Answer Description

A docking station allows for peripherals to be connected by simply connecting a laptop via a docking port. Docking stations allow for conventional Desktop hardware to be used with a laptop.

Wikipedia

In computing, a docking station or port replicator (hub) or dock provides a simplified way to plug-in a mobile device, such as a laptop, to common peripherals. Because a wide range of dockable devices—from mobile phones to wireless mouse—have different connectors, power signaling, and uses, docks are unstandardized and are therefore often designed for a specific type of device.A dock can allow some laptop computers to become a substitute for a desktop computer, without sacrificing the mobile computing functionality of the machine. Portable computers can dock and undock hot, cold or standby, depending on the abilities of the system. In a cold dock or undock, one completely shuts the computer down before docking/undocking. In a hot dock or undock, the computer remains running when docked/undocked. Standby docking or undocking, an intermediate style used in some designs, allows the computer to be docked/undocked while powered on, but requires that it be placed into a sleep mode prior to docking/undocking.