The Minisopuru dock was tweaked and improved on

In September 2023, I had the opportunity to review the Minisopuru 13-in-1 DisplayLink Laptop Docking Station (DS808), which while fulfilled it’s brief as a dock came with some questionable design decisions. Now almost a year on, they have launched the Minisopuru MD6950D, an upgraded version that seeks to address the issues I had raised.

The full name of the MD6950D is a mouthful, being Minisopuru Upgrade DisplayLink Docking Station Triple Monitor with 140W Power Adapter. So I am just going to refer to it as the MD6950D, or the dock, or Minisopuru in the article.

 

First Impressions

Compared to the previous version, the DS808, the new MD6950D is a little deeper and taller. It has also gained two extra ports now being a fifteen port device.

The design cues remain the same with the brushed aluminium body. The fascia is now silver front and back, rather than the black that was with the DS808. Ports have been moved around into new positions as well as some changes to functionality and operation of the dock.

The build quality of the Minisopuru docks are still top notch. The unit feels solid and premium.

On the addition side, the MD6950D now has a dedicated power button, SD and TF card slots. It has also gained an additional USB-C port which brings it to two usable USB-C ports, and both are 10Gbs ones.

On the removal side, it has dropped one USB-A port to a total of three, but all are 5Gb rather than a mix of USB 2.0 and USB 3.2 in the case of the DS808.

Monitor support has been changed and upgraded. The MD6950D now gives the option of Display Port or HDMI for both Display 1 and Display 2, and HDMI only for Display 3. Previously it was HDMI only for Display 1, DP only Display 2 and HDMI or DP for Display 3.

There is also a change in power requirements which I will cover off more in details later.

In Use

I have been using the older model since I reviewed it about this time last year. I transitioned from my old laptop to a current gen laptop about three months ago with very little drama. There were some occasional quirks where I have pushed it a bit far and the dock reboots on me. Sometimes that happens a few times a night.

The transition from the DS808 to the MD9650D was simple. I did have to change the power supply as the new Minisopuru dock comes with a 140W brick to power it. Minisopuru has opt to remain with a DC plug. All my cables were pulled from the old dock and plugged into the new dock. As I already have the DisplayLink driver installed, everything was just ready to rock and roll. Word of advice is to download the latest version of DisplayLink to take advantage of any fixes and new features.

 

The biggest change with the MD9650D is with the power distribution. As mentioned in the previous paragraph the dock comes with a 140W brick, with the bulk of the power output split at 85W and 45W. The bulk of the power is delivered to the laptop via the USB-C cable, which will cater for most laptop requirements (not Macbook Pro). The other 45W is divvied up between the USB-C ports, along with a 7.5W for the USB-A ports.

This also addresses my real big gripe about the older DS808. Just to recap, the DS808 needed a DC power in to power itself, as well as a USB-C PD power in, so that it can power your laptop through the USB-C host link. Minisopuru has made sure with this iteration that you only need one power source to drive everything.

Just like the DS808, the MD9650D will work with a (included) USB-C to USB-A adaptor, but you are limited to driving Display 1 and Display 2 only. No option for the HDMI Display 3 in this configuration. Regardless, you can only drive each of the monitors to a maximum of 4K at 60 Hz. So if you are a gamer and needing a higher refresh rate, this won’t work for you.

The best part of changing my docking station is … that I have not noticed that things have changed. Everything has continued working without a hiccup. I did have one instance where the MD6950D has crashed and rebooted on me. It was just a once off occurrence and also prompted me to check on my DisplayLink version which needed an update to the June 2024 release.

Working often with dashcams, security cameras and DSLR, the in-built SD and TF slots are a real value add. Except for my CF card, I no longer have to scrounge around for a reader and/or a microSD to SD adapter to plug in. Most of what I use is directly supported with the MD9650D.

Throwing some random large files (just over 1GB each) at it, I get a reasonable average around 27 MB/sec transfer rate for both reading and writing with a WD Purple QD101 using the Transflash slot. Using an adaptor for the SD slot gave similar results.

Going with a more technical approach as befitting a review, I went with USBDevice tp test against the same media. With the WD Purple QD101 in the Transflash slot got 28MB/sec write and 34.7 MB/sec read. Throwing in as Sandisk Class 10 Extreme 10 yielded very similar numbers. These were backed by CrystalDiskMark 8 as well.

The card readers are not blistering fast, but they are convenient. Chances are I will kick off a copy and go get myself a cuppa first.

 

Gripes

Only the one here. I wish Minisopuru ditched the DC plug and went with an industry standard USB-C PD input. The reality is that it is likely a financial decision where the DC solution is the cheaper option.

Conclusions

Despite some of the complaints I had with the DS808, I still thought it was a solid performer. So much so I have kept using it long after the DRN review period. The new Minisopuru MD6950D has made changes both under the hood and at the coal face. It is clear that they are a company that has listened to feedback and made a real effort at improving their offering.

The Minisopuru Upgrade DisplayLink Docking Station Triple Monitor with 140W Power Adapter (MD6590D) has a retail price of AUD$513 which is a fair chunk of money. Off the top of my head it is also on the higher side of comparable docks.

On the benefits side, it is a solidly built unit with reliable performance. It is small enough to be carried around with you for work.

If the full price is hard to swallow, there is a very generous discount on at time of publishing which brings it down to $376. If you stack it with the 2024M6950D code, it is discounted by an extra 10% to $338.40 with free shipping and that is a super competitive price.

DRN would like to thank Minisopuru for providing the review unit.

 

 

Specifications

Video output ports
Display 1：HDMI or DP (one or the other)
Display 2：HDMI or DP (one of the other)
Display 3：HDMI

Other ports
1 x indicator light
1 x on/off button
1 x 3.5mm headphone jack
1 x SD card slot
1 x TF card slot

3 USB-A 3.0 ports (two of which only support 5Gbps data transmission, one supports 5Gbps data transmission and 7.5w downlink charging).
2 USB-C 10Gbps ports (supports 10Gbps data transmission, and 1x45w or 2x22w downstream charging).
1 Gigabit Ethernet: Supports network connections up to 1000Mbps.
One USB-C To Host: used to connect to a computer and supports 85w upstream charging.
1 x 140w DC power input port: used to power the MD6950D and charge/power other connected devices.