As with many households around the world we've had to up our work from home game. For my other half this means his own workspace in a separate room to ensure we can both attend meetings without annoying each other. The changes wrought by the pandemic actually coincide with my return to independent consulting after a couple of years doing the Big 4 thing and a need to reinstate a fully working office capable of supporting my management and technology consulting practice as well as my blogging, photography and other creative pursuits.
One of the things that has come up is the need for a more modern docking station capable of supporting 4k display and a plethora of accessories. My choice of dock is a musing for another day but what really gave me pause as I looked at the different options was how future-proofed I wanted the purchase to be. Everything is moving to USB-C but I use multiple laptops and some of them don't have a USB-C port. I was facing the need to retire perfectly capable computers or buying a dock I may need to upgrade sooner than desirable.
I decided instead that I would try one of the USB-C to USB-A adapters before I took the plunge because for NZ$7.95 I could well have the best of both worlds. The adapter arrived within a couple of days of purchase from TradeMe and was immediately tested. The first attempt didn't work but the supplier had helpfully noted on the product description that the USB-C male connector inserted one way was USB 2.0 and flipped over was USB 3.0. I duly flipped the USB-C connector and lo and behold the USB-C dock I'd borrowed from my partner installed. Mice, keyboard and dual monitors all working!
If, like myself, you are in a transition with your tech then this could be a useful widget to have. We now have a few of these so that my partner's matching laptop to mine (without the USB-C port) can still use his docking station.
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