Targus ACP50US Universal Notebook Docking Station with Video Reviews

• Does anybody really like this Targus product?!?

  
  By A2CB4LEYBCIQFN on 2006-01-03
  I'm a long-time Amazon and computer user...
  
  I have spent months off-and-on trying to configure this Targus product with a new Dell laptop and LG monitor. It simply does not work as advertised as the video display and mouse tracking is just too slow to use. And Targus has not answered any of my many Web inquiries, emails or phone calls. They appear to have no tech support.
  
  If others are as frustrated with Targus as me (and by reading the other reviews, it appears you are) then I recommend you voice your problems and don't buy Targus products. Then maybe Targus will reconsider how they advertise to and support their customers.
  
  Don't buy this product!
  
  
  
  

• Pretty cool device, but not for laptop gamers

  
  By A1UIB472CJSJBH on 2006-01-01
  I have a TC1100 tablet PC which has a fairly small screen. The docking station that came with my tablet wasn't the right one, but I didn't give it a second thought because I never used the computer in a docking station environment. However, I have decided that I would like to set up my tablet with an extra LCD monitor that I have lying around. The docking station from HP is quite pricy, so I started searching and found the Targus universal docking station.
  
  I read the other reviews about this product and went straight to the website to download the newest drivers instead of the using the drivers on the packaged CD. I installed the drivers BEFORE plugging in the docking station (this is required). Once the drivers were installed and the computer rebooted, I tried it out and . . .
  
  was pleasently suprised. I am actually typing this review using the external monitor hooked up to the docking station. When starting programs and other things on the external monitor, there is a framerate drop, but once things get started and settled, the lag goes away.
  
  I started up several different programs and was happy with the results until I opened a game that requires DirectX. It wouldn't start, giving me an error that said my video card did not support this.
  
  I suspect the problem that other people were having with this docking station stems from the bit rate associated with USB 1.0 vs. 2.0. A video setup on an older computer probably had a 33MHz bus speed running 16 bits or about 528 Mbps. USB 1.0 is a mere 10 Mbps and USB 2.0 is roughly 400 Mbps. I don't know what the Targus docking station uses as far as bus speeds and bus width, but I would suspect the people that were having terrible lag were using USB 1.0.
  
  Overall: This is a pretty cool and inovative device in that it can add a monitor and multiple ports to ANY laptop. There are some stipulations though. One is that you won't be using the emulated monitor to play DirectX games (I suspect movies might have problems also). Office applications, web browsing, and any other non-graphics intensive applications will work just fine. Two is that you will definately want to have USB 2.0. Three is to download the drivers off the Targus website and skip the packaged CD.
  
  In the end I will probably return this product and just get a port replicator without video. I will just plug in the the port replicator and the monitor, instead of just a port replicator. That way I can take advantage of my video card built into my laptop instead of emulating a lesser video card it.
  
  

• OK if you have a fast system and USB 2.0

  
  By A1JZHMH0EKENQQ on 2006-03-07
  I bought this docking station even though most of the reviews were negative. The video port was not essential, and I was hoping that my fast dual-core system would help speed up the throughput.
  
  First of all, YOU MUST RUN THIS THROUGH A USB 2.0 port if you want any kind of video. Second download the latest driver from the Targus website. Do not use the CD that came with the DS.
  
  I have 3 usb devices, mouse-kbd-printer, attached to the DS, as well as a 17" LCD running at 1024x768 16 bit color. I am running it as an extension of my main screen. Finally, I am plugged into our 100BT ethernet LAN through the DS.
  
  The results are as good as I hoped for. At maximum resolution(1024x768 32 bit color) there is some jitter on the second screen when moving windows, or if you move the mouse quickly, but I expected lower quality video. I use remote desktop often, so i am used to video performance shortcomings.
  
  When I reduce the resolution or color depth the jitter lessens to the point that it is not noticeable at 800x600 16 bit color. I get fair results running at 1024x768 16 bit, which is not visibly different from 32 bit unless you are working with images. I will use my main screen for that. You can get better performance by turning off menu effects, and not displaying window contents while dragging, but I did not find it necessary.
  
  Overall I am very pleased, and will probably buy a few more for other users, as well as one for my home office. It is much easier and safer to plug in a single USB cable every morning and night, than it is to plug in a lan, monitor, mouse, keyboard and printer.
  
  Keep in mind, the notebook I used for testing is faster than most desktops.
  
  System used:
  
  Sager 9750-V Notebook
  Display: 17" WUXGA LCD
  Processor: AMD A64 X2 4800+
  Graphics Card: nVIDIA GeForce Go 7800 GTX
  RAM: 2048MB 400DDR
  Primary Hard Drive: 100GB 7200RPM SATA
  Secondary Hard Drive: 100GB 7200RPM SATA
  Bay 1 Media Drive: 8x DVD+- combo drive with DVD+R DL
  Operating System: Windows XP Professional SP2
  
  My background:
  IT Director-.NET Programmer-Sys Admin for a small/medium sized company.
  
  

• DANGER!! BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH!! STAY AWAY!

  
  By A15IS0T8YFLHRY on 2005-08-07
  First of all, I am an ADVANCED user, familiar with driver installation. Just purchased a brand new, Presario R4000 laptop.
  I followed manufacturer's install directions EXACTLY.
  
  Driver installation from Targus OEM CD v.5.0 resulted in "black screen" during video adapter install and physical memory dump duing install after connecting to Windows via USB.
  
  Uninstalled drivers, rolled system back using System Restore to recover. I should note that I attempted the driver install SEVERAL different times with the SAME result. In all, I was able to REPLICATE this problem many times.
  
  Downloaded Targus drivers 5.0.3 build from site. From bad to WORSE!! Ethernet driver install caused physical memory dump, and another "Blue Screen of Death".
  
  System recovered (Thank GOD), I uninstalled all Targus drivers, rolled the system back AGAIN and deleted the .ZIP file from Targus and the .tmp files I generated from the screen dumps!
  
  My advice, DO NOT attempt to install this on a Presario R4000. Period.
  
  
  

• Don't buy for video

  
  By AJKSS1F34YNAZ on 2005-07-16
  If you are purchasing this unit to furnish a stable port for your notebook to connect to your LCD monitor - DON'T. Video and mouse very unstable. Make sure your video setting is mirrored so you can reset the video or turn off when it freezes up. Don't pay the extra bucks for this port replicator because it does not work as advertised. You can save yourself some money and a lot of frustration by buying a dock for all your non-video connections and avoiding this unit.
  
  
• Great Product
  By A2XI7B097BOM05 on 2005-03-31
  I had the same problem as the other customer but downloaded the updated drivers from Targus' website at http://www.targus.com/us/product_details.asp?sku=ACP50US. This fixed the problem and this product works GREAT! I recommend it highly. Great product.
  
  
• DO NOT BUY this product at any circumstance
  By A3GMYWZFT049N6 on 2006-05-16
  I got this from Dell with my laptop. For some reason Dell doesn't make their docking station anymore, so they just gave me this without telling me the brand and the model number.
  
  I installed it with no problem, but then the video through its USB is so extremly slow. You will see about half second delay more your mouse pointer.
  Then while I tried connecting a serial port on the docking station, it couldn't transfer the data.
  I tried installing a USB to parrelle port printer cable on the computer, some how the Targus drivers made my usb printing disable. It doesn't display any error messages at all. I had to test the cable on another Dell laptop to find out it was the docking station's problem
  
  
• This product has a very bad performance
  By A3EHDIRXHDJQ1F on 2005-03-11
  I was waiting for a product like this, which included a feature to connect the monitor, to be available to the consumers. But, This product slows the performance of your laptop or notebook. It does not matter the speed of your processor. Once you connect the monitor into the docking station, the movements or activities triggered by the user from the computer is delayed for several seconds. Sometimes, the mouse does not move at all. Also, it does not have a printer port...well, I guess you can use a USB port for that matter. Anyhow, from a 0 to 10 scale (10 to be the best), I will give this item a 0.
  
  
• Targus Port Replicator Glorified USB Hub
  By AU0WPVMUJM9LJ on 2007-01-16
  This item was ordered as a christmas present and arrived without incident. It also arrived in a plastic bag with out any software or even a label saying what it was. After installing this item and beginning use with it, it became evident that the video portion of the device didn't work correctly. The monitor hooked up displayed the same thing as my laptop but on a 5 second delay and the mouse and everything else appears to trail. We updated all necessary drivers and sought technical support from Targus. It took them a long time to respond and once they did, there advice was to hook the monitor directly up to the laptop, defeating the purpose of having a docking station. So, with that said, if you are looking for a USB hub, this will work, but if you are looking for a Docking Station with Video (as this device/company claim) I would strongly recommend you purchase something from a company other than Targus.
  
  
• Garbage
  By A168P700SWT7VU on 2006-12-14
  I knew better, but I did it anyway, thinking that it would be a good compromise (we have IBM, Dell, and Toshiba laptops and a Sony Really Nice Monitor). No modem port (not a surprise, but would have been nice), the video display is, well, you can see stuff on the monitor. One of the USB ports isn't reliable. I could go on, but you get the picture. Don't bother.
  
  
• BUYER BEWARE
  By A2JFV3MJEM3H7A on 2007-01-29
  I own this product and have used it successfully on one notebook (dell). This product is a port replicator NOT a docking station. For those that need tech mumbo jumbo its quite simple. Software controls this product and it operates according to very strict hardware rules. The drivers are very unstable plus there is no support for some ATI cards. I would recommend at least 1GB of ram with a 7200 rpm hard drive in order to prevent lag and the screen of death. Please don't buy if you don't know what video card you have or if your computer is slow. Trust me I have 9 laptops and only one worked with this product. Don't be a fool. (Nvidea cards have more support)
  
  
• Heap of junk
  By A38MO5TE8R00C2 on 2007-08-15
  I bought this item for around $50 at a CompUSA store closing sale. At that price it is still expensive for what it does. I gave up trying to use an external monitor attached directly to the docking station, as the performance was terrible (on a very fast new PC, attached to a 22 inch LCD monitor). After downloading new drivers, I was able to get the docking station to work with Vista without any problems. In essence this is a glorified USB hub, with a couple of good features: It has two powered permanently powered USB ports, which are useful if you want to attach a phone or Ipod; it includes an Ethernet port, thus allowing you to attach your router directly to the docking station. So in my case I still have to unplug two cables from my computer, every time I disconnect it (the VGA cable and USB connecting to the Targus). In sum, I don't recommend you buy this unit as the video capabilities, the unit's selling point, are basically worthless.
  PS - After a week of use, I found that it does not even work well as a hub as the computer freezes and has to be robooted every time I wake up the screen saver (a core due processor, 2 Gig Ram, Vista). This product is a disgrace and anyone who has bought it should be refunded by Targus. Do not buy it! I would take away all my stars but Amazon does not allow that option.
  
  
• Bad product
  By A6V5UCJVA0FA on 2007-02-01
  Horrible product. It's not the seller's fault that it's such a horrible product... it just is. The main selling point for this is that it has video capabilities... well, as much lag as there is even with super low quality video settings and with a lack of support for higher resolutions (above 1024x768) ... it just ruins the selling point. Buy a dock made specifically for your notebook if you're looking for video capabilities. The rest of the ports work fine. No PS/2 ports though for keyboard and mouse, just USB. Not any better than a port replicator.
  
  Brian
  
  
• BAD VIDEO
  By A3GKVIEYNIBNPY on 2007-05-18
  I've learned that USB connections are too slow to run an external monitor - the mouse action on the monitor was very eractic as a result. I talked to Targus and they told me USB has it's limits. Do not buy this if you want to run a monitor on it.
  
  I would recommend the Belkin high speed station but you need to make sure you have an Expresscard slot in your computer - my new Toshiba did not come with one! Hope this helps.
  
  
• Finally a docking station with video
  By AUD685TVLP0PW on 2005-05-23
  Great product ... Allows simple connectivity to all your desktop peripherals with one USB cable. So basically, just plug the USB into your laptop, your AC adapter for your laptop, and you've got a desktop. Universal too so whenever I upgrade to another laptop, this will still be working.
  
  
• Good product for $39
  By AVD3NMECLVO1I on 2006-11-13
  I bought this product for $39 through Amazon. Arrived in a clear plastic bag, no manual or CD. It looked new and the seller claimed it was new. I downloaded the latest driver from targus for use with a Lenovo Thinkpad T60 with Windows XP. Installed fine. Recognized all devices (printer, mouse, video, etc.). Notes:
  1. Video is fine. Slightly lower quality and slightly "faded" colors, otherwise no difference. Video streaming is fine.
  2. I do not run games, dvds or video editing on the auxiliary monitor so I cannot say how these will run.
  3. Targus is NOT compatible with pivot pro, which shifts the extra monitor 90 degrees. targus only lets you use the extra monitor in the normal "landscape" orientation, cannot shift to "portrait" orientation.
  4. With the targus, the mouse is very slightly lagged on the browser. No discernible lag on word processing, spreadsheets, i.e. notebook programs.
  5. I have read the other bad reviews. It may be that the targus is not compatible with other notebooks.
  6. I also have a Lenovo docking station which cost $159. With the Lenovo dock, video, mouse and all functions are perfect including pivot pro. On a scale of one to ten, I would rate the Lenovo docking station a 10 and the targus a 6. I would rate targus a 7 if you are not interested in pivot pro.
  On balance, this is a good product if you can get it for $39. But if you have to pay $100 or above, get the docking station that is made for your notebook like the Lenovo.
  
  
  
• It is exactly what it is and isn't what it isn't
  By AW226AMT64QZD on 2007-08-15
  First, throw out the CD it comes with and download the latest driver (7.1.1). The CD driver has limited resolution choices and many bugs and crashes. 7.1.1 driver seems to run faster and has resolution choices up to 1600x1200.
  
  Second, don't think of this as a primary display adapter. The performance is about that of an old 8-bit ISA Windows 3.1 video card. I use it to drive a third monitor strictly for email and IM. And nothing else. The slow frame rate is hardly noticable when you do that. I actually preferred the low refresh rate because it meant I was never tempted to slap a game or an editor on the third monitor. The still frame quality is fine, FYI.
  
  Use it for what it is, and it's fine. Try to get performance out of it and you'll be disappointed.
  
  
• A USB hub would work just as well
  By A3VXFX9E5KL0LB on 2006-09-05
  I was very disppointed in the video performance of this product. I installed it on my new HP laptop with a 1.6 GHz Centrino Duo processor (which took a phone call to tech support and a download of new drivers) and found that there was a significant delay between what I was doing with the mouse and what I was watching on the screen. The resolution you're able to display on the external monitor is also limited, a fact which would have influenced my purchase. Without video capabilities that actually work, this product is a very expensive USB hub. I'm returning my docking station and using a USB hub. It only adds one more plug (instead of power and docking station I'm plugging in power, USB hub and VGA cable) and works infinitely better.
  
  
• DON'T BUY THIS
  By A17BRBKSW7ONXG on 2006-10-02
  Every other negative review here is accurate. The video connection is horrible. The mouse runs on a delay of 1-2 seconds and is unacceptable. Try the competing Kensington product instead. It's more expensive, but it works. I switched to it and all my components work just as though they were plugged in directly - in short, as advertised and expected.
  
  
• Not compatible with Home Vista
  By AZCZZK6BWFGGC on 2007-03-10
  Had to return this product because it would not work with the new windows operating system. I contacted Targus Support and they recommended I return the product since they could not guarantee that that would provide the necessary drivers. 3 stars because I could never use the product.
  
  
• Quick and easy setup.
  By A28ECYX2N4M13Z on 2006-09-01
  My customer was looking for a universal docking station to allow for usage with multiple laptops. This was the second universal docking station I tried. The first was connected through the PCMCIA slot. After several attempts to get it working, I resolved to research the manufacturer website only to find that the laptops were not listed as being compatible. So much for 'universal.'
  
  The Targus ACP50US connects to the laptop via USB allowing for a quick and easy disconnect. The feature highly favored is the ability to quickly change the display. At the click of a button, the primary display can be either the laptop or an attached monitor. The display can be extended across both monitors or mirrored. When the docking station is disconnected, the display is set to the laptop. When the docking station is reconnected, the display automatically returns to the last setting.
  
  Overall, the Targus ACP50US is a great product.
  
  
• Targus Docking Station with Video
  By A33RVYTC6NO4PH on 2007-06-08
  It's what I was looking for. The functionality and reliability is an A+. Highly recommendable.
  
  
• Not recommended
  By A2EF2F4RSG24NG on 2007-12-06
  While the product does work as advertised, the mouse tracking is slow with the bundled ver 7.01 of the drivers. I uninstalled and downloaded/installed the latest 7.12 from Targus. The mouse worked better, but still shaky. The video MUST be set to USB-Primary otherwise it can't share the video with the laptop (I'm using a brand new Dell Vostro 1500, 2Gb RAM, WinXPSP2). Worse, the video seems to be an extended desktop, so on the external monitor, if you move the mouse too far right, it begins to appear on the laptop's screen and gets annoying when trying to bring it back over.
  In all, I would not recommend this product as it appears that the single USB connection cannot carry all the data of video, sound, mouse, kybd, etc sufficiently. I hope that Targus redesigns the product with a faster 'backbone' in future models.
  
  ~Greg
  IT Consultant (18yrs+ experience)
  
  
• Best Generic PC Notebook Docking Station available!
  By A3NOTFD4Q180ZW on 2007-11-05
  Unless your brand of PC Notebook has their own model specific docking station design for it, you can't beat this one. With a simple and single cable (USB 2.0), the Targus Dock is ready to go, including the Video Monitor Output, Sound, Network and other USB devices like your mouse or printer. If your notebook supports higher than 1024x768 video out, you might still want to plug the notebook directly into your monitor.
  
  All for a lot less than the docks sold by HP, Compaq, Toshiba, Sony and the others.
  
  
• Mouse doesn't work well
  By A2MTDOY8L2L2WP on 2005-06-03
  Purchased product for a notebook (Dell Inspiron 5100) user but found that the mouse movement was laggy. Downloaded drivers from the Targus website but still had the same problem. Contacted Targus support and they noted that it was because all devices were sharing the same USB connection. I removed the LCD monitor off of the replicator back to the notebook and the mouse now behaves properly. Note: If you are purchasing this replicator to hang a monitor on it beware that there may be some side effects that are very undesireable.
  
  
• Doesn't perform as I had hoped
  By A25IMO9C0FW8IA on 2005-08-29
  I got this for about $120, shipping included, at HP. It does what it says it will do, just not as well as I'd hoped. There are two problems. First, response time on the monitor you hook up to the docking station is pretty slow - particularly when you're on the Web. The mouse pointer moves at about one-half its normal speed, if that. As a result, I'm not even using the monitor port on the docking station. (I've got my external monitor plugged right into my laptop.) Second, there are occasional mouse and keyboard glitches. For example, the mouse might freeze up for five seconds, or the keyboard will type kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk when all you wanted was k. This stuff probably happens once or twice an hour.
  
  On the whole, I'd have to say that I would not have bought the device if I'd known then what I know now.
  
  
• Excellent Device
  By A16NOISFP2WR3I on 2007-05-20
  Easy installation and works great. Shipping was no problem and glad I got it.
  
  
• Targus Docking station
  By A3OJEM0IC7DJGB on 2007-09-30
  Nice product works well, be aware that though it is powered (for the usb's) you still have to use the laptops power adapter, to power the laptop. I ended buying another adapter so I could leave everything on my desk and did not need to unplug a power cable everytime I wanted to travel.
  
  
• It didn't work.
  By AANBGOZUVRPJ4 on 2007-12-31
  This product did not work well at all. It slowed my computer down to a snail's pace. It first of all came partially opened already as if it had been returned previously. I was very unhappy with this product and returned it immediately to the vendor. I did get a full refund though less shipping charges.
  
  
• video does not work due to power surge
  By A1MXM8QKVWVST1 on 2008-07-13
  i have purchased 2 of these now and have had problems with the video and power problems. both times computer does not recognize device.
  
  

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