OT: Questions about (buying and) using a laptop docking station

[rhkramer@gmail.com]

Asking this OT question here because this is my go to list for questions, 
especially ones for which I don't belong to a list that might be more specific 
to this subject.

Background: I've installed Buster on an old laptop (my newest laptop, a Dell 
Inspiron 1501) and I'm working on installing other software (gcc+, make, git, 
Python and such) so that I can take the laptop to various meetings where I 
hope to get help on some software I'm trying to write (in C/C++ and Python).

I'm thinking about buying a laptop docking station to make it easier to 
disconnect the laptop to take it to meetings.

I don't know much about a laptop docking station except that the ones I've 
looked at seem to need only a USB (C or A) cable to connect the laptop to the 
docking station.  (I'm about 90% sure that the Inspiron 1501 does not have a 
USB-C port.)

(Aside: I need to get a docking station with a VGA output as I "run" the 
laptop through a KVM switch and one of the computers connected to it has no 
HDMI output, and the KVM switch itself has no HDMI input.)

I get the idea (or I am jumping to the conclusion?) that there is some 
hardware in the docking station (like graphics and audio chips) which I'm 
assuming would need to be supported by Buster.

Is that correct?  

Any recommendations for a suitable docking station?