Video and charging support with UD-CA1A and ASUS UX534FTC-AS77 ZenBook 15 Laptop

[10e]

Hello,

I’m able to dock my ASUS UX534FTC-AS77 ZenBook 15 Laptop with UD-CA1A but cannot get it to charge or send video to a second monitor via Type-C USB 3.1 (Gen 2) port. I can only get video to the external monitor if I plug the HDMI cable directly into laptop’s HDMI port.

Thanks,

John

[wash]

Hello John, thanks for posting and we’ll be happy to help!

Thanks for the description of the issue you are seeing and providing the brand and model of system you are using. Unfortunately, our UD-CA1A dock is not compatible with this Asus system. In looking at the speecifications here: https://www.asus.com/Laptops/ASUS-ZenBook-15-UX534FTC/specifications/ it seems that Asus mentions the USB-C 3.1 Gen 2 port is used for data transfer only. Below is a screen grab from the specifications page:

In order for our UD-CA1A dock to work the system must also support DisplayPort video output and USB-C Power delivery.

I apologize that our dock will not be able to work with this system, but we do offer a 30-day no hassle return policy on Amazon.com/returns as we certainly do not want you to be stuck with a product that will not work as desired with your system.

Thank you,

David W.
Plugable Technologies
www.plugable.com/support

[10e]

Thanks for the responsive and informative support - it’s rare these days.

I’m returning this laptop because of this and other issues. The USB-C incompatibility came as a surprise since I have an older ASUS laptop that has what I thought were the same USB-C description/logo and it works great with your docking station. Given the fine-print for USB-C logo/designations, can you forward me info or a link that identifies the common industry USB terms I should look for in a new laptop to get display + data + power compatible docking with your product?

[wash]

Hello and apologies for my very delayed reply.

USB-C specification now introduces two standards that are required for USB-C docks, like our UD-CA1A. USB-C Power Delivery introduced the ability to charge the laptop over USB-C connections/cables and USB-C DisplayPort Alternate Mode introduces the ability to send video over USB-C. Unfortunately, not all manufacturers have states the capabilities of the USB-C port for some systems, so sometimes it comes down to reaching out to the manufacturer of the laptop to determine what the system’s USB-C supports.

When looking at specification pages for laptops, a couple of terms to keep in mind are the two standards, USB-C Power Delivery and USB-C DisplayPort Alternate Mode. However, some manufacturers will state more basic terms like “Charging” or “Power Delivery” in relation to the charging feature and “video” or “DisplayPort/DP” in order to determine if the USB-C port supports video output.

Additionally, some manufacturers and systems have utilized the USB-IF standard icons next to the port itself to try and represent what it supports. However, these icons have not been widely adopted by manufacturers. Kingston has a good write up here: https://www.kensington.com/news/docking-connectivity-blog/usb-c-demystified/ if interested in reading more about the icons that could be located next to the port on the laptop.

Thank you,

David W.
Plugable Technologies
www.plugable.com/support