Baseus Spacemate Mac – 11 in 1 Docking Station
Introduction/Description
- 【Excellent 11-in-1 Connectivity】: This USB-C docking station for MacBook is equipped with 2 DisplayLink HDMI ports, 1 ALT Mode HDMI port, a USB-C 10Gbps data port, 2 USB-A 10Gbps data ports, 2 USB-A 480Mbps data ports, a 100W USB-C PD input port, a Gigabit IT Ethernet connection and a 3.5mm AUX jack to satisfy all your expansion needs at once and increase productivity and work efficiency.
- 【Support for Multiple Displays for Mac】Seamlessly expand your workspace to three screens and maximise productivity and creativity. With the DisplayLink chip specially designed for macOS, our laptop docking station is compatible with all M1/M2/M3 MacBook and Windows laptops.
- Upright design with magnetic base, easy to set up and connect/remove cables. The integrated LED digital display shows you the connection status of each port. With the screen lock, you can lock the screen at any time to protect sensitive information you don’t want to share.
- With the USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports (1 USB-C and 2 USB-A), you can achieve transfer speeds of up to 10 Gbps and can transfer 20 GB files in 20 seconds. Enjoy a more stable connection to your mouse and keyboard with two USB-A data ports at 480 Mbps.
- Maximum power consumption of 100 W with the USB-C PD port. The docking station supports charging up to 3 monitors and allows you to pass the charge to your laptop with an output power of up to 85W. This makes it possible to fully charge any USB-C laptop in no time. Note: Power cord and power adapter are not included.
Photos
Ratings
These ratings are my personal opinion – Your Opinion maybe different than mine!
YouTube Video
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Opinion
Very important: If you have a Mac you need to buy the Mac version of this docking station
Important: If you have FileVault activated the driver for the sceen can’t be loaded – this is very problematic if you wanted to just connect your screens on the docking station but not if, like me, you just connect 1 screen on the Mac and one on the docking station.
The solution here is to use the HDMI 3 Output on the docking as this one operates in DP Alt Mode and doesn’t make use of the Displaylink driver – but again this is just for 1 screen (or 2 if you use the connection on the Mac itself.
Important: If you want to use multiple ports/screens on the docking station it is recommended to use an external power source (100W max / 87W recommended) – it is not contained within the package!
And now to my opinon lol
Already during the unpacking I noticed a very good quality which suprised me as I once bought a power bank from Baseus and this was the worst one I ever had – used twice and already return to sender…
But here we are with the docking. First of all you need to install a Displaylink driver. Here I than saw an option to activate the screen on the login screen which I installed (it’s a seperate extension). I rebooted and no second screen. So I checked the net as nothing was mentioned in the manual and found out that when using the Displaylink HDMI ports when the Filevault is active on your Mac the driver can’t be loaded and so during login there is no image.
In the manual I saw that the HDMI3 was mentioned as DP Alt Mode and connecting it to this one helped, Filevault can be active as on HDMI3 no driver is needed – this should be mentioned in the manual.
Also when you check on Amazon with their AI it tells you that you need a power supply of 100W as mentioned in the manual. At the end, when I got the docking, it’s recommended if you use multiple ports but it’s not mandatory.
For me I’m missing an SD card reader and at least an additional USB-A High Speed port at the back – maybe going to a Thunderbolt 4 or 5 connection would have been an idea for that but than the price would even be higher. This is also another point, the price, why is the Mac version so much more expensive than the Windows one – in the base it’s exactly the same device.
The idea with gluing the base of the docking on your table and have the docking attached by magnets is really great – Never saw one docking yet with such an idea.
As my table is old and will be replaced in the near future I didn’t glued it yet but when I see already the strenght of the magnets…
Great is also of having finally an audio an the back as the Mac Mini only has one in the front.
A nice to have is also the LED Panel in the front – here you see which ports are used at the moment – again a very good an smart idea.
And last but not least another nice to have feature is the lock button on the top – unfortunately for the Mac you need to tap it twice but on Windows only once to lock your session.
So overall I’m very satisfied with this product – some points like the manual could be much better and in my eye, like mentioned, some more ports would have been even better.
Now I just hope it will not stop working in several days – unfortunately I had a very bad experience with Baseus and so I never wanted a product from them again but I thought this time come on let’s give it another try.
Specifications
Input Port: USB-C
Output Ports:
HDMI Output Ports:
HDMI 1: USB Graphics Card Display (Displaylink), 4K@60Hz (Max.)
HDMI 2: USB Graphics Card Display (Displaylink), 4K@60Hz (Max.)
HDMI 3: DP Alt Mode, 4K@60Hz (Max.)
USB-A 3.2×2: 10Gbps (Max.)
USB-C 3.2×1: 10Ghps (Max.)
USB A 2.0×2:480Mbps (Max.)
USB-C (PD) x1: 100W input (Max.)
Gigabit Ethernet
3.5mm Audio
