An intriguing addition to the growing collection of peripherals for laptop users, Toshiba's Dynadock is clearly targeting those who use the same machine at home as much as they do on the move. It's a docking station of sorts, albeit one with some nifty tricks up its sleeve.

It's a doddle to set up; you install the required software on your laptop and connect the Dynadock using a USB 2.0 cable. It needs to be connected to the mains as well, through the supplied AC adapter. Once up and running, the Dynadock then pretty much handles all the connections you need for your portable machine.

On one hand, there are six USB ports conveniently located and ready for use (four at the back, two at the front), and 7.1 surround sound is supported via the SPDIF connection that's also mounted onto the dock. LAN, microphone and headphone ports also are present and correct.

Where the Dynadock gets that little bit intriguing, though, is in the video outputs. Because one of the big selling points of the device is that it allows your laptop to output to another display. Clearly this is a bandwidth-consuming exercise, and thus Toshiba employs technology that compresses the video output to 24-bit, 1,280 x 1024 resolution. It's not much of a visual compromise, to be fair, and crucially it brings the bandwidth demands down to something a lot more manageable.

That's not to say that the Dynadock still doesn't ask a lot of a single USB 2.0 connection, because it does. Clearly with all the USB ports filled and with added displays on the go there's a traffic problem you're going to encounter, but sensible management of what you're using renders this a minor, and easy to circumnavigate, criticism.

Back on the plus side, the aesthetics of the Dynadock match its technical ambitions. A sleek, slimline and easy-to-fit-on-a-desk unit, it's discreet enough to not be overtly noticed, but stylish enough to fit in. The fact that it stands vertically is a clear help, as its footprint is also modest. It mixes its connections, with some on the front and some on the back, and while this could potentially lead to a spaghetti situation, again some sensible management can make the device a useful, worthy addition.

But we're back to the start: this is aimed at a particular niche, the demanding laptop user who wants things easily docked when they get back to their desk. If that's you, then the £90 asking price for the VGA-connection model, or £130 for the DVI version, could be money well spent.

Not cheap, but a versatile and very able docking solution, with added screen output perhaps the biggest selling point.