Laptop Dock and Power Supply question.

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semigeek

1606 posts

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#304192 12-Apr-2023 12:16

My partner has an HP dock for her laptop which she has been having issues with, such as an external keyboard or mouse cutting out along with anything else plugged into the dock.
She has been told by an IT person that the dock should be plugged into its own power socket rather than a powerboard or the laptop. Is this actually correct or is it more than likely that the dock is faulty?

Silvrav

469 posts

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#3061832 12-Apr-2023 12:20

Depends on the quality of the powerboard as cheapie powerboards can cause frequency or voltage issue which electronics is sensitive to. Generally this is a process of elimination if something is going wrong, but otherwise I don't see an issue with using a powerboard.

gehenna

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#3061833 12-Apr-2023 12:23

It's not bad advice either way. Depends on the power draw for the laptop and dock. Either way it's easily tested and proven one way or the other.

semigeek

1606 posts

Uber Geek

#3061834 12-Apr-2023 12:25

gehenna:

It's not bad advice either way. Depends on the power draw for the laptop and dock. Either way it's easily tested and proven one way or the other.

Only thing is, in her office she only has one power socket. Which is stupid in this day and age.

larknz

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#3061903 12-Apr-2023 14:06

Silvrav:

Depends on the quality of the powerboard as cheapie powerboards can cause frequency or voltage issue which electronics is sensitive to. Generally this is a process of elimination if something is going wrong, but otherwise I don't see an issue with using a powerboard.

A powerboard is very unlikely to affect the frequency, they are only a set of sockets connected in parallel.

If there is something with a high power consumption connected to the powerboard there is a possibility of of the voltage being affected, especially if the powerboard is very cheaply made of has loose connections. A good quality powerboard should not affect the operation of a monitor or computer.