Bookendz PowerBook Dock

Written by Ken Edwards
Published December 09, 2003

I have owned this Dock for my 2002 PowerBook G4 since September. I now take my PowerBook with me more often. The BookEndz Dock is very much worth the price.

For those who do not know, the BookEndz Dock allows you to plug everything into it, and then very easily dock and un-dock the PowerBook to take it with you. Some people have asked "Is it too much to unplug and go?" It is a pain in the rear to unplug power, ethernet, FireWire, one or two USB, and external monitor every single time. Like I said, now that I have the BookEndz Dock I take my PowerBook with me much more since it is a simple squeeze of the two latches to dismount the PowerBook from the Dock. So yes, it is worth it.

It took a few days, 3 or 4 if I remember, to get the Dock to "fit" my PowerBook. When you are docking 9 ports at once, it takes some time. The user manual pointed this out, and it did take a few days indeed. At first I could not get it to dock at all. But after a week, it has been smooth sailing.

BookEndz is even making docks for the new 2003 15" PowerBooks. They have docks available for the 12", 15" and 17" PowerBooks, as well as for iBooks.

I am really glad I bought mine, it is a well made product. You can even take out some ports if you are not going to use them. For example I took the S-Video Dock Connector out of the Dock because I do not use S-Video on my PowerBook, so there is no need to have that extra friction ever time I dock my TiBook.

Originally posted on Breaking Windows.

Ken Edwards is the Gaming Editor at Blogcritics, and calls Breaking Windows home. Ken works part time for Student Publications at BGSU as the Webmaster and System Administrator. He is also a freelance web developer.

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Bookendz PowerBook Dock
Published: December 09, 2003
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Section: Sci/Tech
Writer: Ken Edwards
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Comments

#1 — December 27, 2003 @ 01:06AM — Jon Shipman

Do you have any problems when docking and having it wake up only to freeze? E-mail me if you did. As I have been seemingly having this problem. Here's a quote of a post I made on Apple.com's forum.

"I've been having problems with my Powerbook and my Bookendz dock. It seems to work fine sleeping and ejecting, though when I dock it while it is asleep it will freeze. The only work around I have come up with is opening it (thereby waking it up) before docking it, though this technique is very awkward. Any other owners of this Dock face similar problems or is my case unique and calls for a replacement of the dock? Thanks."

#2 — December 27, 2003 @ 12:21PM — Mac Diva [URL]

I have been using one of those devices that prevent the tangle of cables by separating them, but it is not a complete solution to plugging and unplugging several cables. I'm considering moving to a wireless router for 802.11 when I move up to g. That would get rid of one cable, but that still leaves the power adapter, my Palm, FireWire for my iPod or an external hard drive and whatever is in the other USB port, usually a printer. I may consider Bookendz.

For people wondering how my PowerBook G4 repair issue with Apple turned out, it was resolved last week. After a couple of escalations to customer service and sending them faxes of repair orders from a local Apple tech shop, the computer was repaired free, including a new screen and logic board.

#3 — December 27, 2003 @ 14:31PM — Ken Edwards [URL]

It sais to shut down the computer before you dock it. I usually do.

I have docked it when it was asleep, and some times it freezes, and sometimes it does not. but think about it, it is docking (for me at least) a DVI, Firewire, USB, Ethernet, and Power. So if it freezes, I do not put that off to a glitch in the BookEndz dock.

#4 — August 26, 2005 @ 14:00PM — Luis Antezana

I have the same freezing issue if i dock while the PowerBooks are asleep here with three 2004/2005 12" PowerBooks. I hear what you're saying, Ken, about docking all those ports and that not being a glitch on the BookEndz, but what good is shutting down the PowerBook each time you want to dock it, then waiting for it to start up after you dock it? How much more time is that, especially if it was asleep before you shut it down, then just not using a dock and manually plugging in the ports each time? I now have people reluctant to undock becuase they don't want to go through the tedious process of re-docking later! How stupid is that?! These are the dopes who wanted the dock in the first place so they wouldn't have to plug and unplug all those cables (only video, keyboard, audio, and network, by the way). The BookEndz should support docking while sleeping or else it's just a stupid idea.

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