HP ZBook 200W TB3 Docking Station P5Q61AA

Great price, quick shipping, can't go wrong.

We have two HP ZBook computers, both spec'ed the same, both pushing dual 4K HP monitors via this dock. One works, the other, not so much. The monitors will blink occasionally, at random intervals. ALL drivers have been completely updated, as has the BIOS. I've noticed it is a very common problem. For $300+, this docking station is poorly engineered. Even the plug design and layout is poorly thought out. I don't recommend HP computers unless they're on sale, and I warn everyone away from the ZBook if they need a docking station, it's that bad.

The manufacturer failed to specify the power delivery on the Thunderbolt 3 ports, and which controller is used.I had a friend over who has a MacBook Pro 15" (2016) which can report the power delivery in watts, up to 100W. Using a 100W Active Thunderbolt 3 2M cable, the MacBook reported 60W on both ports of this dock (P5Q61AA). The controller is DSL6540 (2015).The way it can supply much more power to the HP Zbook is that one of the Thunderbolt ports has a 4.5x3.0mm DC jack next to it, and it comes with a Thunderbolt 3 cable with the DC jack built into the cable next to it. HP's laptops it was designed for must have the DC jack next to their Thunderbolt 3 port. Which makes it sort of a single cable docking solution, sort of not. Inside the dock, the DC-in and DC-out ports are likely connected straight together - because with a third party Thunderbolt 3 cable, you can power the dock through the DC-out port with the same 4.5x3.0mm DC jack power supply, and even daisy chain two docks together with the hybrid Thunderbolt / DC cable, and power them both off one power adapter (provided said DC adapter can provide 2x60W = 120W, plus a bit extra for USB port power and running the docks).I have noticed a performance hit of -1/3 when going from any device with 2016 (JHL6X40) controllers to 2015 (DSL6X40) controllers with a passive Thunderbolt 3 40Gbps cable. However, no such performance hit is noted when using an active cable. Between two devices with the 2015 controllers, passive cables are fine, and between two devices with the 2016 controllers, passive cables are fine. No idea if this applies to the new 2018 (JHL7X40) controllers, because I do not own any yet, and the devices are taking ages to come to the market (only a handful so far, see list at egpu.io, search "List of Intel Titan Ridge Thunderbolt 3 Devices site:egpu.io"). This performance was measured from Gigabyte Aorus eGFX Enclosure with AMD R9 Nano installed, using BufferBandwidth.exe from AMD APP SDK 3.0 (after installing, it is at "<userdir>\AMD APP SDK\3.0\samples\opencl\bin\x86_64\BufferBandwidth.exe"). The bandwidth is the same when the eGPU is at third position in the chain, as it is when it is connected straight to the computer. The performance hit comes from latency. The performance is about 2750MB/s (about the theoretical maximum 22Gbps) if active cables are used between any devices in the chain which use different controller generations, and about 1800MB/s otherwise.This is what my lspci -vt looks like for the Thunderbolt Root Port from Dell XPS 9370 with a single dock attached to Thunderbolt port 1 of the laptop:+-1c.4-[03-6d]----00.0-[04-6d]--+-00.0-[05]----00.0 Intel Corporation JHL6540 Thunderbolt 3 NHI (C step) [Alpine Ridge 4C 2016]| +-01.0-[06-38]----00.0-[07-38]--+-00.0-[08]----00.0 ASMedia Technology Inc. ASM1042A USB 3.0 Host Controller| | +-01.0-[09]----00.0 Broadcom Limited NetXtreme BCM57762 Gigabit Ethernet PCIe| | +-02.0-[0a]--| | +-03.0-[0b]--| | \-04.0-[0c-38]--| +-02.0-[39]--| \-04.0-[3a-6d]--Here is lspci -vnt:+-1c.4-[03-6d]----00.0-[04-6d]--+-00.0-[05]----00.0 8086:15d2| +-01.0-[06-38]----00.0-[07-38]--+-00.0-[08]----00.0 1b21:1142| | +-01.0-[09]----00.0 14e4:1682| | +-02.0-[0a]--| | +-03.0-[0b]--| | \-04.0-[0c-38]--| +-02.0-[39]--| \-04.0-[3a-6d]--My friend's MacBook Pro 15" 2016 accepted the Ethernet (Broadcom has been used with Apple for ages) but it could not use daisy chaining. My friend said it might have been because of the 2015 DSL6540 controller. It reported something as unsupported.The dock works perfectly in Windows 17134.228 and Linux 4.17 / 4.18 with my Dell XPS 9370. That is what I tested.Modern device including garbage like a VGA port, -1 star.

Based on reviews here and elsewhere, I was super concerned about this dock. Thunderbolt 3 (TB3) has the promise of being a revolutionary technology, but had a shaky start. With the proper drivers installed in the proper order, the HP TB3 dock does work with no flickering screens or other problems.My configuration:HP ZBook G3 17, NVidia M5000MWindows 10 64-bitTwo Dell P2715Q 4K monitors and 1000 Mbps Ethernet connected through TB3 dock at work.Four HD (1080) monitors and 1000 Mbps Ethernet connected through TB3 dock at home.In both configurations, the internal laptop panel is also active (3 displays at work, 5 displays at home)Steps to install:HP Document part number 851549-003 (August 2016) details the install steps. Follow them meticulously. URLs are prohibited from being posted in reviews, but you can do a Internet search for the part number above to find the document. This information will most certainly be updated in the future, so contact HP support for the latest info.Caveats:The TB3 dock supports two 4K monitors at 30 Hz – not 60 Hz.Connect the dock only when the computer is either on or off. HP does not recommend connecting the dock when the computer is asleep or hibernating.You will see performance problems if Thunderbolt Security is turned on in the BIOS; however, this is easily disabled. (BIOS - Advanced - Port Options > Thunderbolt Security Level = No Security)When using TB3 dock and Hybrid graphics in enabled in BIOS (i.e. Intel graphics for laptop display and NVidia for external displays), there is currently a bug in the Intel drivers that prevent full screen video (e.g. YouTube) and also creates a problem using Presenter Mode in PowerPoint where the presenter screen only shows the current slide. Completely removing the Intel graphics drivers and control panel resolved both of these issues for me; however, now I don’t have an Intel video control panel. HP is working on a resolution and we hope to see an updated Intel driver soon (case 4779633880).Two of my HD (1080) monitors at home have DVI inputs as opposed to DisplayPort. The HP TB3 dock supports using DisplayPort to DVI cables, so good job HP! In comparison, the StarTech TB3 to DisplayPort adapter (StarTech.com Thunderbolt 3 to Dual Monitor DisplayPort Adapter - Thunderbolt to 2x DP Converter - 4K 60Hz - Windows only Compatible) does not support these converter cables.I hope that this review helps others. It is pretty cool technology!