I think the claim of people with newer monitors is that the hub is built in. So no need for a separate dock, just plug your keyboard and mouse into your monitor

I think the claim of people with newer monitors is that the hub is built in. So no need for a separate dock, just plug your keyboard and mouse into your monitors (I do this on my Dells today) and then when you "dock" your laptop you now get power, Ethernet, display and peripherals all attached to the thing that's actually fixed in place (the displays). Each of my Dell monitors has 2 or 3 USB ports (and today, I have to connect to them using a single USB to the laptop in addition to each display port connection). I think this new future won't be that bad, but it will require new displays.