Targus Dock 110 Travel Dock review: Only connect

From Targus, an all-purpose connection solution for the footloose

E.M Forster’s famous epigraph or succinct summary of his novel Howard’s End — “Only Connect” — referred to the challenge of connecting people. Today, a tougher, more common challenge is to connect digital devices in a so-called ‘connected world’.

In the race to make computers thinner and lighter, makers often reduce the number of ports they offer. What is the use of an ultra-light notebook or tablet if you can’t connect an external display or project a movie or a presentation, or if you can’t tap into a broadband connection using an ethernet connection (always faster and more reliable than WiFi) Yet the average portable computer tends to flaunt its super light tag by doing away with the good old VGA port or the gigabit ethernet connection.

The Targus USB3.0 Travel Dock DOCK 110 comes as the answer to the prayers of hassled mobile professionals (and a lot of lay users). It offers a full slate of ports: VGA, Ethernet, the new USB 3.0 standard port, a micro USB if you want to charge a device — and the contemporary HDMI port for carrying HD video. A USB 3.0 cable is integrated into the dock and sits snuggly inside till you pull it out. It weighs just 237 grams and will effectively replace a few connector cables, many times heavier.

It may not be able to replace all your cables, but it will sharply reduce the chances of you discovering that you can’t get hotel internet or make a critical presentation because there is a cable mismatch. Is this convenience worth the asking price of Rs 9,999 Your personal and professional lifestyle will decide for you.

We do wish, however, they had gone one step further and added one port of the reversible USB Type C variety. That would have made the Targus Dock perfect.