Deal | Buying an Ultrabook for the holidays? This 16-in-1 USB-C Baseus docking station might come in handy

As Ultrabooks become thinner and thinner, port options have been steadily decreasing and converging into all-in-one solutions. USB-C in particular can now be found on almost any new laptop and it is oftentimes the only port available on ultra-thin models. Consequently, accessories like adapters and docking stations are more important than ever if users want to fully exploit their new laptops.

The Baseus USB-C docking station is currently available on Amazon for $90 to $110 depending on the model chosen. Unlike most other docking stations, it's a massive 16-in-1 solution with multiple ports including USB-C, USB-A, 3x HDMI, headphones, RJ-45, SD card readers, and even USB-C PD charging passthrough. The less expensive model integrates VGA in lieu of two HDMI ports.

The manufacturer sent us a test unit for our impressions and, after testing each port, we can confirm that the dock works as advertised. Transfer rates from the SD card readers top out at about 80 MB/s each and connecting two external 1080p monitors via HDMI would work without any issues in both Mirror and Extend modes. When connecting our HP P700 SSD into one of the USB-A 3.0 ports, we were able to record transfer rates of about 400 MB/s. We used the Lenovo Yoga 7i 14 as our primary host system since it integrates multiple Thunderbolt 4 ports, but the dock would work just as well on our Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 15 which only integrates USB-C Gen. 2. Note that the integrated HDMI ports are not 2.0 meaning 4k UHD external monitors are supported up to 30 Hz only.