Laptop docking stations and DAW performance?

equalsql

Any user's on the forum that use a DAW on a laptop and use extra screens via a docking station? 

If so.. have you noticed any performance issues, glitching etc when using the station?.

I'm using Reaper 5 on a Fujitsu Lifebook and have a 27" monitor running from it using the HDMI port.  I want to run another screen but the graphics adapter will only run the HDMI or VGA output, but not both... so I'm considering getting a USB3 driven docking station with inbuilt graphics processor to be able to use the extra monitor.. plus I get additional USB ports etc.

My only concern is if this will have a noticeable performance impact when recording?

digitalscream

There shouldn't be any impact at all for DAW stuff, as long as:

1 - You use the laptop's USB ports for your audio interface

2 - The drivers for the docking station hardware are decent

#1 shouldn't even be an issue, really.

Jack_

2 will be an issue I suspect. I used an external graphic card a while back made by StarTech, it was awful, might've moved on today, but I still don't think it'll be a nice user experience.

From what I remember, USB just doesn't have the required power to run a decent monitor at decent fps.

Might be OK if all that's going to sit on the second screen is your mixer for reference or occasional use.

A 27" screen is a decent amount of screen real estate. My solution to a problem like yours was to go to a bigger screen, I use a 29" Ultra-Wide which is great because of the extra horizontal space for a DAW. Now you can get 34" Ultra-Wide curved which look amazing, have super high resolutions and only use one input rather than multiple inputs for multiple monitors. Probably not as cheap as a GFX dock, but you get what you pay for.