Oyster Portable Computer Docking System

I’m on the mailing list for The Gadgeteer — they review gadgets of all kinds, though they specialize in mobile gadgets and accessories to go with them. Anyhow, their latest review was for the Oyster Portable Computer Docking System.

It’s a bit hard to explain, though I’ll try. It’s not so much a traditional “docking station” as a USB hub within a stand :). You open up the laptop all the way so that the screen is parallel to the keyboard. Then it goes in the stand such that the screen is upright and facing you. After that, it’s just a matter of plugging in the mouse and keyboard into the Oyster — it has an internal USB hub which connects to the laptop.

If that doesn't quite make sense, check out the pictures in the review and that should clear things up. Initially, it didn’t seem to me that there was much use for this. But, it started to make sense to me after a while. It was like having a universal docking station with the screen at a convenient height (and no monitor needed).

The Gadgeteer really liked it as well saying that “I can not recommend the Oyster highly enough!” (though I’m not sure I’d go quite that far). Of course, it is $200, but that’s still about half the price of a real docking station (I checked Dell’s site and they’re listed for $399).