Hands on review of the Henge Dock

A few months ago, I did a rough review of the Henge Dock. On the back end of that review, I was contact by KL Associates  asking if I would like to do a full review on the Henge Dock.

I jumped at the opportunity to get my hands on the actual unit and accepted the offer.

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The marketing team over at Henge Docks must have had a field day trying to come up with a good “apple” looking based package… but to be honest, they’ve done a fairly good job of it – Nice and neat (and very Apple looking).

In the box you are presented with the docking unit and a box of goodies (accessories).

What’s in the box?

Within the “accessories” box are a bunch of goodies …. cables, manual and plugs.

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The manual is pretty stock standard and is not really of much use (to anyone with 1/2 a brain). There are 2 handy pages in there though…. one that tells you what you need for each MacBook Pro model and which Power Adapter Plugs to use depending on which Apple power supply you have.

The guys over at Henge Docks provide you with the following:

• 2 x USB extensions.
• 1 x Firewire cable.
• 1 x Headphone extension cable.
• 1 x Mic extension cable.
• 1 x clip less network cable
• 3 x Power Adapter Plugs (depending on which Apple power supply you have).
• 10 x Threaded plugs (to hold the cables in place)
• 1 x allen key.

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Assembly

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Putting the unit together is fairly simple. Each cable has it’s designated slot (pre-aligned with the spacing and ports on your MacBook).

The cables are held in place by one of the threaded plugs, that you screw in with the supplied allen key.
All in all, it took only took me 10 minutes to put it all together (and I installed every cable supplied).

The 2 cables/adapters that they don’t supply you with (the 2 expensive ones), are the VGA & Power adapter, which you have to supply yourself. They’ve even left a slot so you can leave an SD card plugged in.

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You are supplied with 3 power adapter plugs (depending on which power adapter you have). In the manual you will find a guide on which adapter is suited for which power supply.

Once you have installed all the cables, you are ready in dock your MacBook.

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Once all the cables and adapters have been installed, they all tuck away very nicely under the dock. You can place the VGA adapter at the end of the dock (like I’ve done here) or you can pack it to the left (where there’s a nice gap).
 

Summary

Over all it’s a great piece of kit that has been missing from Apple’s array of add-ons and gadgets.

Almost every other laptop manufacture have a docking station for their corporate clients.
Apple have been piping on about getting a good grip on the corp market, which they are, but they have been lacking a docking station.

At the end of the day, you need to remember what it is you’re getting in the box.

• Cables & extensions (no power or video)
• Screws (to hold the cables and adapters in place)
• Allen key
•  Large piece of moulded plastic.

It’s the last one that’s making the price tag a bit hard to swallow (£64) :-(. You can pick them up in the US for $61 (which equates to roughly £38).

I would be willing to pay about £40 – £45 (and not the current price tag of £65) for this dock …. but it’s up to you.