For better or worse, laptop docking stations have generally been “dumb” devices. Synaptics and its customers are hoping to change that. Right now, there are two main technologies that “compete” in the docking stations space: USB4 which Intel puts its own spin on with its Thunderbolt 4 technology and DisplayLink a technology Synaptics bought in 2020. Thunderbolt supplies more raw bandwidth to docks, while DisplayLink uses compression technologies to deliver a high speed
