[underscore]

First off double check the max resolution and framerate your laptop and docking station can output, and using what kind of connections. I second avoiding 4k, a bunch of my old coworkers had 4k screens but they're kind of annoying. If you leave scaling at 100% you can see tons but everything is tiny. If you scale to 150% you can see better, but some stuff doesn't scale properly and looks like garbage.

I personally run 3x 1440 screens. They aren't very common so selection isn't the greatest, but I get to see just as much as a 4k screen at 150% scaling (2160 / 1.5 = 1440) without all the weirdness. The other downside is 1080 is so common that a lot of stuff only supports up to that, so for things like DisplayPort adapters you need to really watch what you're getting. 1080 really is the least headache as far as just getting stuff, plugging it in, and it working as it should.

I also second getting two monitors and a decent stand, I got the third for specific work/gaming scenarios so that's probably overkill for you, but after getting used to having multiple monitors going back to a single feels like as big of a hit to my productivity as typing one handed. A stand is another one of those things where once you're used to how much desk space it frees up and how much better having your monitor at a proper height is it's hard to go back.