Which Surface Pro models does Kensington's SD7000 Docking Station support?
Which Surface Pro models does Kensington's SD7000 Docking Station support?
Why get a Kensington SD7000 Docking Station?
The thing that makes the Kensington SD7000 Docking Station so great is that it allows you to turn your Surface device into a minimalist home PC. It's sturdy and well-built, constructed with a combination of plastic and metal, which makes it fantastic for holding your Surface Pro securely in place. In addition, it also has a massive array of ports, including:
- 1x USB Type-C (data only)
- 4x USB Type-A 3.0
- Gigabit Ethernet
- DisplayPort++ v1.2
- HDMI 2.0
- 3.5mm combo audio port
These different ports can be used to connect your Surface to external monitor displays or data storage devices. Lastly, the station has a wide range of movement, which gives you the freedom to adjust the screen angle and height to something that works best for you.
Which Surface Pro works best with this station?
The Kensington SD7000 Docking Station works with several recent Surface Pro devices: the Surface Pro 4, Surface Pro 5, Surface Pro 6, Surface Pro 7, and 2021's Surface Pro 7+.
It does not work with Surface Pro 8.
However, which one should you choose?
All five of these are great, but the Surface Pro that will take advantage of this docking station the most is the Surface Pro 7+ due to the large improvements in processing power and the better GPU. Both of these improvements positively impact everything you do on a computer, so it's worth spending the extra money on the newest Surface model for this reason.
It's important to note that Surface Pro 7 is for consumers, whereas Surface Pro 7+ is more for business, but anyone can buy it. The Pro 7+ has a larger battery and newer 11th Gen Intel CPUs, including an option for LTE, which makes it a better choice over the older Surface Pro 7.
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If you want to play some video games, then the Surface Pro 7+'s hardware advantages are a must-have. Previous Surface devices have never been that good for gaming due to the lack of power, but the Surface Pro 7+'s improvements make it the first one that can handle PC games admirably. You won't be able to use the highest graphics options, but you can still make games run great and look good enough to play with some settings tweaks.
Brendan Lowry is a Windows Central writer and Oakland University graduate with a burning passion for video games, of which he's been an avid fan since childhood. He's been writing for Team WC since the summer of 2017, and you'll find him doing news, editorials, reviews, and general coverage on everything gaming, Xbox, and Windows PC. His favorite game of all time is probably NieR: Automata, though Elden Ring, Fallout: New Vegas, and Team Fortress 2 are in the running, too. When he's not writing or gaming, there's a good chance he's either watching an interesting new movie or TV show or actually going outside for once. Follow him on X (Twitter).