A single USB3 port can be used to dock to keyboard, mouse, monitor and ethernet - thats what I do with my Surface Pro 1. Just needed a few cheap hubs and adapters. A proper dock would be nice but its not strictly necessary.
http://www.microsoft.com/surface/en-us/support/hardware-and-...
I hate to admit that this actually bothers me. It's true of all laptops, though.
http://www.extremetech.com/computing/181099-next-gen-thunder...
That's always been a massive disapointment in USB - the fact that you can't host and draw power through the same port at the same time. Big part of the reason you don't see many docks for non-iOS devices.
I'd much rather use a wired keyboard and mouse anyway. Every wireless one of either that I've tried has had lag and connectivity issues.
I had one for an older laptop. Worked fine, but I didn't use it much just because I wasn't at my desk at home very much.