This is video 2 in the video series about the Microsoft Display Dock.  In this video, Kyle introduces you to the three components of the Microsoft Display Dock.

Microsoft Display Dock – Pieces from Kyle Jones on Vimeo.

Hello, it’s Kyle again. In this video series, I’ve been introducing you to the Microsoft Display Dock as a harbinger of the future of education, so this is less about the device in particular but more about the shift that this device represents. That said, though, it’s important to be able to understand the particular device in order to grasp what it means for education. So, to do that, allow me to introduce you to the three pieces that comprise the Display Dock.

First, there’s the Display Dock itself. It has a USB C port on the front of the unit. On the back, it has three USB ports across the top here, another USB C port here, and a DisplayPort and a HDMI port. Second, there’s this second cable, with a USB C plug on both ends of the cable. This cable connects a newer Microsoft Windows phone to the Display Dock. USB C is a new type of plug, so it’s different from the micro USB connections that you might be using with your current cell phone. USB C is technically USB 3.1, which means that it can theoretically carry roughly twice the amount of data as USB 3.0. USB C is also designed in such a way that there’s not a top-and-bottom to the plug, so you don’t have those struggles where you’re trying to plug in the cable, only to discover you’ve got it turned upside down. USB C also provides significantly more power, so it’s capable of charging devices in a relatively short time. The third piece of the system is the power adapter. Remember how I just shared that USB C cables can carry significant power? Note that this power adapter is actually using a USB C plug on the other end. USB C can carry as much as 100 watts, so it’s fully capable of carrying enough juice to power a laptop. Therefore, we may actually see USB C replacing the traditional power adapters on laptops in the coming years.

Well, those are the three pieces that comprise the system. In the next video in the series, I’ll show you how to connect these pieces in order to transform a Windows phone into a miniature computer.