Hands On: The Kensington Sd7000 Dock Turns A Surface Tablet Into A Surface Studio

Unfortunately, Kensington’s SD7000 dock takes a page from Microsoft and charges a premium price.

- Mark Hachman

For years, Microsoft Surface fans have wondered two things: First, would Microsoft ever sell a standalone version of its massive Surface Studio display (go.pcworld.com/sfs2)? And second, when would the company update its Surface Dock (go.pcworld.com/sfdk)? The Kensington SD7000 Surface Pro Docking Station answers both questions…sort of.

Put simply, Kensington’s SD7000 features the “zero-gravity hinge” construction of the Surface Studio, but instead of a massive 25-inch, 4.5K screen, there’s a partial frame which can hold a Surface Pro 4, Surface Pro (2017), or Surface Pro 6. We’d call the SD7000 a sort-of hybrid between a tablet stand and a dock, which can also serve as an inking surface should you need that.

In some ways, the Kensington SD7000 reminds me of the first generation of Surface Pro docks, which “grabbed” each side of the tablet and featured a port extender at the Surface Connector slot. To use the SD7000, you slide the Surface Pro tablet into the SD7000’s frame, then hold the device in place by snapping a side handle closed. Naturally, you’ll immediately discover one limitation: You have to remove the Type Cover.

Meanwhile, on the rear of the SD7000’s base, there’s an array of ports: four USB 3.0 ports, an ethernet jack, a full-sized DisplayPort++ 1.2 port, HDMI, a Kensington lock (naturally), and a headphone jack. Finally, there’s also a USB-C port, though it’s data only. (USB-C is a feature of the Surface Studio 2, though not the Surface tablets.)