Kensington SD4000 4K Ultra HD DisplayPort Docking Station Review

Kensington has been around for quite a long time and in that time has created a solid name for itself. They design and produce a full range of accessories including docking stations in which we have their latest solution in house.

The SD4000 is the latest universal docking station to come from the labs at Kensington. This solution supports a single 4K display or dual 2K displays completely independent of your laptop or desktop's video card. This means you can run a 4K display even if your laptop doesn't support it. Connectivity starts with its USB 3.0 and 5v power inputs that allow DVI, HDMI, and DisplayPort functionality. Also, the SD4000 also houses a gigabit Ethernet port, audio in and out along with several USB 3.0 port including a 2.1A output that allows charging of your smart devices.

Compatibility according to the specifications allows for Windows functionality only with 7 through 10 supported. MSRP of the SD4000 is listed at $229.99 with a one-year warranty.

Packaging for the SD4000 is quite clean and simple. The front depicts this unit setup with a notebook and 4K display while the bottom lists simple features of the dock.

The scope of delivery for the SD4000 includes the power adapter, USB 3.0 cable, and the dock. We also have reading materials to get you started.

The SD4000 carries a clean look, with just an LED on the front of the unit.

GO TO TOP OF THE NEXT COLUMN ^

The backside of the device is all business with the DVI, HDMI, and DisplayPort sitting next to the gigabit Ethernet and USB 3.0 port.

Internally, the SD4000 uses the DL5900 controller that is paired with a Realtek Gbe controller and VLI USB 3.0 hub.

To test the performance of the USB 3.0 hub inside the SD4000, we set up our Intel 730 SSD with an enclosure. Peak performance reached 379 MB/s read and 348 MB/s write.

Network performance of the integrated Realtek Ethernet in the SD4000 reached a peak throughput of 740 Mbps.

With this SD4000 being the first product I have ever owned from Kensington, I am quite happy and surprised with the quality. The plastics are thick and durable while all the connectivity options are solid in their positions. Adding to this, when we opened this unit up, all the solder connections looked great and everything was laid out to make the most of the space available.

The performance of the SD4000 was quite good on the USB 3.0 side of things. With our SSD, I was able to reach 379 MB/s read in Anvils, while write performance was up near 348 MB/s. Looking at the networking side of things, the Realtek Gbe controller performed admirably but was not quite able to reach full gigabit performance peaking out at 740Mbps. On the display side of things, I had no issues powering up my 1080p monitor with this docking station, and that same thing can be said for the 1440p 27" panel as well.

Overall, the SD4000 is a great looking durable docking station that in my testing was able to power both of my monitors with ease. The gigabit performance wasn't quite where I'd like to see it, but on the other hand, the USB 3.0 performance was admirable.