The core difference between the cable splitter and the docking station is that the cable splitter does not have a chip, but the docking station has a chip. That is to say, the data processing of the cable splitter still depends on the motherboard of the computer, while the docking station can rely on the chip for independent calculation. This brings about a huge difference in performance between the two. The docking station can have higher bandwidth than the splitter, and it can also drive many different types of external devices to run at the same time, and ensure high-quality data transmission, such as Thunderbolt 3 expansion. The dock can drive two 4K monitors at the same time and output 60 frames of images stably, which is impossible for the splitter.
So from the price point of view, the docking station will also be more expensive than the cable splitter. If you just want to expand one interface into multiple and have no requirements for data transmission performance, you can buy a cheap cable splitter directly. If there are many types of signals to be transmitted and there are requirements for transmission quality, then it is necessary to purchase a docking station.
At present, as notebooks go further and further in the pursuit of lightness and thinness, there are fewer and fewer types of interfaces. For example, Apple’s MacBook only retains the type-c interface, so it can be said that it is a basic operation to equip a thin and light notebook with a docking station. However, it is precisely because the docking station can be adapted to a variety of different devices and has a large number of interface types, which makes it easy for Xiaobai to be confused and step on pits when purchasing.
