RocketDock vs. ObjectDock vs. Nexus – PrizeFly

Oct 10th, 201026 Comments
PrizeFly

This post is part of TechAirlines' biweekly PrizeFly series. Every other Monday, we compare key features of 2-4 similar products and crown one as the "prized flyer".

Are you using Windows? Do you wish Windows had that beautiful dock from Mac OS X instead of the Windows Taskbar?

Mac OS X Dock

PrizeFly Agenda

About the Contestants
Round 1 – Application Launcher
Round 2 – Taskbar Replacement
Round 3 – Performance
Round 4 – Eye Candy
Bonus Round 1 – Additional Modules
Results!

About the Contestants

RocketDockRocketDock is the elder on the block and has been around since 2005. It is a free dock utility created by Punk Labs. It has numerous features including real-time window previews, minimized windows, icon transitions, and compatibility with ObjectDock skins.

ObjectDockObjectDock is a dock utility from Stardock Software. There is a free version available as well as an upgraded premium version for $19.95. It features a weather docklet, attractive eye candy, live previews, skin support, start menu support, and much more. Version 1.9.

NexusNexus is a doc utility from Winstep. Similar to ObjectDock, there is a free version as well as a premium “Ultimate” version for $24.95. It has numerous features including tons of eye candy, system tray support, weather forecast, third party skin support, and much more. Version 10.9.

Round 1 – Application Launcher

How well does each contestant work as an application launcher? Is it easy to add new applications to easily launch or is the process like finding a needle in a haystack? This is the main purpose of a dock, so how well does each of our contestants perform with its primary purpose?

RocketDock

RocketDock

RocketDock using the CrystalXP theme

To add an application to RocketDock, simply drag and drop an application file or shortcut to the dock. The applications on the dock can be rearranged by drag and drop.

Alternatively, right click on the dock and select Add Item.

Each shortcut can be customized with the same options provided to regular application shortcuts.

ObjectDock

ObjectDock

ObjectDock using the GlassBent theme

To add an application to ObjectDock, simply drag and drop an application file or shortcut to the dock. The applications on the dock can be rearranged by drag and drop.

Alternatively, right click on the dock and select Add > New Shortcut..

Each shortcut can be customized with the same options provided to regular application shortcuts.

Nexus

Nexus Dock

Nexus Dock using the Leopard Theme

To add applications to Nexus, drag and drop an application file or shortcut to the dock. The applications on the dock can be rearranged by drag and drop as well.

Add to Nexus

Adding Internet Explorer to the dock

Alternatively, right click on the dock and select Add Item > Item. This will give a selection of options to create a shortcut to something.

Each shortcut can be customized with the same options provided to regular application shortcuts.

Round 1 Results

All three work as an application launcher about the same way, so we’re calling it a tie!

RocketDock: +4 points
ObjectDock: +4 points
Nexus: +4 points

Round 2 – Taskbar Replacement

Windows already has a taskbar, so having a dock and a taskbar active can waste a lot of screen estate. Does each contestant effectively replace Taskbar or would having both still be necessary? After all, Macs only have a dock.

RocketDock

RocketDock is not intended to replace the taskbar. It is intended simply as an application launcher.

There is no tray area icons support or an option to hide the Windows Taskbar.

However, to save screen estate, there is an option to auto-hide RocketDock. When the mouse moves near the edge of the screen that is is placed on, the dock would slide out.

ObjectDock

ObjectDock is able to serve as an application launcher as well as a taskbar. There is option to show icons of open window in the dock, similar to the feature of the Mac OS X Dock.

Multiple Firefox

No window grouping, so the dock can get quite cluttered

Unfortunately, it also copies one of the biggest flaws of the Mac dock. No window grouping. If you have 5 Word documents open, there will be 5 Word icons.

ObjectDock does not have any taskbar support in the free version.

Nexus

Nexus has an application launcher, a currently open windows section, start menu, as well as full support for the Windows Tray/Notification Area.

Nexus Taskbar

Nexus Taskbar Support

It offers full support for Windows Vista and Windows 7 thumbnail previews. The dock icon shows a live preview of the contents of the window, but only seems to have to refresh the image every 30 seconds.

Live Thumbnail Previews

Thumbnail Previews

Modules allow a live clock to be added to the dock, as well as the Start Menu, CPU meter, RAM meter, Network meter, and much more.

Nexus Clock

Nexus Clock Module. There are options to switch between analog and digital. To the left is the Start Menu button.

Round 2 Results

Nexus takes this round for having the most features to make it effectively replace the taskbar, including the tray area. ObjectDock takes second for having the same features as Nexus, but lacking tray icon support for free. RocketDock trails last here.

RocketDock: +1 points (5 total)
ObjectDock: +3.5 points (7.5 total)
Nexus: +5 points (9 total)

Round 3 – Performance

A dock would use a new process thats constantly running all day on your computer and if it hogs RAM or CPU, then there’s a serious issue. How well does each contestant perform in terms of RAM and CPU?

RocketDock

RocketDock achieved very smooth performance and seemed to have an average RAM usage of 14 MB. It consumed up to 20% CPU while special effects were being used (such as hovering over an icon).

Overall, RocketDock ran very smoothly with little to no lag.

ObjectDock

During regular operation, ObjectDock maintained below 10 MB of RAM usage, which is quite impressive. While special effects were being used, CPU usage went up as high as 40%.

ObjectDock Performance

ObjectDock Performance Options

Overall, ObjectDock ran very smoothly with little to no lag.

Nexus

During regular operation, I never noticed Nexus consuming more than 20 MB of RAM and 25% CPU. When it is just running in the background, the average RAM usage was 18 MB and 5% CPU usage. Whenever I clicked on it to launch something, the eye candy would bring the CPU usage as high as 30% for a few seconds.

Nexus RAM Usage

Nexus and Desktop Window Manager RAM and CPU Usage

In addition, if certain effects are enabled, Nexus would make heavy use of the Desktop Window Manager, therefore increasing its RAM/CPU usage as well.

Nexus is heavy in effects, so a decent video card is required for good performance.

Round 3 Results

ObjectDock takes this round for having the most features in relation to its performance. It consumes the least RAM during normal operation. RocketDock takes second. Nexus takes last for having the most RAM and CPU usage and requiring heavy use of Desktop Window Manager.

RocketDock: +3 points (8 total)
ObjectDock: +5 points (12.5 total)
Nexus: +2 points (11 total)

Round 4 – Eye Candy

The Mac OS X dock is packed with eye candy, from reflections to the genie minimize effect. How attractive are our contestants? Lacking the eye candy everyone wants or having way too much?

RocketDock

RocketDock features a magnification effect upon hovering over an icon and a bouncing effect upon clicking on them.

RocketDock Magnify

RocketDock Magnification Effect

There is a large collection of skins. In addition, more skins can be downloaded from the RocketDock site.

ObjectDock

ObjectDock features a choice of either the standard magnification effect or a swing effect upon hover.

On Windows Vista and 7, there is a special minimize effect. When a window gets minimized, its icon in the dock shrinks and the window will smoothly shrink into a thumbnail sitting under the icon. This is a very smooth and attractive animation.

ObjectDock Minimized

Minimized windows have a live thumbnail. Google Chrome here is not minimized, so there is no thumbnail. This can be configured but showing the thumbnail at all times disables the minimize animation effect.

There is a large collection of themes you can choose from as well as an option to upload your own. Themes can be downoaded from WinCustomize.com.

Nexus

Nexus is completely loaded with eye candy, from reflections to water ripple effects. When everything is enabled, it seems a bit excessive, but fortunately, the Nexus options panel lets users fine tune each setting as well as disable things they don’t want.

Nexus Effects

Nexus Effects Manager

Nexus also has special effects for various actions, such as deleting a certain item, clicking an item, adding an item, hovering over an item, etc… These effects range from simple magnification to sound effects to explosions.

Dock Effects

The various special effects of Nexus. Fully customizable.

There are also a collection of themes you can choose from including a Leopard theme (to look like the Mac OS X dock).

While not eye candy, Nexus has special sound effects and even voice effects. For example, at the start of every hour, the clock can be configured to ring chimes or have a voice literally read out the time.

Round 3 Results

Nexus takes this round for having the largest set of special effects and other eye candy. Some effects are truly beautiful. ObjectDock slides in second with RocketDock trailing last.

RocketDock: +2 points (10 total)
ObjectDock: +3 points (15.5 total)
Nexus: +5 points (16 total)

Nexus and ObjectDock are in a very close competition to first place with RocketDock trailing behind them. But we’re not done yet folks! You know what time is…

Bonus Points!

Bonus Round 1 – Special Modules and Docklets

Are our contestants just application launchers and window managers? Of course not!

ObjectDock contains several built in docklets including a  Google Search and live Weather.

ObjectDock Weather

ObjectDock Weather Docklet. Five day forecast shows upon mouse hover or click.

Nexus also contains several built in widgets including weather, CPU meter, RAM meter, and Network meter.

Nexus RAM Meter

RAM Meter

ObjectDock: +2 bonus points (17.5 total)
Nexus: +2 bonus points  (18 total)

Results!

How many total points did each contestant score?

RocketDock:
10
ObjectDock:
17.5
Nexus:
18
And our winner is…
Nexus

Congratulations to Winstep Nexus Dock! It was a very close first place but Nexus is our winner!

Now let’s hear your thoughts. What’s your favorite of our three contestants? Or do you prefer another dock for Windows? Vote in the poll below and leave your thoughts in the comments.

And that concludes this week’s PrizeFly! Thanks for joining us and be sure to check out next week’s competition!

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By
Brian is the co-founder and editor-in-chief of TechAirlines. He is also a developer and manages most of the site’s operations. He enjoys web development in his free time and is currently trying to learn Python. He is currently a high school senior in New York City.

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  • Kevin

    I never heard of Nexus until I read this comparison. Thanks!

    I’m currently using ObjectDock but I really wish there was a tray icon feature without having to pay for it. I’ll go try out Nexus now.

    • http://facebook.com/adanana nazax

      just download NEXUS > instal > WOW.. :)

  • http://www.creastery.com Creastery

    Hello Kevin,
    Same here. I didn’t hear of Nexus until I read this.
    I use RocketDock and ObjectDock. I should say they are both fun to play with.
    Nexus is also better in terms of its features and I am now using it :)

  • http://www.techied.net/ Matt G

    Very good comparison and i had not heard of Nexus either, great job!

  • Mike D

    I choose RocketDock & Stacks, my focus is more on productivity than flashy features that will get

    old eventually any way, that said RocketDock it self still has hundreds if not thousands of

    customizable icons & docks. Best of all its FREE!!!

  • Ibleda

    I’ve been using Nexus for a while now, never tried the others ones but since I’m looking to purchase ObjectDesktop, I’ve been considering on trying ObjectDock. The main concern for me is mainly my speed… I run on XP, never considered upgrading as I do like the XP look and stuff. Win7 just have too many new (excess) features that I really don’t need and want. I have no idea on whats parts are in my computer, but most likely, not the best ones as my laptop is not build for gaming use or stuff like that. In any case, the I’ve been concerned about it slowing down startup. Recently, after installing various programs including Nexus, explorer failed to launch quite a few times. I had to force shut down most of the times, others, it takes a very long time for the taskbar to start working…

    Well I’m not planning on switching anymore, eye candy is the most important to me. However… I think I might disable automatic open on logon now…

    • http://www.techairlines.com Brian Yang

      Hello.

      I never experienced any issues after installing any of these although since some of these programs directly hide the taskbar (and not just Windows Auto-Hide Taskbar), I can see why it might cause some problems.

      I love the eye candy docks provide.

      Thanks for visiting and enjoy your weekend,
      Brian

  • Joe Schmoe

    I really have to question the bias of the testing.
    Testing categories have twice as much text and 2-3x the pictures for Nexus than either of the others. It is obvious by the time a couple of categories have been read that Nexus will be declared the winner.

    • http://www.techairlines.com Brian Yang

      Hello,

      I understand the point you are making here. I guarantee there was absolutely no bias involved in this testing. When I continue this series in the future, I’ll keep that in mind and try to have each section be the same length.

      Thanks for visiting,
      Brian

  • osmosizching

    I’m now currently using the rocketdock, i hv tried out nexus, object dock, rk launcher. it seem rocketdock provide the most fit attribute in term of convenient, graphic, eye candy, performance, cpu and ram consuming. However, ur article stated that rocketdock was use up average 14mb of ram, that not quite true, due to my one only mention to used less than 10mb (with full features and more than 20 shorcut), and cpu usage far low than object dock.

    osmosizching

    • http://www.creastery.com Creastery

      Average of RAM space used may vary.
      It uses much lesser RAM space as compared to ObjectDock.

      For convenience and RAM space comsumption, I’ll vote for RocketDock.
      For Graphics, Eye Candy, I’ll vote for Nexus.
      For some reasons, I think if some of the Eye Candy for Nexus can be merged, they will definitely look nicer.

      Nexus’s preferences panel is rather messy as compared to RocketDock’s.
      1 thing I don’t like about Nexus is that it steals focus when you hover on it and when you hover out, it doesn’t returns the focus.

      Have a nice day :)

  • http://technetz.com Joe

    those dock can suck a lot of my laptop ram. I have to disable it sometimes. Nexus dock is kinda awesome dock, its have the mac feel.

  • http://www.mp3unsigned.com/dacheleighmusic DacheleighMusic

    I’ve got an overkill of a machine and use Nexus.. When everything is turned on, it’s a perfect overkill to match the overkill of my system.. :p Love the effect.. Only thing, I wish there were more skins.. O.o

  • Jas

    Hey there, I have tired only Rocketdock n Objectdock and what i like about Objectdock is how you can reserve a space for your dock so you can access it easily while doing some other things but one bad thing is when sometimes your going full screen watching a movie n trying to click on the time thing your objectdock pops up and argh!! LoL but is there any other dock that can do the reserve a space for your dock option? Thanks :)

    • http://unrealcirucumstances.thecomicseries.com/ Alucai Vivorvel

      Just use RocketDock and the freeware Desktop Coral by donationcoders.com. It reserves a space just like the Mac does for its dock. The only thing is you have to register on their site first before getting a free license key, but it’s really simple and should only take you a few minutes.

  • branstark

    I use object dock, really easy to navigate, quite low on ram, mine only uses up around 6mb. Its probably the best dock for me since i really dont care about the appeal of my dock rather it gives me superb acceptability when im running multiple programs. Tried rocketdock but found it hard to edit and stuff. Nexus I havent tried, since bit of a show off though. I’ll try it when I get a new system which can afford the extra ram usage :) cheers to your comparison mate. Great stuff and good for newbies like me.

  • Miniclip

    I just installed nexus to my new macbook pro 13 i5 windows 7 64 bit. I’m very please with it great to know nexus. THanks.

  • Roberto

    Using “System Explorer” software, I observed that Nexus overcharge the cpu during few minutes, if no internet connection is avaliable . I am sure it happens due to the Clock and or the Weather Monitor while it tries update. I tried changing the options in preferences but without success. I think despite this , Nexus keep your podium position.

  • http://saadb.webs.com Saad Bassa

    I prefer rocketdock cause it has the best skins it is user-friendly and u can minimize windows in it :D

  • http://www.svenbit.com Svenbit

    It’s a very nice comparison…

  • Morgan

    I can’t get over how much CPU these programs use. RocketDock freezes often when I’m editing videos and using other CPU-intensive programs.

  • juan

    how can I replace the windows taskbar with nexus? I mean, how can I make the windows taskbar disappear and replace it with nexus?

  • Security Conscious

    I use NexusDock with a software firewall. NexusDock attempts to connect out to the internet about once every couple minutes, and always to a different IP+Port. Of course I block this from happening. It’s weird how trojan-like NexusDock is. I like its docking capabilities though. I just wish it wasn’t trying to communicate with every other computer on the internet every 2 minutes.

  • http://www.facebook.com/LokiDarkfire Loki Brook

    I have used object dock and currently use rocket dock, you failed to mention the plethora of addons available for rocketdock, such as a start button, an application that will totally hide your regular task bar, and the windows tray addon meaning it can replace your task bar if you wish it to. it also has the largest selection of skins and icons to download, and you are able to get widgets for it such as stacks and media players. Infact the only advantage i can see from this of Nexus over rocketdock is more animations? But even then for rocketdock you can change the animation of deleting an icon mine currently explodes metal slug style, you can get different indicators for running applications too, also worth pointing out is rocketdock is the only one of those that is 100% free id have thought that alone would make a rather large difference. I wanted to try Nexus just so i could compare the 3 but i dont fancy paying nearly $25 to get all the features when rocketdock provides it all free

  • Mug

    I know this is an old article but I’ve used RocketDock for more than a year now and I wanna point out that RocketDock has all of ObjectDock’s features, most of them by default. You can minimize windows to the dock and it would smoothly shrink onto it and it’ll be a thumbnail of whatever page is open. Also, as mentioned before, the amount of customization, including animated icons and such, on top of it being free gives it a lot more points, in fact, I only ever heard of ObjectDock when people have compatibility issues with RocketDock (possibly the reason I’m here). I currently have Stack Docklet added to it which allows a similar slide-out effect for folders as is with Mac.

  • blaze

    nexus is the best…

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