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Friday, June 3, 2011

Review: Fujitsu USB Port Replicator PR07


Shaped like a miniature sail, Fujitsu’s PR07 elegant port replicator won’t take up much space on your desk, but it will bring a range of features to hand. Plug it into the mains and connect it via USB to your PC or laptop, and you have easy front access to two extra USB 2 ports and a headphone and microphone input.



But it’s round the back that things get interesting. Beneath a further two USB ports, you get a 10/100 Ethernet socket and a DVI output. The former makes it easy to leave the PR07 connected to a modem or router, and get your laptop online in seconds when you get home.
The latter uses DisplayLink – Windows 7 detected and installed the driver automatically when we first plugged it in – to give you an extra monitor connection. It’s USB 2, so you won’t be able to plug in that spare 30in TFT you have lying around, but it will support resolutions up to 1,920 x 1,200, so most displays up to 24in (and some cheaper 27in models) should work fine.



That’s not to say you’ll be able to do everything, though. The bandwidth allows for 1080p video playback at a watchable, though not quite smooth, frame rate, and we noticed graphical glitches here and there. It’s best to consider your second monitor as a work and web browsing bonus, and keep the entertainment to your primary display.
A step up to USB 3 would hopefully alleviate this problem, but for now the PR07 carries out its basic tasks well. At £99 inc VAT we’d definitely only consider it if you’ll make use of the monitor input, but even then it has competition: Toshiba’s Dynadock V10 has the exact same feature set for around £30 less, which makes the Fujitsu tough to recommend.

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