A hand-held analyte test instrument (10, 20, 86) comprises a housing (22), a port (36), electronic circuitry and a data port connector (38). The port (36) is disposed in the housing (22) for receiving a test strip (40). The electronic circuitry is in electrical communication with the port (36) for processing an analyte signal received from the test strip (40) and generating analyte data therefrom. The data port connector (38) is provided in the instrument to allow for data transfer, wherein the circuitry automatically uploads the analyte data to a host computer (14) upon connection thereto. A docking station (12, 70, 84) for receiving a hand-held analyte test instrument (10, 20, 86) is also provided.
