that'll complement most modern office setups nicely. It's the same aesthetic as that used on Logitech's StreamCam and reminds me of the optional fabric keyboard covers featured on recent Microsoft Surface Laptop generations. The fabric coating didn't get especially grubby after a few weeks of testing, but that's something you may want to consider if you're prone to mess or live with children.

A photograph of the Logitech Logi Dock displaying its reactive under lighting. — *The underlighting is a little difficult to see in bright daylight, but it's clearer when it turns red after you disable your mic or webcam.*

I'm providing this warning as it's expected that you'll be touching it a lot. There is a selection of touch controls across the top of the Logi Dock that can be used to quickly join or leave calls, adjust the speaker volume, and enable / disable your webcam and microphone. Both the webcam and microphone buttons will turn red when disabled. You can also sync the dock with either a Microsoft Office 365 or Google calendar. Doing so enables the Logi Dock's "one-touch-to-join" feature — the ambient underlighting will turn purple when a meeting is about to start, which you can then immediately join by tapping the circular join button atop the device.

Those controls are supported across Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, Google Voice, Zoom, and Tencent Meeting. I only tested across Teams, Zoom, and Meet, but the controls worked as expected across all of them. There are technically two models of the Logi Dock available — one with a Teams logo as the "join call" button and one with a plain circle. There's no actual difference between either model besides the design choice, so both will work with any of the supported meeting software.

The audio quality is surprisingly good. You'll get much better results from dedicated microphones and desktop speakers of course, but the Logi Dock still performs admirably by comparison. There are six beamforming mics built into it (see the small holes on the top) which did a good job of picking up my voice during calls. There were no obvious issues with clarity, though the playback does sound a little crispy.

Results for the "noise cancellation" touted by Logitech were fairly mixed — it completely removed the sound of me smacking my mechanical keyboard and clicking my mouse, for example. It also didn't create an echo by picking up its own audio output. Some of the household sounds running in the background of calls did manage to come through, though, such as my electric dryer and my neighbors vacuuming.

A top-down photograph of the Logitech Logi Dock displaying its buttons and microphones. — *Those six holes on the top are the Logi Dock's beamforming mics.*

A photograph of the Logitech Logi Dock, displaying the call buttons on the top of the device. — *The Teams-themed button is just for aesthetics — it'll also work with Zoom and Google Meet.*

The omnidirectional speakers are suitably loud and clear. I heard some slight interference when audio was playing at a low volume, so I personally wouldn't want to listen to background music through them while working. At louder volumes, you can hear plenty of bass — I'd liken the quality to something like an old Bluetooth speaker. Otherwise, I didn't have any difficulty understanding what was being said during calls. I'd advise sticking the dock directly in front of you where possible, as the narrow soundstage can sound a little disorientating when placed to one side.

Bluetooth support is a nice inclusion. You can pair wireless peripherals like keyboards, mice, and headsets to the Logi Dock (though most laptops come with Bluetooth support anyway these days), and you can also connect your phone to it if you want to use it as a speakerphone or Bluetooth speaker. Logitech is pitching this as an in-office solution as much as it is a home one, but let's be real here — blasting your meeting audio in a busy office for everyone to hear isn't fun for anyone involved. Don't be that person.

A photograph of the underside of the Logitech Logi Dock, displaying its rubberized feet. — *There are rubberized feet on the underside, which helps prevent slippage if, like me, you have a tendency to accidentally yank on your peripheral cables.*

There are a few other Logitech-flavored quirks here. The Logi Dock has been designed to play nicely with other products in the Logitech ecosystem — I didn't have any Zone True Wireless earbuds handy to test the Easy Audio Switch feature, but I was able to easily connect a Bolt-enabled keyboard and mouse through a single Logi Bolt receiver. It's exactly the sort of ecosystem support I look for when I'm wanting to streamline my work setup.

Which is why I'm still bummed out by Logitech software. You need to install Logi Tune — a program for optimizing Logitech headsets and webcams in meetings — to enable the Logi Dock's calendar syncing 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's not going to be a unique situation and will be especially frustrating when you consider the Logi Dock is targeting working professionals.

A photograph of the Logitech Logi Dock besides its charging brick. — *The power brick for this is MASSIVE, so I'd personally avoid ferrying the Logi Dock around between workplaces.*

Does all of this mean that the Logi Dock is a bad product? Absolutely not. It delivers on pretty much everything it promises. I didn't have any issues with the peripherals I plugged into it, and it worked just fine with both the M1 MacBook Air and Dell XPS 15 I tested it with (though its worth noting that the M1 MacBook Air can only natively support one external display). It's reliable, surprisingly compact, and does an excellent job of decluttering your desk. The audio quality is also plenty good enough to appease folks that don't want to contend with clunky USB microphones or headsets, and it provides more ports and features than similar rival offerings like the $249 Microsoft Audio Dock.

The biggest issue here is that $399 price tag. Omitting both ethernet and Thunderbolt on a dock this expensive feels hard to justify. The lack of a forward-facing IO can also be a nuisance if you frequently switch between a lot of accessories or peripherals, and moving the Bluetooth pairing button to the top or side of the dock would have similarly improved accessibility.

If you can look past those shortcomings and think the idea of a speakerphone conference system combined with a USB hub is appealing, then there aren't many other options out there. I'm not a convert myself after testing it for a few weeks, but I'm in a committed relationship with my Sony WH-1000XM5 headphones and Rode NT1 XLR mic. The Logi Dock's audio quality simply can't compete, and nor do I expect it to. It's a great choice for those of you who are already looking to minimize your setup and add some additional ports — I'd personally just wait for it to go on sale.

source https://www.theverge.com/23728549/logitech-logi-dock-review-conference-laptop-docking-station