20 Best Thunderbolt 3 Dock For Macbook Pro (2022 Updated)

Summary: Great features, solid build quality but very loud coil whine. Cons: -If you have headphones or are in calls, or listening to music then it is fine, but if you are just trying to read emails/articles or prepare a presentation, it is very difficult to concentrate.

-The noise only happens when the Thunderbolt Cable is connected to a computer. As soon as you disconnect the laptop, it becomes silent. Pros: Solid build quality, great port selection, included USB C to DP cable, good weight so it doesn’t move around like other docking stations.

Matches a space gray Macbook pretty well. Overall I cannot recommend this docking station unless you are always using headphones. I would recommend a USB C displaylink docking station like the Dell DS6000 series.

It has all the same features, and is dead silent – only downside is that i supplies less bandwidth, but that tradeoff for a silent docking station is worth it.

After going through several docks, this is the only one I’ve found that works reliably with two 4K60 monitors on a 2019 Macbook Pro – the others almost always have one port that fails to give a picture when the laptop or monitor is coming out of sleep mode or powering on, or has weird USB issues.

This one is rock solid. The only downside is there is a TON of coil noise, warbling all over the place presumably as the power load varies. Even placing it behind my desk, I could hear it above the noise of the desktop PC (containing four 7200 RPM hard drives and several fans) sitting next to my desk.

Going from the other reviews, it looks like this is typical for this dock. So I’d guess you really need some place you can put this that’s reasonably acoustically isolated from your usual seating position (in a different room, in some sort of enclosure), or be wearing headphones all the time.

Pretty darn impressed with this dock (TB3DOCK2DPPD). I have to say the build quality on this dock is impressive; built like a tank – heavy, solid aluminum construction. I was originally buying the pluggable TB3 Dock (Thunderbolt 3) as they are reputable TB3 docks but I’ve been trusting StarTech products for some years now and this dock has all the options I was looking for including three USB-C ports where most TB3 docks have only two, I should mention the 3rd port is USB-C (5.

0Gbps) and not a TB3 port @40Gbps but as I have an external USB-C hard drive enclosure (see the end of this review for links to all products listed), this works out pretty handy without any additional adaptors needed.

I’m running a 15″ 2017 MacBook Pro w/Touch Bar; One single TB3 cable plugged into my MBP that rules them all! Charges @ 85W – nice to leave my original Apple charger in my pack as I no longer needed at home when using this dock.

A 1′ foot TB3 cable is included, however I purchased a “certified” 3′ TB3 cable @ 40Gbps and certified is the key here. Usually TB3 cables beyond 1′ start to degrade in bandwidth, so for example a typical 6′ TB3 cable will usually be 20Gbps, not the full 40Gbps, that’s right, half your bandwidth gone just by doubling the length of your cable – serious bandwidth passing through copper here, in fact TB3 was originally designed with optics in mind.

These cables are not cheap so pay attention to bandwidth constraints and certified cables if you need more than the included 1′ cable; A USB-C cable is a different beast from a Thunderbolt 3 USB-C cable.

While Apple/Intel chose to use the standard USB-C plug (shocker here, it’s about time they followed a standard), the cables may look the same, plug-in to each other’s ports the same, but the results will be vastly different.

I was running two ASUS HD (1920×1080) monitors, one connected to the dock’s USB-C TB3 port, the other connected to the dock’s Display port. These were older monitors using HDMI so for adaptors I used an Apple USB-C to HDMI adaptor, while the other I ran a StarTech Display Port to HDMI adaptor (again, see below for a full list of mentioned products).

This setup ran flawless with this dock but I have since upgraded to a 32″ 4K Monitor, the LG 32UD99-W, and am now running USB-C to USB-C from Dock to Monitor and so far, everything has been spot-on, not to mention the 32″ monitor is absolutely stunning.

I was concerned about issues waking up the MBP from sleep and the dock not waking the monitor but fortunately, I haven’t seen any of these issues as other’s have mentioned from other TB3 docks on the market and as I almost never shut-down my MBP, but instead use sleep mode, this has been well received.

However, there have been a couple of instances, one where a USB3. 0 port wasn’t responding on the dock and a power cycle was necessary. I recall one of those instances happening after unplugging the TB3 cable from the MBP and later plugging it back in and another were the monitor wasn’t recognized but again, far and few – there’s a ton of bandwidth passing through this single cable.

Aside from these two hiccups, this dock has been solid, reliable, & I couldn’t be happier with the performance. So here’s my setup with hardware I can acknowledge that works well with this dock: 32″ 4K (3840×2160) LG Monitor: USB-C cable from dock to monitor.

Display Port cable from dock to monitor also worked well. WD 1TB SSD drive connected to dock’s 3rd USB-C port (primary Storage working drive) WD 500GB drive connected to dock’s USB3. 0 port (Time Machine Backups) Sony DVD external drive connected to dock’s USB3.

0 port (rarely use but had the spare port) Wacom Intuos Pro Tablet (medium) via dock’s USB3. 0 port. Utilizing the Dock’s 1GB Ethernet Port (WAN speed test’s out performed those from direct adapters previously plugged into the MBP by roughly 12Mbs) Utilizing the Dock’s front audio jack when using headphones, controllable from the MBP’s Menu Bar.

(slight degrade in quality) Use the front USB3. 0 port for quick access such as thumb drives, external drives, USB charging, etc. All this,. connected by a single cable which also charges the MBP. Pretty darn Impressive! Pro’s: This Dock offers all the key options available for today’s TB3 Dock: – Dual 4K Displays (4096 x 2160p) at 60Hz (I only have 1 4k display so I haven’t tested this but I was running 2 HD monitors at 60Hz.

– 85 Watts of charging (Apple’s adaptor for the 15″ MBP is 84W). – An SD Card Reader & on the front face of the dock! Not a deal breaker but one less adapter needed and if you’re a photographer, this is nice addition.

– A 3. 5mm Audio Jack and USB3. 0(5Gbps) charging port also on the Dock’s front face. – 3 USB-C ports. 2 are TB3 (one for host/laptop the other for monitor), and the 3rd is standard USB-C @5Gbps. More devices rolling out daily with the new standard.

– 4 Additional USB3. 0 (5Gbps) standard type-A ports – These come in very handy for all your existing hardware. – 1 Gigabit RJ45.

The goal was to free up a Thunderbolt port on the laptop so that I could turn off the monitors at night and give the quietly glowing backlights some chill time. First thing I ran into was the really short Thunderbolt 3 wire to the mini dock that forced the mini dock to be hanging off the port without touching the tabletop.

If I could replace that wire I would, but it is attached permanently to the mini dock. There are, as far as I know, no Thunderbolt 3 cable extenders. To fix this problem, I could change the stand the laptop is sitting on, but this seems egregious – why is this cable so short?The second thing I found isn’t, as far as I can tell, a mini Dock, OWC or MacSales issue.

Even when I gave the OWC dual drive bay (a separate product) its own dedicated Thunderbolt port, turning off the monitors had the mysterious effect of disabling the backup system anyway. I don’t pretend to understand why turning off a monitor on one of the T3 ports disables the backup hardware on the other T3 port on the same side of the laptop.

Anyway, the backup system just continues on as if nothing bad happened when I power up the monitors in the morning, so ultimately not a big deal. The Samsung monitors don’t sleep the backlights, that’s the problem, and I shut ’em off at night.

The third thing: If you hook three (!) 4K displays to your laptop, you might run into a problem with the refresh rate of the displays being downshifted to 30Hz, and/or the ethernet connection not going as fast as you’d otherwise expect.

I don’t think this is a problem with the mini Dock either, it could be a bandwidth constraint of the Thunderbolt ports on the laptop. I had all three monitors running at 60Hz but the internet was limited to 100 Mbps down; if one of those was running at 30Hz, the internet connection ran at >300 Mbps.

I recommend the mini dock, keep in mind that T3 cable is only 8 inches long.

I ordered two of the 5 port Thunderbolt 3 mini Docks on Friday and received them on Monday. Great order fulfillment. In general, the dock is functioning as expected. I have a 2016 MacBook Pro (personal) and a 2020 MacBook Pro (work).

I wanted a portable docking station that allows me to carry them with me and also supports my dual 4k monitor setup while at home (where the computers spend most of their time). The 4K HDMI is running at 60Hz as expected.

My one disappointment is that I have a Dygma Raise keyboard which requires a USB 3 port that, at a minimum, delivers 0. 9mA. While the USB 3 port does say it supports 0. 9mA, the keyboard isn’t functioning as expected when plugged into the dock.

I haven’t spent enough time yet to see if it might be a cable quality problem or something else. (I am using a KVM switch so there is room for the problem to be elsewhere. The keyboard does function as expected if plugged into another dongle-based USB-A port on my Mac.

) If the keyboard is connected to another USB-A dongle on the computer, it works as expected. The one other design change I would like to see is for the device to use a standard Thunderbolt cable between the device and the computer instead of a permanently connected cable.

It has been my experience that cables are the item most likely to fail and it would be nice to be able to replace it. In general, this is a great solution for those looking for a portable solution that wants to use dual 4k monitors on a thunderbolt laptop.

The USB and Gig-E ports, in addition to the HDMI ports, supply the typical connectivity that I require. I would recommend this product.

I bought the Thunderbolt 3 mini Dock so I could add 2 external monitors to my Windows 11 laptop. It works great for that. It took a lot of tinkering, though, to get anything to work that was plugged into the USP ports.

I’m thinking the blame lies with Microsoft, as it usually does. Also, the unit gets REALLY hot. I had to buy a desk fan to blow on it all day while I’m working. I’m worried this will reduce the life of the dock, but we’ll see.

Of all the Thunderbolt docks that i have used, this one the TS3 in particular is hands down the best one out there. its an all metal construction with some weight to it and the silicone feet hold it in place on your desk very well.

I am using this product with a fiber optic thunderbolt cable and my PC is in another room of the house. every peripheral from my mouse, keyboard, DAC, sound system, dual monitors, all run through the dock without an issue.

Just as you would expect from a company like CalDigit On a side note, updates are super easy, just download the update tool from their website and flash the dock. it takes a couple minutes and one reboot and your good to go.

Running on a 2020 MBP. Absolutely NO ISSUES running MacOS Catalina. Intermittent USB Drive issues using MacOS Big Sur. Though, I suspect the issue is the OS and not the Caldigit TS3+. My external drives are much more stable on the Caldigit TS3+ I run four (4) USB Time Machine backup Drives plus an additional USB Drive.

None of them unmount themselves as they did connected to a powered USB Hub! Unit does run warm/hot – but my research indicates that is normal. This was a very good, stable, addition to my system. And I like that I can unmount all devices with a single click to take my MBP and GO!.

You pretty much need some kind of docking station to run the new Mac Book computers. Poor design with only Thunderbolt 3 ports requires some way to transition to your old peripherals or even using new ones.

The ports become very sloppy in a short time with use so you’re better off using them as little as possible and doing all of your connections through the robust docking station. If you’re not familiar with this, you’ll soon understand.

I own more than one.

This dock does what I need. Plugged in my Windows 10 laptop, keyboard, mouse and network cable to the dock and it all works well, at least after you plug in the laptop in for the second time. The first time I plugged in my laptop it did not pick up on my USB devices.

Unplugged my laptop and plugged it back in and it started asking me for access on the USB ports. After that, it works every time I plug in my laptop with no issues. It’s nice and small with a rubber pad on the entire bottom so it won’t move around on the desk.

It also has mounting holes if you wanted to mount it somewhere out of the way. It has all the latest connections like thunderbolt 3, USB-C and display ports. It even has enough ports to charge a device like your smartphone.

I haven’t tried a second monitor yet but this dock has the ability to handle two displays if you have dual monitors. The quality of this product seems very good. Has some weight to it and is well put together.

It even has a lock slot so you can lock it up if you are afraid of it getting stolen but it is small enough that you can put it in your laptop bag to take home every night from the office. I received this product in exchange for an unbiased review.

Worked right out of the box with my Macbook. On Windows (USB-C 3. 1 gen 2 connection), I had to reboot once, then it just worked after that. With the TB3 on Macbook, had full 4K on one screen, and 1080p on my 24″ side monitor, all fluidly.

All dock ports work/speed as advertised. Did not have any issue with the network as reported by a previous reviewer. On the Windows laptop with USB-C, I had dual 1080p screens. When I first connected to the dock, nothing was recognized at all (video, LAN, USB) except power.

Rebooted the laptop, and then it all just worked. Didn’t spend a lot of time on that. Solid build, great size. Included TB3 cable is too short though! Power brick is good, and small enough to tuck on the power shelf on the back of my desk.

Critique: Another TB3 port, as well as 1-2 more USB-C on the front or at least one on the side. Same with USB-A ports. Need more than one on the front. Headphone jack on the front is MUCH appreciated, but the LACK of audio output on the dock (for dedicated speakers) precludes me using this as my full time docking solution at work (in and out).

Should be OK for home if not going to/from all the time. WOL didn’t seem to pass through to the laptop on this dock (it has on others), but I’ve not had the time to look into it. Have been using WOL quite a bit at work lately, so figured I would try it.

Don’t have a Linux box with TB3 or USB-C 10gbps to test with yet, but will soon. 🙂 I received this product in exchange for an unbiased review.

I wanted to review this Docking station using my Lenovo X1 Yoga which is my work machine. I have 2 different docking stations at home and work and travel it back and forth. What I discovered is that the software/driver I needed for these 2 Docks is not needed for the TB3CDK2DP and caused Graphics and USB issues when connected.

A quick call to Startech. com Technical Support confirmed that I should remove this driver (Displaylink) before connecting the cable. Now, I may be a unique case where I have multiple Docking stations already but i wanted to mention it to anyone who experiences issues when connecting this dock for the first time.

Tech Support at Startech. com is excellent and they will help you out! The Dock itself has all the ports I need including a powered USB port in front which is very handy. It feels solid and well built with a rubber on the bottom (not just 4 small feet) to keep it secure on the Desk.

I received this product in exchange for an unbiased review.

I window shopped for a Thunderbolt 3 dock for quite some time, and this one is the best that I found for the money. It also comes with a 3 year express ship warranty from Dell. On top of that, it plays even better with a dell computer.

The dock’s power button can control the laptop, and it will provide the maximum power for charging. This dock has a nice, long (3′) thunderbolt 3 cable that is attached to it. Most of the others that I looked at either required attaching a cable to their thunderbolt 3 port, and therefore taking it out for other uses, or some had a little dinky short cable.

Then they would claim the port as “available” when it had to be used to connect to the laptop. This dock has all the features that I could require with room for expansion in the future. On the front, it has a USB 3.

1 Gen1/Gen2 Type-C port, and a USB 3. 1 Gen1 port with power share, and an Audio Headset Port. On the back, it has an audio line out, two DisplayPort 1. 4 ports, a HDMI 2. 0 port, and a USB 3. 1 Gen1/Gen2 Type-C port with DisplayPort 1.

4. I have mine hooked to two 30″ monitors, and could add two more, without additional adapters, or daisy chaining them. Very few of the docks that I looked at had that kind of capacity in addition to the other features that this one has.

Also on the front are two USB 3. 1 Gen1 ports, an RJ-45 Network ethernet connector, and the power connector. Last, but not least, there is a Type-C with Thunderbolt 3 port, or a Type-C USB 2. 0 port if connected to a non-Thunderbolt host.

A lot of the docks that claimed to be Thunderbolt 3 compatible didn’t have an exit port for Thunderbolt 3. With Thunderbolt 3, you can daisy chain up to 4 or 5 levels deep, and continue on to something else now, or in the future.

It amazes me what they can pack into one Thunderbolt 3 cable. It can carry power to charge the laptop, provide reverse power for peripherals, gigabit cable internet, audio, 4k, or even 5k video, and data at blazing speeds of up to 40 Gb/s.

And all I have to do is connect one cable to my laptop, and I have two additional monitors, cable internet, external speakers, a 6 Tb external hard drive, dongles for external keyboard and mouse, and a 5 port USB 3.

0 hub, with room to grow. Thunderbolt 3 is definitely the future. My Dell laptop is a newer model with the Thunderbolt 3 port, so I had some difficulty finding out which docks were compatible, or my search might not have been so comprehensive.

It gave me the opportunity to see what was out there. I bought a cheaper USB-C dock that wasn’t even Thunderbolt, but it was defective. I am kind of glad it was, for a change, or I might not have found this one.

I didn’t see a lot about the Dell docking stations. I rarely write reviews, and have no affiliation to it, but I would recommend the Dell WD-19-TB docking station to everyone that has a Thunderbolt 3 port.

If you have a Dell PC, that’s even better. I’ve had my dock for about 2 months, and I am very pleased.

Although I have used it some not as much as I would like it has worked perfectly. The unit is small enough it fit nicely under my display stand. It charges the Laptop and has a bunch of ports. So far so good, I like that plugging it 1 USB-C cable handles everything, Ethernet port, charging, USB ports, and the display.

It’s hard to ask for more. About the only thing that would maybe make it better is if like HP, you could drop the unit on the station and no cable is required. There are plus and minus to both and the amount of the charging for the XPS 17 9700 maybe more than the current tech could over come to provide feature.

I would highly recommend the unit as so far it is working great.

I was tired of trying to keep my laptop charged with the little charger that may have fallen on the floor a few too many times and so it wouldn’t connect unless it was held in certain positions. The docking station is great in that it uses the USB C connector to charge and I leave it on the desk.

I have two monitors, keyboard and mouse all connected so it’s great. I can still use it on the couch when I need to.

This smaller, space-saving hub is perfect for travel needs. It allows connection to an external monitor (up to 4K with the HDMI port), Ethernet, and provides two USB-A ports (1 USB 2. 0 for mouse/keyboard dongles and 1 USB 3.

1 port for fast data transfer). It connects to your laptop with the built-in USB-C cable which can either power the dock from the connected laptop or alternately provide charging power to the laptop when the dock is connected to AC power through its own dedicated USB-C charging port.

Perhaps the only minor quibble I have is that the USB-C port on the dock can *only* be used for charging instead of being multi-functional and allowing the connection of other USB-C peripherals as well.

That being said, overall I think this is a great product for a times when storage space is at a premium but additional connectivity options (Ethernet, external monitors, etc. ) through a single USB-C port are desirable.

I have two ThinkVision P27u-10 displays connected to my P15 Gen 2 ThinkPad and the displays randomly go blank every 1-2 hours. Occasionally, the displays can completely glitch (static and/or wavy rendering) and I have to reboot my ThinkPad to get back to a working state.

I had to move my Ethernet cable from the dock to the ThinkPad because it was very unstable. When sharing my desktop and demoing applications over Teams, the connection would drop randomly. Not a good experience! I like the idea of the dock but having to move my connections back to the laptop defeats the purpose.

I hope this gets resolved by a firmware update sometime soon.

Purchased the ThinkPad Tunderbolt 3 Docking Station as it was the only docking station recommended by Lenova to go with my Yoga C940. Have had two problems with the station working with my computer and my new LG LED monitor – after a period of about 5 minutes of no activity, the screen will lose the connection signal from the docking station.

Only way to retrieve the screen is to unplug the docking station from the computer and plug it back in. Second issue is that the Audio does not always work on the computer when plugged into the docking station.

When running Zoom meetings and the like, I need to disconnect my docking station and monitor from the computer in order for the audio to function. I would only recommend this docking station to other Yoga C940 owners if you “need” to have a docking station support your home office needs and you have a Yoga C940 computuer – for I was informed by Lenova that this is the only docking station that can be coupled with the C940 at this time.

What else can you do. It is inconvenient at times but also serves a purpose.

If you have Lenovo laptops then you should use Lenovo docking stations. Make sure you get one that matches the power consumption of your PC. I have an X1 Extreme so this dock was the one that provided enough output to charge everything.

Its got a stand RJ-45 slot so you can skip the proprietary adapter. Im happy that it works, Ive tried CalDigir Ts3 plus and another expensive dock and both dont like to cooperate.

Dock is nice. Looks good and has all the ports I need. But the Thunderbolt3/power cable is only 16″ long. I can not really even place the dock under the laptop and reach the plugs. Also it comes from opposite sides (left side of laptop and right side of dock) I have contacted Lenovo and this is the only cord offered.

Also I do not like that it requires 2 power supplies. One is 65w and the other is 230w. Why would 230w not be enough to run laptop and dock? Hoping Lenovo releases longer dock cord options soon!.

Plenty of ports, USB and video, if you use DisplayPort connectors. Takes up little space and you can hide them if you wish. If there are issues with ports, especially the Ethernet port, run Lenovo System Update while connected to the dock and see if there is a firmware update for the dock.

That has fixed any issues I’ve had with them, and I’ve deployed dozens of them.

This beast does exactly what it’s advertised to do, and does it well. Despite some not-so-complimentary reviews on here (perhaps those folks had different experiences with it than me, are using a different setup/config), this marks yet another great product by OWC.

One likely pays a bit of a premium for that – to get OWC’s version of a given product – but to me it’s well worth it, and their support has always been excellent the few times I’ve needed it (not with this device yet though, knock wood).

I’ve had it a few weeks and thus far, it works flawlessly along with feeling solid and durable. Of course it looks great, too – I love the blue OWC light on top (though obviously not a functional element, aesthetics count too).

I bought 5 “Cling-On” adapters with it for the loose Thunderbolt port issue people have mentioned on here, but so far haven’t used one. All my Thunderbolt 3 cables plug into it with a nice, satisfying click, and stay there.

It’s nice finally having extra Thunderbolt 3 (or 4) ports for my Macbook Pro. A+.

So far I’ve encountered two problems. My Camlink4 HDMI-capture card doesn’t work with it. More precisely, it works for about 5 seconds, then the image freezes. The Camlink4 works fine when plugged directly into the computer.

That dashes my hope to dock my M1x Macbook Pro with a single cable, which is rather the whole point of this thing. The second issue is the microphone volume is both not adjustable and rather low. Other than that, seems to be working fine, so far.

My final issue is really a design issue. The hub is hooked up to a laptop, which has a battery in it. I’d really like to stop the charging entirely every so often to keep the battery healthy. The data cable that connects the hub to the machine charges the computer, which is a good thing until you want it not to charge the computer :-).

Unplugging the cable also unplugs you from everything else, of course, so I’d rather not do that. I really wish there was either a physical or virtual switch that I could use to turn off the power flow to the computer.

I have now been using the Thunderbolt Dock for more than 2 weeks and I am quite disappointed with it. I use it with my MacBook Pro 16 (2019) and connect it with my LG Ultrafine 5K Monitor. The 2nd LG Ultrafine 4k Monitor is connected directly with the laptop.

The Thunderbolt Ports on this dock are of shockingly poor quality. The slightest movement disconnects the monitor and then the port has to be repeatedly engaged to restart the monitor. I have raised this issue with OWC Support Team as well.

This is such an expensive Dock and it is extremely disappointing to see the quality of the Thunderbolt Connectors. My previous Belkin Thunderbolt 3 Pro Dock was a far better quality and never gave such connections related issues.

OWC should stand behind its product and replace this dock with better quality Thunderbolt ports. I expect OWC to make a much better product and support its customers better. My Pre-Order No is L6241610 and Reference No is SO-11510936.

I have been testing using this docking station as the primary dock for my laptop at work for the past few weeks and it has been working well. The docking station comes in a box about half the height of a shoe box.

It felt heavier than I expected in the box, however once I removed it the weight was all in the AC adaptor and not the dock itself. The dock has 6 USB ports (2 on the front and 4 on the back), HDMI port and DVI port (the DVI port does both analog VGA and normal digital DVI), headphone jack and Ethernet jack.

There is no microphone port and as the dock uses USB-A 3. 0, it requires my laptop to be connected separately to a charger. The dock includes the DVI to VGA adaptor as well as multiple ends for the power cord to use in different countries.

The power cord ends can all be inserted at 90 degrees so the AC adaptor can be plugged into the wall or power bar in different directions. When I connected the dock it for the first time it didn’t seem to do anything then after 15 seconds or so I got a notice that the USB device I connected was not recognized.

I went to the StarTech website to download the drivers for the dock, however before they finished downloading everything seemed to be working. The next time I re-connected the dock the warning still came up so I installed the drivers.

This didn’t seem to help as I kept getting the same warning. A few days later the warnings stopped coming up. I also noticed that the USB ports are extremely tight to the point I thought I was breaking something when inserting them, but they work fine once you force a USB plug in.

The dock works great, nice and quick after the first day or two with it. I dislike the HDMI port as I can’t find any “office” computer monitors with such a connector, but I can get an adaptor for this.

I have not been able to make this dock slow down, it just work fast. I received this product in exchange for an unbiased review.

I’ve used this docking station for a few weeks now and had no trouble with it. I have a monitor, keyboard, mouse, and external speaker hooked up to it and everything works perfectly. I like the fact that when I move windows between my laptop and external monitor that the window proportion to screen size stays the same although the screens are different sizes, thus I don’t have to resize windows.

My only request to the manufacturer would be that the cord to connect the docking station to the computer could be longer. I would purchase again and definitely recommend.

I received this in exchange for an impartial review. Admittedly, I wanted it anyway so I hopped on the opportunity. I don’t use monitors anymore, I have three large Smart TVS and my laptop monitor. It’s an Acer VX15 which bills itself for it’s high quality graphics.

However to do what I need, I have two additional video cards. It has a USB C port, three USB ports, a HDMI port and a card reader. I travel non-stop and it’s a nightmare, a NIGHTMARE, packing up and coming home b/c of all the hubs and all the video displays.

To power things, I have extra USB video cards BTW and I run very short on usb ports. It took a minute to unpack this. I laid out my chords, powered it up and had it all set up in under 6 minutes. It was so easy that I’m sure anyone, without the instructions, could figure it out and do it well without any effort.

However it’s very well suited to people that travel a lot or have to take their laptops or tablets with them. Ok, so 1, 1 USB port is all it takes to power all of this. It took one port, gave me 6 USB ports, gave me another HDMI Port and runs USB 3.

0. Only complaint is that it’s very compact so the usb ports are a little tight, but honestly, it verges on a ‘good problem’. I can’t pretend I’m not overly fond of StartTech b/c of the luck I’ve had with their other items (In fact, I use two other StartTech products to power this setup).

But it’s saved me a good 10 minutes of packing time and 15 of unpacking time. And when I have to unpack, plugging in one chord instead of going through the whole ritual (and literally, it used to be a ritual to pack and unpack) is just divine.

Well done. It runs a little hot sometimes, nothing much. And I didn’t mention, you don’t get the ‘weak power’ note when you are charging with it, b/c it is a charging station. Yes, it’s that good.

Bought this to pair with a new laptop. Not many outputs on laptops nowadays. The Thunderbolt connection is amazingly quick at 40Gbps, and it’s the only connection needed to the docking station. The Caldigit unit handles keyboard, monitor, speakers, earphones, mouse, and connection to a big screen TV (with an adapter USB-C to HDMI $12.

50). It’s compact and the cables mostly come out of the back so the desktop stays neat. Not a cheap option, but well worth the investment.

Always works! I’ve had lots of trouble with dongles that work sporadically. This just works all the time! And has a great selection of ports.

TranslateShow in original languageCalDigits Thunderbolt-Dock kommt in einem kompakten Aluminium-Gehuse, das es passend zu den MacBooks in zwei Farbvarianten gibt: Silber und Grau. In unserem Fall knnen wir besttigen, dass der Fabton sehr gut zu Apples Space Gray passt.

Die Verarbeitung des Gehuses ist sehr hochwertig. Das kleine Dock wirkt, wie aus den Vollen gefertigt. Rundum hat der Hersteller Khlrippen in das Gehuse eingelassen. Dass dies nicht unbedingt eine schlechte Idee ist, zeigt sich im Betrieb.

Das Gehuse bleibt unter jeglicher Last handwarm und heizt sich nicht ber Gebhr auf. Prinzipiell ist das Gehuse fr den stehenden Betrieb ausgelegt, was sich sowohl an der Beschriftung, als auch an der Standflche erkennen lsst.

Allerdings legt CalDigit auch Klebe-Standfe fr den liegenden Betrieb bei. So passt das Dock dann beispielsweise gut unter den Monitor. Bereits auf der Front fllt auf, dass CalDigit ein breites Anschluss-Portfolio integriert.

Neben zwei Klinke-Buchsen wurden auch zwei USB-Ports integriert, die auf USB 3. 1 Gen1 basieren, also mit 5 GBit/s angebunden sind. Letzteres ist lblicherweise vom Hersteller klar markiert, sodass es hier nicht zum Rtselraten kommen kann.

Abgerundet wird die Front von einem SD-Kartenleser. Dieser arbeitet nach UHS-II und kann damit eine maximale Datenrate von 312 MB/s liefern. Die Speicherkarten rasten ein, sodass sie gut arretiert sind und nicht aus Versehen entfernt werden.

Noch interessanter ist aber, was CalDigit alles auf der Rckseite bietet. Dort wird fast jeder verfgbare Quadratzentimeter von einer Schnittstelle belegt. Am wichtigsten sind natrlich die beiden Thunderbolt-3-Schnittstellen.

Eine davon ist mit dem Zusatz Computer versehen, woran man sich bei der Nutzung eines Notebooks auch halten sollte. Nur ber diese Schnittstelle wird mit maximal 85 Watt geladen, bei der anderen Buchse sind es gerade einmal 15 Watt.

Reich bedacht wurde der USB-Part. Es gibt vier Typ-A-Schnittstellen, die mit 5 GBit/s arbeiten, also nach USB 3. 1 Gen1 spezifiziert sind. Als fnfte Schnittstelle steht USB Typ C mit 10 GBit/s bereit.

Bei normal dimensionierten Setups sollte es also keine Probleme damit geben, die gesamte USB-Peripherie dauerhaft zu verbinden. Ein Bildschirm kann ber einen DisplayPort angesprochen werden. Ein zweiter Bildschirm kann ber die zweite Thunderbolt-Schnittstelle mit Signalen versorgt werden.

Hinsichtlich der Bandbreite ist es mglich, entweder ein 5K- oder zwei 4K-Monitore anzusprechen. In unserem Test haben wir es mit zwei 4K-Displays probiert, im normalen Einsatz aber einfach einen 34-Zller mit 3.

440 x 1. 440 Bildpunkten betrieben. Alle Setups liefen problemlos. Abgerundet wird das Anschluss-Portfolio von einer RJ45-Schnittstelle, die maximal mit 1 GBit/s arbeitet, sowie einem optischen Digital-Anschluss.

Schlussendlich darf auch der Stromanschluss nicht fehlen. Versorgt wird das CalDigit TS3 Plus von einem externen Netzteil, das maximal 180 Watt liefern kann.

This is very cool docking station. Connects to the laptop via USB-C Thunderbolt 3 cable (make sure your laptop has Tunderbolt 3 or 4 port) and provides Gigabit Ethernet, Video signal and also power to charge the battery (130 W for Dell selected laptops).

The only one thing I coud not figure out – how to supply the Audio signal from the Laptop to the Monitor with built-in speakers. For some reason the Audio signal does not go from the laptop through the dockiong station to the monitor connected via HDMI cable (latest version).

Also please note that this docking station model is WD19TBS (simplified version) which doesn’t have the Audio 3. 5 mm Output port (unlike WD19TB model). The unit and it’s power supply stay slightly warm.

The B&H price is great, much lover then Dell. com offers. The unit came brand new and very well packed. Thank you B&H !.

This is advertised as being model # WD19TB which contains a head headphone jack and is no longer sold by Dell. The item I receive is the newer version WD19TBS, which has the headphone jack omitted. Thought I was getting a good deal, but there are a few vendors that sell this model for a lower price.

Office Depot needs to correct this to avoid confusion. Both models otherwise function the same, but I was hoping for the headphone jack. You can obtain audio through one of the other connectors with an adapter.

Using this docking station with my Dell XPS15. One Thunderbolt connection is now all I need to have my laptop connected to two QHD monitors (one of them widescreen), desktop speakers, keyboard/mouse, and a backup hard drive.

That still leaves a few ports available for additional accessories. The only thing that would possibly make this dock better would be the SD card readers that some other brands include. It’s nice to be able to just unplug one connection to go portable – and plug back in for a desktop-like experience.

So far, I’m very pleased with my purchase.

I bought this because I needed a dual DisplayPort dock and the Kensington SD2400T Thunderbolt 3 Nano Dock was out of stock. It works ok as long as you don’t ask too much. When I have it connected to the USB on the monitor (to provide USB to the hub in the monitor), and I try to connect my phone, my computer says that the device is using too much power on the USB.

I have to plug my phone in elsewhere to get it to charge. So it has lots of USB ports, but you can’t use them unless the devices you connect have power? Not ideal. Other than that, it works fairly well.

Sometimes I have to power my monitors off and on to get them recognized. I will be replacing this with the Nano Dock which I also have and which works so much better.

I love having the best gadgets for what I do everyday. I’m working on my PC for 8 hours plus I’m a gamer myself so having multiple Monitors, headset, mouse and keyboard all together is a must and trust me when I say this an great dock.

It is smaller then other ones I have used, love the grey color on it, multiple kind of connections you can have but the only things I would like to make every shopper aware in case you might need asaltos is the monitor ports are only display ports; other than that it performs amazing and reduces space in my desk.

This device was an excellent dock for my work laptop. It helped improve my cable management and allowed me to work with the laptop without having to have the laptop open. Make sure you double check the ports to make sure it has everything you need before you purchase it, but it more than suited my needs! It also was smaller than other dock solutions I have used in the past.

We live out in rural Alaska, and I set up my wife’s home office desk where there is a view, and a hard wired ethernet wall jack. No room for a bunch of wires. Running on the 13 inch M1 MacBook Pro was adequate with a smaller OWC travel dock until she got an Apple Watch also, and she started running out of USB-C ports and charging capabilities.

This larger dock is fantastic in that it replaces a bunch of small power supplies under the desk, and eliminates those wires on top, and handles all charging duties well. One Thunderbolt plug and the laptop is totally portable to go with all her travel power supplies and cables already packed in the computer bag.

The wired ethernet and USB-C ports all work without a hitch. I think I needed to restart once the first time I plugged in the new dock, the Mac perhaps mistaking it for the old travel dock. No issues at all since.

Thanks OWC!.

OWC used to be awesome. i’ve bought so many drives over the years. but the last 2 items i bought, this dock included, were a disaster. for my 1 year old laptop, it created endless kernel panics and bricked my mac.

i got on with support, and bless his heart, he tried to revive my mac. but he couldn’t, so that was that. he said he was out of ideas and someone would call me back. no one ever did. so i revived it on my own, as apparently it was my job to sort out the damage they had done.

but from then on, i had a runaway kernel process on my mac, taking up all the CPU. i ended up buying a new laptop because of it. so thanks OWC. thanks for the terrible product, the friendly but incompetent support, and for putting me out of pocket to clean up the devastation left by your products.

never again.

I hesitated pulling the trigger on this purchase due to the price. I finally did so, hoping it would do all I need. Boy howdy, does it ever. I have a 2018 MacBook Air. It has plenty of life left in it, but only two USB-C ports.

I’ve been struggling with a port adapter – lots of juggling of cables, losing connections to external drives, etc, Now, I plug one USB-C cable into my laptop and it is powered plus I have immediate access to my Ethernet network, Two external backup drives (one for CCC, one for Time Machine), a third external SSD for my music and photo libraries (due to the puny SSD in my laptop) and my USB-C portable monitor.

When it’s time to move out, I just use the provided Dock Ejector app from the menu bar, unplug the single cable, and I’m on my way. So very pleased!.

I just plugged it in, and all functionality worked as expected on my mid-2017 MacBook Pro, and my coworker’s 2018 model. It is built solidly, with an attractive finish. I am happy with my purchase. I have two small dislikes about this dock.

The first is a minor worry that it runs rather warm, not so hot that it will burn something, but more a concern for the longevity of the internals and solder joints. My second dislike is for the extremely short, and non replaceable cable lead.

I would like to tuck the dock away on a far corner of my desk, or behind a monitor, but unfortunately it must live nearly right next to the laptop at all times. In revisions of this product it would be nice to see a female Thunderbolt (USB-C) jack, with replaceable cable.

one day when I forgot to bring my laptop, I took a chance plugging my Samsung Galaxy S10e into the Dell thunderbolt docking station to see if it would work, and behold! Samsung devices have a feature called “DeX” which makes it basically a computer, filling a monitor, using mouse/keyboard, wired ethernet, USB drives, etc.

Samsung sells docks for the purpose, but I haven’t had the desire for one enough to pay the prices they want. And, at least for most of the ones I looked at, they don’t charge the phone through the cable, but some of them include a wireless charging pad.

Well, this Dell thunderbolt laptop docking station, with USB-C laptop cable, plugs right in and works, EVEN CHARGING THE PHONE. Aside from doing everything it promises for the laptop, the reason I bought it in the first place, I now have a better Samsung DeX dock than Samsung sells! Yay!.

I initially bought this as a way to have a one-cable USB-C connection for my HP Envy X360. It works perfectly for that, and also for my Surface Laptop 3. In both cases, one connection supplies power and connects me to a slew of other devices.

My one concern was that the cable was on the short side, but I was able to get a USB-C extension (certified for power delivery) and now everything works! Well worth the money!.

Sleek compact design. Offers plenty of ports and a 180w power supply is more than enough to power everything in use. Charging is quick overall I am happy with it. Much better with the 180w option over the 130w.

I have a Lenovo Yoga with 2 Thunderbolt 3 ports, and this is very helpful for typing, as my laptop does not have a full keyboard. It worked great out of the box. The only 2 issues I have. If my laptop goes to sleep and I wake it up, one the monitors scrambles and I have to plug and unplug the HDMI cable to get it to reset to normal.

I also had an ethernet cable get stuck in the jack on this, and was seriously worried about breaking the cable or the dock getting it removed. In fairness, these issues could be related to my computer graphics card or the ethernet cable.

This is ideal for me. I do wish there was a USB-C port on the dock as I have some USB-C peripherals that would be nice to plug into the dock.

Loving this hub as it allows me to extend my desktop across three monitors, use the USB 3. 0 port, and use wired ethernet, all at the same time on my Lenovo Yoga 920. Better yet, it’s small enough to carry with the laptop.

Its not super light, but not too heavy either, about right for what it does. It does get warm (I’ll never have cold coffee again), but not unexpectedly so given how much high performance electronics are stuffed into the small space.

I did have to download and install the Win10 drivers before anything other than the wired ethernet would work. It would have been nice if that hadn’t been necessary like the instructions said it wouldn’t, but that doesn’t affect my rating since they were easy to find and install from the Startech website.

Sadly, I only have HD monitors, so can’t verify that it works with two 4k ones all the way to 60 Hz — someone else will have to review that aspect.

Keep in mind, that this is TB-3. This is *NOT* TB-2 or USB-C. OK, the negative first: The built-in cable is WAY too short and not removable. Now to the good stuff! This thing is FAST. It just worked on my Macbook.

Even driving dual-4k, transferring data via USB, and network, nothing seemed to slow down at all. It took some dings in my field bag, and got some dust and fuzz in there, but it never stopped working.

Keep some of that “non-slide” shelf-liner with you and this little lightweight dock won’t slide around either (being that light is a plus in my book!) I received this product in exchange for an unbiased review.