HP xb4 Notebook Media Docking Station

Easy to use, good speakers, decent keyboard and mouse, saves space, and particularly convenient for tablet notebooks.Main points:* simple setup and easy to connect/disconnect (though I'm not sure if non-HP laptops have the Quickconnect port)* allows you to adjust and lock the height and angle of the laptop platform* clear and powerful speakers, though somewhat lacking in bass range* the keyboard and mouse are okay, conveniently wireless but otherwise nothing special; they are quite acceptable if you buy this docking station on sale (I got mine under $100)* 6 built-in USB ports, but the wireless keyboard-and-mouse transmitter take up one port, so you're left with 5 extra ports* the dock's power button puts your laptop into and out of hibernation* if you buy a power supply (not included) for the docking station, then you can keep your laptop's power supply ready for travel* a hidden bay for a HP Personal Media Drive (not included), which let me reclaim deskspace from my previous external drive* when everything is set up, it looks impressive sitting on your deskOther notes:* The drive cover for the hidden bay was difficult for me to take off. I was afraid I was going to break the plastic, but once I finally got it off, the drive in, and the cover back on, I haven't had anything to worry about.* The touch volume controls on the front of the dock are a little irksome. The mute button is convenient, but the volume up and down controls sometimes lag. I would have loved if HP used a volume knob instead.* My favorite thing about this dock is how it allows me to use my laptop (HP tx2) to do word processing in portrait orientation. (Previously, portrait orientation was only convenient in tablet mode, which made the laptop's keyboard inaccessible.) Unfortunately, when I'm using my tablet in portrait orientation on this dock, the placement of the Quickconnect port makes it so that the fingerprint reader and orientation button are covered by the dock piece that holds the laptop in place. However I'm still glad for the added versatility this docking station allows me.* I stuck on felt circles on my dock's rubber feet so that I can slide it around easily across my glass desk. The heaviness of the dock, in my case partially due to the external drive, makes the overall setup feel solid and secure.Conclusion:I'm very pleased with this purchase. I highly recommend this docking station, an extra power supply, and a HP Personal Media Drive, especially for other tablet users.

I have had 3 units in 1 year and now the warranty period is over. All 3 units eventually had the sound quit working. One unit I received as a replacement was worse than the one it was replacing. Not only did the sound not work but it also made a loud buzzing noise. HP makes a fine laptop but this docking station stinks.

I was so excited to finally have a docking station for my HP Pavilion DV7 laptop. I got it in the mail today, set it all up, and turned on the dock. It successfully turned on at first, but I soon realized that it was flickering on and off with the power charger. About 2 or 3 seconds of every half minute, the screen dims and the mouse / keyboard stop working (i.e. as if you pulled out the charger). I'm not sure why this is happening; however, I am very disappointed to not be able to use it that way. Now, it is pretty much just a stand for the laptop! I'll update my review after hearing back from the support forum in case there is a solution for the problem. Basic conclusion - great idea for the product. It may work well with other models - but be cautious when buying it for the HP Pavilion DV7 model!

The product does what I expected and is easy to setup... it's really nice just making one connection to my laptop and having a full office setup like a desktop.Some of the things I don't like:1. Sound above about 40% starts to sound like the speaker is hitting something in the housing making a very distorted sound.2. Sound above about 50% causes rolling lines in my external LED display that is connected via an analog VGA connection.3. Did not come with a power supply (seriously??)

I like to keep my notebook computer elevated off the desk. This makes more room on the desk and also helps keep the computer a bit cooler, extending the life of the device. I also make a habit of using the laptop's extended desktop feature both at home and at the office and find that having the laptop computer on a dock allows me to use the built-in monitor at a level more even with the external monitor, which is a bit more ergonomic.When I got my HP Pavilion DV4-1140GO 14.1-Inch Laptop (2.0 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T5800 Processor, 4 GB RAM, 320 GB Hard Drive, DVD Drive, Vista Premium) I looked at a number of dock options for this computer, some made by third party manufacturers and the HP xb4 Notebook Media Docking Station made by HP themselves. I decided the HP option that was built for my laptop model would be the best choice for me and ordered one.The HP xb4 Notebook Media Docking Station greatly enriches my laptop's capabilities by adding 6 USB 2.0 Ports, an Ethernet jack, a microphone jack, headphone jack, built-in Altec Lansing 2.1 speakers, an HP Media Drive storage bay, VGA port (monitor), an SPDIF port, a firewire port, and a wireless keyboard and mouse to go with it. It does not come with a power adapter, but the dock uses the same adapter that comes with the HP laptops it is compatible with, so that isn't a problem at all.I had originally thought that I might use the HP Media Drive storage bay, but ended up deciding the HP Media Drives were more than I wanted to pay and thought it better to simply upgrade the laptop's internal hard drive to one with more capacity so that I had the additional space everywhere I went instead of tying it to the dock.The rest of the features, however, have proven extremely useful to me - so much so that I invested in a second identical dock so that I could keep one at work and another at home.The Altec Lansing speakers have a great sound and provide much better volume than the laptop's internal speakers do. The dock has a mute button on the front of the dock and the wireless keyboard that came with the dock had full volume controls on the keyboard itself. I have to say that the keyboard was the weak link in this package. While it had great features, it just didn't last long and gave out early on in life. That's the reason I didn't give this dock five stars.As far as problems go, however, that's a good one to have because I was able to replace the keyboard with another wireless keyboard for not much money.After using two of these docks for the last four years, I can't imagine doing without a dock anymore. I do use my laptop without the dock when I am away from the house or office, but I much prefer to use the computer with the HP xb4 dock.