Anker 675 USB-C Docking Station 12-in-1 Monitor Stand – Review
By Steve Crabtree, February 2024
How’s your desk management going? Like mine? Not great, needs improvement and must do better?
Well, the Anker 675 USB-C Docking Station is an absolute godsend to people like you and me who need to up their desk tidiness, minimise wires and plugs, and have a nice space to get on with their day-to-day work.
But this unit is a step up for your run-of-the-mill monitor stands, and brings you a whole host of practical benefits that, once you try them out, you realise you can’t be without.
What’s in the box?
- Docking station
- User manual
- Quick start guide
- Power brick and power cable
- USB-C to USB-C cable
- Cable restraints
“Keeps everything connected”
So, I set this up and there’s not much I can say. It’s the easiest thing to take out of the box and get using, and it’s as plug-and-play as a docking station can get. It looks sleek, it’s a neat bit of kit, and it’s strong and sturdy with a quality factor built in.
Getting to know the unit, you’ll find a number of ports on the side of the unit, letting you plug in a variation of USBs, SD/microSDs, and a 4K HDMI. There’s more on the underside of the docking station too, and a really clever cable tidy that lets you wrap those wires away and out of sight. Your organised desk surface won’t easily get messy with the Anker 675 USB-C Docking Station, that’s for sure!
What I really like about this is the spot for your phone. The wireless charging point, which I’ve never had on the desk at my home office, frees me up from a cable, and another plug socket or laptop port is freed up too. It’s got a pretty rapid charge with it as well.
I work with my MacBook and a second screen, and I like that to sit above my main computer. This lets that happen nicely and keeps everything connected as it should when I need to take my laptop out for the day when I visit a client. I’m in need of using SD cards for manipulating photos, and its connectivity and transfer rate to my computer is very good.
The Technicals…
With the Anker 675 USB-C 12-in-1 Docking Station and Monitor Stand, you get to equip your workstation with:
- A 100W max USB-C upstream port (connect to laptop), 3 USB-A ports, 2 USB-C ports, SD/microSD card slots, a 4K HDMI port, a wireless charging pad, and an Ethernet port.
- All-in-one workspace: Stand your monitor on top of the docking station, and use the space underneath to store your keyboard, mouse, and other peripherals when you’re not using them.
- A user-friendly design: By raising your monitor off the desk, you’ll be able to sit up straight instead of slouching. Healthier posture, and a more comfortable work experience.
- Power for your entire workstation: With a 100W max USB-C upstream port to charge your laptop, 2 USB-C Power Delivery ports sharing 45W, 3 USB-A ports for smaller devices, and a wireless charging pad for your phone, you have more than enough options to keep your whole workspace powered up.
You get more than just a stand for your monitor. You get so much functionality and convenience, and with so much power having to go to everything on your workstation this just helps. We can all fight through cables and change plugs in and out, but when you don’t need to, you appreciate it. It looks a hell of a lot tidier too.
“A positive difference”
And then, there’s the comfort point of view. The height of the docking station is a little higher than other ones I’ve used, and that means I’m sitting up to look at my screen, and I don’t fall into a slouchy-slumber. That can only be a bonus for posture. I can comfortably slide my laptop under the unit too, as well as my notebook, and reach it again without doing that poking the fingers into a tiny gap kind of thing.
I recently got a new office chair to ease the comfort when I work from home, and that’s been a godsend. This product complements the new set-up nicely. I can feel the positive difference when I’m working, and my only complaint is that I didn’t find the Anker 675 USB-C Docking Station earlier.
What Anker Say:
The Anker 675 USB-C Docking Station optimises desktop space with versatile connectivity, enhanced user posture and layered space for better device organization. This all-in-one desktop tool supports 4K at 60Hz HDMI connectivity and 10 Gbps data transfer speeds via multiple port options. Thanks to its raised design, users can easily push their mouse, keyboard, and laptop under the stand when not in use to cut down on clutter.
The verdict:
Well, for me this has become an important part of my home office, and I really like it. I had a raised monitor station before and thought that was good. But this takes things to another level. It’s fast become an essential piece of kit, and not only do I benefit from everything it has to offer, the office keeps that little bit nicer, all thanks to it.
If you’re looking to tidy up your home office (or even office at work) this does much more than just give you a shelf for your monitor. The Anker 675 USB-C Docking Station keeps the cables at bay and makes connections a breeze.
It’s a cool piece of kit. You end up taking things like this for granted somewhere down the line, but if you’re looking for a monitor stand, this provides you with more function than you’d bargain for, and you’ll work better for it.
The Anker 675 USB-C Docking Station is available from amazon.co.uk. RRP: £189.98