PowerExpand Elite 12-in-1 Thunderbolt 4 Dock

I've been using this hub now for 2 months and it has worked flawlessly. It's simultaneously supporting a 4k external monitor, external USB drive, USB printer, and USB keyboard while also charging the laptop. As of this morning, all of the USB ports on the back stopped working although the monitor worked fine. I called Anker support and was very fortunate to talk to someone who previously worked for Apple up until recently. After I told him the model of MacBook he knew that it only has two USB-C ports on the left side, and asked me if I had it plugged into the rear most port on the laptop. That was true, and after he recommended switching it to the front most port on the laptop, all worked well.As far as I knew, these ports were supposed to be identical, but apparently the are not. But it is interesting that the hub worked fine for two months. Anyway, I just wanted to post this in case anyone else runs into this issue where there ports stop working.

I purchased two of these Anker 777 Thunderbolt Docking Stations and was really hoping they would work well as they had all the features I wanted: audio output, two 4k HDMI outputs, and ThunderBolt 4. I connected one to my home office with two 4k monitors -- but it caused the monitor connected to the HDMI 1 output to blank out frequently. It would blank out for 5s or more at random, usually at least 3 times every 5 minutes. Sometimes it would blank out much more frequently and sometimes I would have to disconnect the docking station and reconnect it to my laptop. I tried several things to fix the problem -- changing cables, switching monitors, even trying a 3rd 4k monitor of a different brand in place of the two 4k monitors I had -- but the monitor connected to the HDMI 1 output on the docking station would keep blanking out.I connected my second Anker 777 Thunderbolt Docking Station in my office with two QHD monitors, and that worked perfectly. So I brought this second unit home to connect it to the two 4k monitors, and it too started blanking out the HDMI 1 connected 4k monitor at a similar rate as the first Anker 777 Thunderbolt Docking Station. This made the units unusable for me and thus I had to return both units.Based on my experience, the units I received appear to work well with QHD monitors, but not 4k monitors. I replaced them with the Dell WD22TB4 docking station. The Dell does not have an audio output, so I bought a USB audio adapter (costs less than $10) and connected that to a USB output on the docking station to get audio output capability. I have had the Dell docking station for over a month now, and everything has worked well so far.Six months later will Dell docking station: I purchased a second Dell WD22TB4 docking station shortly after the initial review, and both are running perfectly.

I bought this product in November of 2021. I am using it with a new Dell XPS w/ 11gen Intel I7 and Windows 10 pro. I have two displays connected. Display 1 is an LG 32” UHD HDR10 Monitor with AMD FreeSync. Display 2 is an older Dell 27" 1080p ultrawide. Both displays connect via an HDMI cable. I have connected the Apex 12 via a Thunderbolt USB-C cable to my XPS laptop..In all honesty, there is not all that much to say. It works exactly as advertised. It was very simple to unbox and connect and all there was to do after all the cables were connected was to press the "ON" button. Everything connected seamlessly and there were no issues. I have been using this daily for the past two weeks and have had no issues.Positives. First, my new laptop has a 3480x2160 UHD display. I had a prior Anker docking station that only supported 1080p which was the primary why I upgraded to the new Apex 12. The Apex 12 seems to handle the higher resolution with no issues. I was having a lot of issues when using my old docking station while trying to use my video editing and creation software. Those issues are now gone.Second, the Thunderbolt-4 interface from the Apex 12 to my laptop is really nice. With my older Anker docking station I had a USB cable connecting to my laptop, a power supply for the laptop and a power supply for the docking station. Now I have one power supply to the Apex 12 and a USB C cable connecting the Apex 12 to the laptop. Everything is much simplified.Third, I have a Toshiba Canvio Advance 4TB external hard disk that I keep a lot of my files on. I do a lot of video creation and editing and the loading and saving of files from the hard disk connected to the docking station seems to be much improved. I can't really quantify it, but it seems faster.Fourth, I love the USB-C port on the front for quickly connecting my phone or other devices. It's nice not having to hunt for a port on the back of the device. Being on the front is super handy.Negatives? My primary complaint is the stand that allows the unit to stand up vertically must be bought separately. In my opinion it should have come with the Apex 12 as it is really needed and I did buy it after receiving and setting up the product. My minor complaint is I wish it had more USB-A high speed ports. The Apex 12 has 4 USB-A ports on the rear (2 high speed and 2 standard). I still have peripherals that I need to connect (microphone, Logitech camera, external hard drive, etc.) that use USB-A so having more than 2 high speed ports would help.I will note a couple items of additional issues that I have encountered.Issue 1 is an intermittent warning from my Dell completer stating that the power being supplied by the Apex 12 was not sufficient and to change power supplies. At first this a mildly annoying, but then the notices were constant and it was really pissing me off. And suddenly the notices have gone away. So not sure at all what the issue was or is or whether it will come back. That said, there was never an adverse issue with my computer or it's functions. The battery charged up nicely and no functions were lost or impaired. So who knows. That issue, for now, is gone.Issue 2 is my older (2014-2015 era) Dell Monitor. If I am not actively using the monitor it seems to go to sleep and the monitor goes dark. I have to touch the on/off button and it comes back to life. I honestly do not know if it is a monitor issue or a computer issue or an Apex 12 issue.So, I guess, if I could, I would give it 4-1/2 stars. It isn't perfect, but it's pretty darn good. But I can only do 4-stars or 5. So.... Drumroll please... I am giving it 4-stars. If the stand that they sell separately had come with the Apex 12 I would have given it 5-stars. But I had to buy it separately and it was really needed and since I think they should have supplied it as part of the package I am cutting a star off.