i-tec Thunderbolt5 Quattro Display Docking Station

Still paying a distant data centre monthly fees to summarise documents or index files? Discover how recent developments mean you can now bring many of your AI tasks on-device.

According to recent reports, 91% of IT leaders are reporting friction with their cloud AI providers. Unpredictable “inference fees” (paying every single time your team submits a prompt) and compliance issues are among the biggest headaches.
The good news is we now have a viable alternative.
Many of today’s highly capable AI models can run directly on the laptops and desktops your team uses every day. These AI models are:
Here, we lay out how the AI landscape has rapidly shifted – with practical advice on kitting out your business with the hardware you need to reduce or even end costly cloud bills.
Powerful on-device AI starts from just £31.93 per month – no data centre required!
In brief: By cloud AI, we mean corporate systems and background automations that rent processing power from distant data centres. Every task sends your company data over the internet to a third-party server to do the heavy lifting.
How it differs from a web prompt: Opening a browser to ask ChatGPT or Gemini a quick question uses consumer-facing cloud AI tools. While these also run in the cloud, they are typically standalone applications.
The on-device difference: True local AI (also known as on-device AI) completely cuts out the internet trip, running the actual intelligence models on your office hardware.


The biggest myth in business tech is that you need a massive, trillion-parameter cloud model (translation: ultra-powerful, ultra-expensive AI) for standard office work.
In reality, a recent Omdia report found that 57% of the AI models businesses typically run are lightweight, sub-10-billion parameter models. These don’t need a data centre; they need just 12GB of local memory. Many laptops today can handle that.
The first wave of professional local AI relied on NVIDIA’s traditional, power-hungry PC graphics cards. It introduced businesses to a highly attractive, fixed-cost model: buy or lease the machine, and your local AI processing is essentially free.
But these devices had a hidden traffic jam: data had to shuffle slowly back and forth between separate memory pools, slowing everything down.
Apple got rid of that traffic jam entirely. Their chips share one big pool of memory instead of splitting it into separate pockets – so nothing has to wait in line.
The result: a 128GB MacBook Pro can run seriously powerful AI models (the kind that used to need a data centre) completely offline, right at your desk.


NVIDIA went all-in on power, launching RTX Spark to bring that same kind of on-device AI muscle to everyday Windows laptops.
At the same time, AMD used its Halo platform to deliver powerful local AI performance without the extreme heat, power bills or high costs of a dedicated graphics card setup. AMD setups are generally more affordable too – making them the ultimate setup for department-wide rollouts.
You no longer have to pick a side between a sleek macOS setup or the open flexibility of Windows to get absolute privacy and predictable costs.
The best options right now mean matching the right tool to the job:
Read our blog: Local LLM Hardware Checklist: What Specs Matter


While many tasks can now run entirely on-device, having cloud “waiting in the wings” makes sense for all kinds of business.
Many operating systems are now smart enough to distribute workloads automatically. Your local hardware handles day-to-day work for free – and seamlessly taps into secure cloud servers only when you need the extra muscle for complex projects.
Choose the right hybrid setup with HardSoft.
3 ways to configure a cost-optimised fleet for different teams:
The profile: Creative, marketing or consulting businesses handling everyday text drafting, meeting summaries and basic image workflows.
The hardware: MacBook Air with 24GB of memory.
Why it works: 24GB provides ample headroom to host highly optimised sub-15B models locally while keeping standard apps running flawlessly.
Cloud reliance: Rare. Daily productivity fits inside the laptop’s local memory.


The profile: Software development houses, data analysts or teams handling highly sensitive client databases.
The hardware: MacBook Pro M4 Max with 128GB of unified memory.
Why it works: 128GB shatters standard PC graphics bottlenecks, allowing developers to load advanced 70B and 122B parameter models natively into memory for near-instant code reviews.
Cloud reliance: Optional. Handles the vast majority of core engineering pipelines privately at the desk.
The profile: Legal, financial or recruitment firms where data privacy is paramount and deep client archives must be instantly searchable 24/7.
The hardware: Standard staff laptops supported by a fleet of Mac minis acting as “AI agent hubs”.
Why it works: The Mac mini is a silent, low-power background worker. In real-world enterprise rollouts, Apple reports that one customer cut three-year total cost of ownership by over half and energy consumption by 78% after migrating from cloud-based AI to local Mac minis.
Cloud reliance: Yes. Local hubs handle daily sorting securely behind your firewall, tapping the cloud only for heavy, cross-archive analysis.
Set up a 15-minute call with a HardSoft AI expert to find a leasing plan that works for you.


Is running AI locally actually as good as using the cloud? For what your team does day-to-day, yes. In fact, running open-weight models (like Phi-4 or Llama 3.1 8B) locally is often much faster because you bypass internet delays and busy cloud servers.
What about data security? This is the single biggest win for small firms. When you run AI right on your own devices, data never leaves the machine. What stays on your computer cannot be leaked.
Isn’t the upfront cost of AI hardware too high for a small budget? It is a large upfront CapEx if you buy out of the box. That is why many businesses choose to lease.
HardSoft turns unpredictable cloud fees into a single, predictable monthly payment. We handle the financing in-house, preconfigure your AI-ready fleet to your exact specs – and back it with certified support and full lifecycle logistics.

This guide compares the three Intel-powered Galaxy Book6 models — the Book6, Book6 Pro and Book6 Ultra — and helps you work out which one is right for your team.

Samsung has become one of the most interesting Windows laptop brands for business, and the Galaxy Book6 range highlights why.
All three models share a processor generation but differ in screen, ports and headroom: the standard Book6 pairs an IPS panel with 16GB of RAM you can’t upgrade after purchase, the Pro doubles that ceiling to 32GB and adds Wi-Fi 7 and single-cable Thunderbolt 4 docking, and the Ultra adds an RTX GPU for teams requiring dedicated graphics (video, design and 3D work.)
Our pick: the Samsung Galaxy Book6 Pro 14” is the right device for most business teams. Enjoy a 1,000-nit AMOLED touchscreen and 30-hour battery at 1.24kg — leasing from £10.53 per week with a free dock!
Every Galaxy Book6 runs Intel’s latest Core Ultra (Series 3) “Panther Lake” silicon, with an NPU fast enough to qualify all three as Copilot+ PCs — 49 TOPS on the Book6, 50 TOPS on the Pro and Ultra.
On-device AI features run locally rather than sending your data off to the cloud. If your team handles sensitive information, that’s reassuring.
They also share the same dependable basics: a solid aluminium body, a comfortable full-size keyboard, a sharp webcam for video calls, and a fingerprint reader to log in. Plus, multi control lets you work across your phone and tablet from one keyboard.


Best for: admin, reception, field staff — anyone living in Outlook, Teams and a browser.
Processor: Intel Core Ultra 5 325 or Ultra 7 355, with 16GB RAM, a 512GB or 1TB SSD and Intel integrated graphics.
Display: a 14″ or 16″ anti-glare display that’s bright and easy on the eyes in an office. It’s a standard LCD, though — not the richer, more colourful AMOLED screen you get on the Pro.
Ports: 2× USB-C, 2× USB-A, HDMI, microSD, combo jack, Kensington slot and Gigabit Ethernet — one up on the Pro. That RJ45 is worth having for fixed-desk staff or sites with patchy Wi-Fi. Wireless is Wi-Fi 6E, not Wi-Fi 7.
Battery: 24 hours on Samsung’s video playback test. At 14.9mm and 1.74kg, it’s the chunkiest of the three despite being the least powerful.
Trackpad: a mechanical clickpad rather than the Pro’s haptic pad — stiffer near the top edge, less consistent across the surface.
The catch: 16GB is the ceiling, and memory can’t be upgraded after purchase.
Lease from £11.04 per week for the 14″ or £11.80 per week for the 16″.
Best for: almost everyone. Managers, consultants, developers, sales, finance, hybrid workers.
Processor: Intel Core Ultra 7 356H or Ultra X7 358H with Intel Arc graphics, 16GB or 32GB LPDDR5X RAM and a fast PCIe SSD. Samsung quotes 60% more CPU and 70% more GPU power than the last generation — enough for large datasets, heavy multitasking and light video work, without paying workstation prices.
Display: A 14″ or 16″ AMOLED touchscreen — the same bright, punchy screen technology Samsung puts in its top phones. It’s sharp, colourful and glare-resistant, so it stays clear and readable on a train, in a sunny meeting room, or out at a client’s office.
Battery: 30 hours on Samsung’s video playback test. It’s light too — the 16″ is 11.9mm and 1.59kg, the 14″ 11.6mm and 1.24kg.
Cooling & trackpad: it runs cooler and quieter than the standard Book6, so the fan stays quiet on calls, and the trackpad is the smooth, pressure-sensitive kind that clicks evenly wherever you press.
Ports: 2× Thunderbolt 4, USB-A 3.2, HDMI 2.1, a card reader and a combo jack, plus Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4. HDMI 2.1 drives 8K at 60Hz or 5K at 120Hz, so one cable handles most meeting-room displays without an adapter — and Thunderbolt 4 carries displays, data, network and power to a dock over a single connection.


Both share the same processors, RAM options, AMOLED resolution and ports — so the choice is about how your people work.
Pick the 14″ for anyone on the move. At 1.24kg it’s the lighter travel machine, its battery stretches furthest, it’s cheaper to lease — and it comes with the free i-tec dock, so it turns into a full desk setup the moment it’s back at base.
Pick the 16″ for desk-based staff who value screen space. The larger panel suits spreadsheets, side-by-side windows and long document work, and it steps up to quad speakers (the 14″ runs dual) for clearer conference calls.
Lease from £10.53 per week for the 14″ or £14.56 per week for the 16″.
Best for: video editors, 3D and CAD users, data scientists, developers compiling large builds.
Processor & graphics: everything the Pro has, plus a powerful dedicated NVIDIA graphics card — the sort video editors and 3D designers rely on — with 32GB of memory and a 1TB drive as standard, on a 16″ AMOLED screen.
Cooling & charging: beefed-up cooling to handle the extra power, better speakers, and the fastest charging in the range — around 65% in half an hour.
Ports: the same as the Pro, with one addition — a full-size SD card slot that photographers and videographers will use every day.
Weight: still slim, but heavier at 1.89kg because of that RTX GPU. An Intel Arc variant drops that to 1.79kg.
The catch: unless your team genuinely edits 4K video, renders 3D or runs heavy AI work, that expensive graphics card mostly sits there unused. Ideal for a handful of specialists; overkill for a whole team.

| Galaxy Book6 | Galaxy Book6 Pro | Galaxy Book6 Ultra | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Processor | Core Ultra 5 325 / Ultra 7 355 | Core Ultra 7 356H / X7 358H | Core Ultra 7 356H / X7 358H |
| Graphics | Intel Graphics | Intel Arc Graphics | NVIDIA RTX 5060 / 5070 (8GB) |
| Display | 14″/16″ IPS FHD+ anti-glare | 14″/16″ AMOLED 2X touch, WQXGA+ | 16″ AMOLED 2X touch, WQXGA+ |
| Refresh rate | Up to 120Hz | Adaptive 30–120Hz | Adaptive 30–120Hz |
| Memory | 16GB | 16GB / 32GB | 32GB |
| Storage | 512GB / 1TB SSD | 512GB / 1TB SSD | 1TB SSD |
| NPU | 49 TOPS | 50 TOPS | 50 TOPS |
| Ports | 2× USB-C, 2× USB-A, HDMI, microSD, Ethernet, combo jack, lock slot | 2× Thunderbolt 4, USB-A 3.2, HDMI 2.1, card reader, combo jack | 2× Thunderbolt 4, USB-A, HDMI 2.1, full-size SD (UHS-II), combo jack |
| Wireless | Wi-Fi 6E, BT 5.4 | Wi-Fi 7, BT 5.4 | Wi-Fi 7, BT 5.4 |
| Battery | Up to 24 hrs | Up to 30 hrs | Up to 30 hrs |
| Weight (16″) | 1.74kg | 1.59kg | 1.89kg |
| Best for | Everyday productivity | Professional teams | Creative & technical specialists |
| Leasing from | £11.04/week | £10.53/week | £25.51/week |

Buying a fleet of Galaxy Book6 Pros outright is a five-figure capital hit before you’ve even configured a single device. Leasing turns that into a predictable weekly operating cost with no upfront outlay, and lease payments are typically fully tax-deductible — unlike a purchase, where you’re working through capital allowances.
It also solves the awkward question of what to do with ageing kit. Buy it, and it’s yours to deal with for years. Lease it, and there’s a clean way out at the end:
Every lease includes lifetime Silver Support with a loan device if one fails, plus Gold and Platinum plans for faster response. Add SafeGuard Protection, Microsoft 365 Business Premium from £5.55/week, Shepherd MDM, Boomerang for device lifecycle management, or carbon offsetting from £1.15/week — and earn Rewards points throughout.
For most UK businesses, the Galaxy Book6 Pro is the right device. Professional performance, an outstanding display, Thunderbolt 4 and Wi-Fi 7, all-day battery and Windows 11 Pro security — in a machine light enough that people can work on the go. With the free dock on the 14″, it’s a complete desk-and-travel setup for £10.53 a week per user.
Ready to talk numbers? Build your lease solution online, or get in touch — we’ll spec a fleet around how your team works.


This guide walks you through how to choose the right dock for your business, what the jargon actually means, and which of our docking stations fits which kind of team.

If you’re equipping a team, the laptop is only half the setup. The other half is everything that turns it into a proper workstation and a good docking station does that with one cable.
Your people plug in once, and their laptop charges, their monitors wake up, and every peripheral reconnects exactly where they left it. No adapters, no tangle, no lost minutes at the start of the day.
For hybrid teams, hot-desking offices and laptop-first businesses, it’s one of the highest-impact upgrades you can roll out. We lease and manage IT for UK businesses every day, so we’ve seen what works on real desks.
This is the single most important factor, because it dictates how much your dock can actually do.
A quick check: your laptop needs to support the same standard to get the full benefit. A Thunderbolt 5 dock is brilliant on a Thunderbolt-equipped MacBook Pro, but plug it into a basic USB-C laptop and you won’t unlock its top-tier performance.
If you’re not sure what your devices support, that’s exactly the kind of thing our team will check for you before you order.
Power Delivery, measured in watts (W), is how much charge the dock pushes back into your laptop through that single cable. Get this wrong and your laptop slowly drains even while it’s “plugged in”.
As a rule of thumb: match or exceed your laptop’s own charger wattage and you’ll be fine.
Decide how many external monitors each person needs, and at what resolution, then check two things: the number of video ports and the type (HDMI, DisplayPort or Thunderbolt).
Also confirm the dock supports the resolution you need (4K is the common business standard) across all the screens at once, not just one.
Count what actually lives on the desk: keyboard, mouse, webcam, headset, phone charger, USB stick, SD card reader, external drive. Then make sure the dock has enough of the right ports — and ideally a couple to spare. A dock that runs out of ports on day one just creates a new pile of adapters, which rather defeats the point.
Most business-grade docks include a Gigabit Ethernet port. For office desks this is a genuine advantage: a wired connection is faster, more stable and more secure than Wi-Fi, which matters for video calls, large transfers and security-conscious environments. Every dock in our range includes Ethernet.
Mixed device fleets are the norm now, so it pays to think about compatibility across your whole team. Some docks are happiest on Windows, some are tuned for high-spec Macs, and several are genuinely universal. If you run a blended Mac-and-Windows office, lean toward the universal options so any laptop can use any desk.
Not sure how to match these to your laptops? That’s the bit we’re here for. Tell us what your team uses and we’ll point you to the right dock — no guesswork required. Get in touch.
Here are the docks we’d happily put on any business’s desks, from a tidy entry-level setup right up to a high-end creative workstation.
From £0.75/week · USB-C · 100W-140W power · 2× DisplayPort + 1× HDMI · Gigabit Ethernet
Small, light and seriously capable. The Nano 3x packs multi-display support, a generous 140W of charging and daisy-chain expandability into a compact body that’s perfect for hot desks and hybrid setups.
If you want the cleanest possible one-cable experience at the lowest cost, start here.
Ideal for: hybrid workers, hot-desking offices, anyone wanting maximum value.


From £1.75/week · USB / USB-C · 100W power · 2× DisplayPort + 1× HDMI · Gigabit Ethernet
The dependable office workhorse. It drives two crisp 4K displays, charges at 100W and plays nicely with both Windows and Mac, making it our go-to recommendation for blended teams who just want everything to work.
A comprehensive set of ports keeps the whole desk connected through one tidy cable.
Ideal for: general office teams running a mix of Mac and Windows laptops.
From £1.75/week · USB-C · 100W power · 3× DisplayPort · Gigabit Ethernet
When two screens aren’t enough, the DX3 steps up to three 4K displays without breaking the bank.
It’s the sweet spot for finance, operations, dev and anyone whose productivity lives across multiple windows at once — all from a single USB-C connection.


From £2.95/week · USB-C · 140W power · 2× HDMI + 1× DisplayPort · Gigabit Ethernet
A premium 14-in-1 dock that does almost everything. Triple-display support, a strong 140W of charging and smart power management mean it comfortably handles demanding setups across Mac and high-spec Windows machines.
If you want plenty of ports and headroom in a single, polished unit, this is it.
Ideal for: premium multi-display users who want one dock to do the lot. For Touch-First & Interactive Work
From £3.95/week · Thunderbolt 5 · 140W power · 15 ports · Gigabit Ethernet
This is where things get serious. With next-generation Thunderbolt 5 bandwidth, 15 ports and 140W charging, the TS5 is built for high-performance, multi-display environments where speed is non-negotiable. A favourite for high-spec Mac setups and demanding creative or technical work.
Ideal for: creative, engineering and data teams on Thunderbolt-equipped machines.For Multitaskers & Data-Heavy Roles


From £4.45/week · Thunderbolt 5 · 140W power · Thunderbolt 5 ports · Gigabit Ethernet · Built-in NVMe SSD
Our top-of-the-range pick. The Echo 13 combines blazing Thunderbolt 5 connectivity and 140W charging with integrated high-speed SSD storage — so editors, photographers and anyone working with huge files get expansion, power and lightning-fast local storage in one unit. The cleanest possible high-end workstation.
Ideal for: high-end creative workstations that move large files all day. For Hybrid Workers & Call-Heavy Roles
| Docking Station | Connection | Power | Displays | Best for | Lease from |
| i-tec Nano 3x | USB-C | 140W | 2× DP + HDMI | Portable / hybrid working | £0.75/wk |
| i-tec Dual 4K | USB / USB-C | 100W | 2× DP + HDMI | Blended Mac & Windows offices | £1.75/wk |
| Alogic DX3 | USB-C | 100W | 3× DP | Triple-monitor productivity | £1.75/wk |
| Anker Prime | USB-C | 140W | 2× HDMI + DP | Premium multi-display users | £2.95/wk |
| CalDigit TS5 | Thunderbolt 5 | 140W | 15 ports | High-performance workstations | £3.95/wk |
| Sonnet Echo 13 | Thunderbolt 5 | 140W | TB5 + built-in SSD | High-end creative workflows | £4.45/wk |
We’ve been kitting out UK businesses for 40 years, and a docking station is rarely bought on its own — it’s part of a wider setup of laptops, monitors and accessories. Leasing it all together, on one simple monthly agreement, keeps things tidy and affordable.
One cable on the desk. One simple agreement for the business. That’s the setup we’d recommend.
Explore all docking stations → or talk to our team about your setup →

Discover docking stations designed to expand your device’s connectivity and transform your workspace. From multi‑display setups to fast charging and high‑speed ports, our range helps you streamline cables, boost productivity and create a clean, efficient workstation.
| Docking Station | Connection Type | Power Delivery | Video Ports | Ethernet | Best for | Recommended with | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
USB / USB-C | 100W | 2 × DP, 1 x HDMI | ✓ |
Blended office teams |
Mac & Windows |
See product |
|
USB-C | 140W | 2 × DP, 1 x HDMI | ✓ |
Portable, hybrid working |
Some Mac & Windows |
See product |
|
USB-C | 100W | 3 × DP | ✓ |
Triple-monitor productivity |
Some Mac & Windows |
See product |
|
USB-C | 140W | 2 × HDMI, 1 x DP | ✓ |
Premium, multi-display users |
Mac & High-Spec Windows |
See product |
|
Thunderbolt 5 | 140W | 3 x TB 5 | ✓ |
High-performance, multi-display environments |
High-Spec Mac |
See product |
|
Thunderbolt 5 | 140W | 3 x TB 5 | ✓ |
High-end workstations |
High-Spec Mac |
See product |
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