Skip to content

Choosing a USB-C dock with Power Delivery for a laptop.

PD wattage must match the laptop. A 14-inch ThinkPad draws 65W, a MacBook Pro 16 wants 96W+. Too-low PD means the laptop sips from battery during work, accelerating wear.

Try this first

  1. 1Read laptop spec: 'max charging via USB-C', values 65W, 96W, 100W, 140W (USB-PD 3.1).
  2. 2Pick a dock with equal or higher PD. Prefer 100W when 65W is needed, not the other way.
  3. 3Plan where the dock brick lives: a 230W brick under the desk is bulky.
  4. 4For heavy users (devs, video) a TB4 dock with 96W+ also gives compute bandwidth for external SSDs.

When to bring us in

Laptop charges slowly despite correct PD wattage: a USB 2.0 cable cannot carry PD, swap to a labelled 100W or 240W cable.

See also

None of the above fits?

Describe your situation below. We pass your input plus the steps you already saw to our AI and return tailored next-step advice. If it's too risky to DIY, we'll say so.

Who are you?

For the AI question we need your email and company, so we can follow up if the AI gets stuck, and to prevent abuse.

Limited to 2 questions per hour and 5 per day, kept lean so the AI stays useful. For more, contacting us directly works better for you and us.

Or skip the DIY entirely

Our Managed IT clients do not look these things up. One point of contact, a fixed monthly price, resolved within working hours.