Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga 12 - OneLink Pro Dock (4X10E52935)

Gear: Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga 12, OneLink Pro Dock (4X10E52935), Dell UltraSharp U3011, NEC EA 193Mi-BK, Creative Sounblaster Surround 5.1 Pro, Max Keyboard Blackbird Tenkeyless Blue Backlit Mechanical, Logitech G700S Mouse.

When I used my X230T I used a docking station, called the Lenovo Ultrabase Series 3.  This docking station allowed me to connect many devices through a single interface.  The ThinkPad Yoga 12 is similar, but it does so through the ThinkPad OneLink Pro Dock.  Below are some of the details of this docking station.

The box the docking station comes in.

Packaging is simple and efficient.

All components: OneLink Pro Dock unit, power adapter and cables, the instruction manual, and a DVI to VGA adapter.

The top of the dock has a power button, the front has an mic+hearphone combo jack and two USB 3.0 ports.

The side has a lock.

On the back we can see two more USB 3.0 ports, two USB 2.0 ports, Ethernet, DisplayPort, power port, DVI, and the OneLink cable (which cannot be removed).

Many of the new ThinkPad systems have this OneLink port.

The dock power supply is bigger than the included Yoga 12 power supply.  For more info on power supplies click here.

The power supply is a 90W device.  It achieves this via 20V and 4.5A.  The higher current suggests that the Yoga12 will be charged faster than with other power supply units.

The DisplayPort allows high resolution monitors; the Dell U3011 is running at 2560 x 1600.  That resolution is the highest this docking station supports.

You cannot have the Yoga 12's display on and then have two additional displays on.  The unit only supports two displays active at the same time.  If you want more displays then you are going to have to use "DisplayLink" technology--which uses USB as a form of output for displays.

The NEC display is running 1280 x 1024 through DVI.  The DVI allows 1920x1200 resolution.

To activate two external displays you need to use the Intel software.  Right click on the desktop, click on Graphics Options, Output To, Extended Desktop, and select Digital Display2 + Digital Display.

A big negative of the OneLink Pro Dock is the lack of audio support on the rear of the device.  Which means that you can only depend on the front of the device for all audio, or you must purchase an audio card.

To adjust your audio settings:

Hit windows key and type "Manage Audio Devices"

Select the device that you desire as your primary one, and then click "Set Default" button.

 I like that most of my peripherals are connected to a single device, and then I only have to attach a single cable to the Yoga 12.  If I have to complain, the lack of audio support on the back of the unit is something that could have been added--for now you will have to get an audio card.  Also, previous docking stations allowed for a hard disk or optical drive, the new docks do not--you would have to buy USB devices and then attach those to the dock.  So, the dock ends up looking like an octopus of wires.  But well, it's better to have a dock that is an octopus rather than your Yoga 12 being the octopus.  So, overall I conclude that the device is worth purchasing if your Yoga 12 is your primary computing device.

Note: Do not confuse the "ThinkPad OneLink Pro Dock (4X10E52935)" with the "Thinkpad OneLink Dock (4X10A677)".  The "OneLink Dock" has less ports, and uses a single HDMI port for external display.