Henge Docks Macbook Pro vertical dock review

After many years, my dream of having my primary work computer be a Macbook finally came true! I was so happy when I received my new 13 inch - Retina Macbook Pro and started to set up my desk with my new charger, keyboard, and mouse. Suddenly I realized there was at least one convenience I hadn't thought about when making the switch from the PC world: a dock that I could easily attach my machine to that would neatly organize all of my cables and provide all the ports I needed. I had never really seen any other Mac users in my office with a dock for their machines, but after a quick search on google I saw that there were at least two options with the more well known being the Henge Docks option. I was a little skeptical of a vertical dock at first since all of the other docks I had used previously were horizontal and the Henge Docks horizontal dock was super expensive. Ultimately, I decided to take the plunge on the vertical dock and see if it would be as useful as using the docks I had grown used to on the PC. Below I have included the pros and cons that I noticed while using the dock. 

Pros

• ​High quality construction: The dock is made of aluminum and it is pretty heavy which gives it a nice durable feeling
• Nice aesthetics: Aluminum construction matches the Macbook Pro nicely and the minimal design provides a nice look to the desk 
• Provides more desk space and reduces clutter: the dock includes a section underneath that will allow you to hide unused dongles or extra cables which keeps the desk looking neat. In addition, keeping the laptop in a vertical position reduces it's overall footprint on your desk, providing more space to work or just give the desk an uncluttered appearance
• Very convenient to be able to just pick up your laptop and go: Macbook users know that one of the trade offs that comes with using a Mac is the many dongles and adapters that you need to get through the day. If you take your computer home on a daily basis it can get pretty annoying to unplug all the dongles and then wrap up your charger and then pack everything up. With the dock you can just pull the laptop out and everything else will just stay in place ready for when you arrive the next day

Cons

• Unable to use your laptop as an additional monitor: If you are used to working with two screens and one of those screens is typically your laptop screen then you will likely run into issues with this dock. Due to the way it holds the laptop, it has to remain closed. The dock allows you to connect an additional external monitor if you want two, but not everyone has the budget for a second monitor
• Need to order additional charger: The dock itself is already pretty pricey ($123), but if you want to enjoy the full convenience of just being able to pull your laptop in and out and just go about your day you will definitely need to purchase an additional laptop charger for your bag or home which will add another $70-$80 do your total cost
• Lack of Ports: One thing I loved about the PC docks I have used in the past is that they add multiple additional ports that thinner laptops are unable to offer these days. This is particularly important for Macbooks as they typically have even less ports that most PCs. So I was pretty disappointed that the dock didn't really provide any additional ports than if i was just using the laptop without it. When you plug it in, the dock uses the mini display port, the headphone port, and one of the USB ports to connect. It provides dongles to allow you to still use those, but no extra ports
• Charger gets pulled out of slot when removing laptop: This one is especially annoying. The first few times I pulled the laptop out of the dock, the magsafe charger would not release easily enough from the laptop so it would actually come up from its slot as I pulled the laptop out. That meant I had to take the time to readjust the charger back into it's place each time which is not that easy to do. I finally realized that I had to hold onto the charging cable that was protruding from the dock as I pulled out the laptop to prevent it from being pulled up (not very elegant)
• No option to turn on the laptop: For many PC docks it didn't matter if the laptop was open or closed or if it was on or off when you plugged it in because they had a power button that integrated with the laptop and allowed you to turn it on or wake it directly from the dock. There is no such option on the Henge Dock so there were times when i would put the laptop into the dock and my computer would fail to wake from sleep. I would then have to take it out open it and make sure it was awake before closing it again and place it back into the dock

Summary

7/10: Overall, the Henge Docks Vertical Dock for the 13 in Retina Macbook Pro has, for the most part, what I was hoping it would do. I mainly wanted something that would keep my cables and desk organized and that would allow me to grab my laptop and just go at the end of the day. The dock allows me to do this, but it does not always work as smoothly as it should and for the high price the company charges I believe the experience should be better. In addition, this dock seems to be missing a few critical features that are what make these docks so useful in the PC world. After I had already purchased the Henge Dock, I found a horizontal dock on Amazon from a company called LandingZone that seemed to fix many of the issues that I ran into with this dock. I have not been able to try it, but it looks like a worth alternative and I have included links to both of the docks below if you are interested in trying one of them out. 

Purchase Henge Docks Vertical Dock here
Purchase LandingZone Dock here