Multi-Dock with HDMI For Toshiba

Price aside. Though due to lack of 3rd party options, I feel this product is too expensive for a basic port replicator.

Regardless of price, I would love to give it 5 stars because it does give the the most amount of external access to your docked Thrive.

Pro & Con: Dock uses Powered USB hub for the 2 USB ports. The Pro is you get 2 USB ports. The Con, is that it REQUIRES power to work. So you HAVE to use your Thrive Power Support or buy a 2nd power supply to use the Dock's USB ports.

Pros:
Lots of ports:
- Two full size USB ports (Keyboard and mouse for me right now, could also do 2 USB game controllers for 2 player gaming, etc)
- Audio jack for external speakers (basic Thrive dock has this too)
- Full size HDMI port for sound and video (Fills the screen on 16:9 TVs by cropping some of the tablet screen, tablet screen stays on the whole time)
- Power jack is the same as on the tablet so you can (and must) share the tablet power supply
Looks clean and feels solid
Non slip base

Cons:
- Firm connection to the Thrive tablet and so you can not simply lift the tablet off the dock. You have to hold the dock down and lift the tablet off. This wouldn't be much of a negative point if the dock had a simple tab to easily hold down while lifting the Thrive. Instead you have to either have fairly wide hands like me and hold both sides of the dock with thumb and finger, or you have to press the thin lip of the dock that hugs the Thrive glass and press down firmly while lifting the Thrive.
- No Power Supply. A 30 watt power supply should not cost $40 alone. And for the cost of this dock, it should come with it's own power supply. I should not have to share it with the dock.
- Alignment lines are not on the front of the dock and not really visible on the Thrive, which means alignment can be slower than expected, even over time. This could have been improved.

Pros are worth the cons and you really don't have a choice right now since there are no other docks for the Thrive yet. I really wanted the dock for a quick kitchen "computer" with keyboard and mouse while keeping it compact and for photoframe use.

I will leave my Thrive tablet comments for that review later.

First I have to say that I did love this product. I could easily plug in my usb mouse and keyboard which made emails easy when away from home. It worked perfectly with the HDMI for watching movies stored on my tablet. I was very pleased with it. Then today, just 33 days of owning it, it fried. Don't know what happened as I was not home as it was charging but no longer will it power the usb mouse or keyboard nor will it charge my tablet. (The charging cable that came with my tablet is still working fine.) The usb ports also smell like burnt electronics. If it would have happened just 3 days earlier I could have returned it. I will be contacting Toshiba about replacing it and will update this review.

Update Sept. 14th 2011
Toshiba customer service was wonderful. I was able to return the dock and was issued a credit including enough to cover shipping of a replacement item of my choice off of the toshiba site.
Very pleased.

When I first got this dock, I hooked it up to my TV via HDMI and the picture was flickering on and off. I was concerned my HDMI cable was faulty, but set it aside for the time being just to charge my Thrive. 3 hours later, I came back to it and my Thrive had NOT charged at all -- the battery was stuck at the same level as when I started charging. By this point, I was concerned the dock itself was faulty. But when I took a closer look, I noticed there was a small gap between my HDMI cable's housing and the dock's HDMI port. So I pushed the cable in a bit harder and it clicked right into place; after that, the picture on my TV was rock solid and my Thrive charged as it should while resting in the cradle. Not sure if this was just a coincidence but I've had the dock a couple weeks now and everything has been working fine since.

My Thrive sits securely in the dock but isn't at all difficult to remove like others have reported. I do have to use 2 hands to remove the Thrive, but it doesn't take much force at all to get it out of the dock.

Great Lap Stand

I like placing my Thrive in the dock and then sitting with it in my lap. It keeps the Thrive positioned upright without needing to hold it, making it very easy and convenient to use. Personally, I prefer that my Thrive sits securely in the dock because I wouldn't want a loose connection to cause inadvertent dropouts or minor body movements to cause disconnects while connected to my TV. The dock seems to get a bit warm on the bottom, but no big deal. And my Thrive looks great on the shelf while mounted to this dock.

Thrive's user guide does warn about charging the battery overnight and states excessive charging could diminish battery life. If that's true, then it doesn't bode well for this dock, because it invites one to just leave your tablet in the dock when not in use until it's needed again. But with Thrive's replaceable battery, I think I'll live on the edge and just not worry about it.

Needlessly Costly

I do agree with others, however, that this dock should have come with its own power supply. That, or it should be much cheaper. But Toshiba knows there aren't any other options right now if you want a dock. Personally, I think the dock without the HDMI port is pointless; if you're gonna get one, get it with the HDMI port.

Bottom Line -- overall, I'm happy with the dock and glad I got it. It'll save wear and tear on my Thrive's ports since everything is plugged into the dock instead. I'm docking 1 star for the price and lack of a power supply. Otherwise, I have no complaints and think this a great accessory for my Thrive.