It’s onerous to consider, nevertheless it’s been over seven years since I first bought my fingers on CalDigit’s TS3 Plus dock, and through its heyday, I labeled it as the very best dock for Mac customers. Since then, CalDigit launched the TS3’s successor, appropriately referred to as the CalDigit TS4 Thunderbolt 4 Dock, which provided a refined tackle its predecessor.
Now, with the arrival of Thunderbolt 5 adoption for the newest M4 Professional Macs and better, CalDigit is again with an much more highly effective model of its TS-series dock – the CalDigit Thunderbolt Station 5 Plus, or TS5 Plus for brief. Sure, CalDigit has retuned to its “plus” nomenclature of the previous, because it plans to supply a much less highly effective 15-port model of the TS5 sooner or later.
The TS5 Plus, after all, consists of help for Thunderbolt 5, however is there another cause why potential consumers ought to take into account it over the already nice TS4? Maybe! Watch my hands-on video assessment for a better look, and be sure you subscribe to 9to5Mac on YouTube for extra Mac peripheral protection.
Specs
The CalDigit TS5 Plus consists of 20 ports, which bests its predecessor by two ports. Whereas the shape issue is usually the identical, the dock has elevated in measurement over the TS4, which itself was a bit bigger than the TS3 Plus. Right here’s a take a look at the entire interface particulars and extra specs:
Ports
- 1 x Thunderbolt 5 Upstream / USB4 v2 (140W | 80Gb/s)
- 2 x Thunderbolt 5 Downstream / USB4 v2 (36W | 80Gb/s)
- 4 x USB-C (Information Solely) (7.5W | 10Gb/s)
- 1 x USB-C (Information Solely) (36W | 10Gb/s)
- 5 x USB-A (Information Solely) (7.5W | 10Gb/s)
- 1 x SD Card Reader (SD 4.0 | UHS-II)
- 1 x microSD Card Reader (SD 4.0 | UHS-Il)
- 1 x DisplayPort 2.1
- 1 x 10 Gigabit Ethernet
- 1 x Entrance Combo Audio Jack (3.5mm)
- 1 x Rear Audio Jack In 1 (3.5mm)
- 1 x Rear Audio Jack Out 1 (3.5mm)
- 1 x DC In (24V | 13.75A)
Video: CalDigit TS5 Plus assessment – a supercharged Thunderbolt 5 dock
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Further specs
- Peak : 6.10″ (155.0mm) x Width : 1.85″ (47.0mm) x Size : 5.03″ (127.9mm)
- Weight: 1.98lbs (0.90kg)
- 140W energy ship to host
- Kensington Safety Slot
- Helps twin 4K/6K displays
- 1 x braided 1M Thunderbolt 5 cable
- 2 x rubber ft strips
- 1 x energy twine
- 1 x energy suppoly (330W)
- 2 12 months guarantee
- Worth: $499.99
Design and kind issue
The TS5, whereas retaining the identical general kind issue as its forebears, is considerably bigger than the TS3 Plus, and nonetheless fairly a bit bigger than the TS4. That is CalDigit’s heaviest and largest TS-series dock but, however there’s a cause for the elevated measurement and weight, particularly the addition of extra ports, and the additional quantity of energy that it could actually each settle for from the hefty new energy provide, and thereafter ship to a number pc connection.
The TS5 Plus is 0.55-inches taller, 0.20-inches wider, and 0.57-inches longer than its direct predecessor. It additionally weighs 0.57lbs greater than the TS4.
In fact, it wouldn’t be a CalDigit Dock with out the corporate’s staple ridged-aluminum sidewalls, which has turn out to be its trademark design characteristic. This design will not be solely nice for warmth dissipation, nevertheless it additionally permits the included rubber feat to simply connect to the chassis in an effort to orient the dock horizontally on a desktop as a substitute of vertically.
Price noting – the ft that CalDigit consists of with the TS5 Plus ditch the longstanding translucent design for an identical house black look. Talking of which, the TS5 Plus is noticeabley darker than the already darkish house grey TS4. It’s a lot nearer to the house black anodized aluminum that’s discovered on the newest MacBook Professional – a decidedly good contact.
The entrance of the TS5 Plus options the identical actual port configuration because the TS4, albeit with a barely completely different orientation. Nonetheless, the specification of these ports have modified a bit. I’ll focus on that within the subsequent part.
The rear of the dock is the place you’ll discover the additional two ports featured on the TS5 Plus, which encompass two further 10Gb/s USB-C knowledge ports that be a part of the only USB-C knowledge port discovered on the TS4. These knowledge ports are good for attaching any further USB-C equipment, however are significantly good for connecting bus-powered USB-C SSDs, since they supply sufficient energy (7.5W) to drive these gadgets.
Noteworthy enhancements
Like its predecessor, the TS5’s enhancements transcend simply further ports. Fairly a number of enhancements have been made to the already current ports. Clearly, the most important enchancment has to do with the adoption of Thunderbolt 5, which gives double the pace of Thunderbolt 4. On this regard, the TS5 is a a lot greater enchancment over the TS4 than the TS4 was over the TS3 Plus – as Thunderbolt 4 connectivity remained on the similar 40Gb/s as Thunderbolt 3.
Thunderbolt 4 elevated minimal PCIe knowledge necessities to 32Gb/s from 16Gb/s making it attainable for exterior SSDs to stand up to three,000 MB/s. Thunderbolt 5 builds on this by doubling the PCIe knowledge bandwidth from 32Gb/s to 64Gb/s, that means that exterior drives can help speeds as much as 6,000 MB/s.
If in case you have a Mac with Thunderbolt 5, such because the M4 Professional Mac mini, or M4 Professional MacBook Professional, you’ll discover considerably improved speeds when connecting Thunderbolt 5 peripherals. For instance, when connecting the OWC Envoy Extremely Thunderbolt 5 SSD, you’ll get the identical 80Gb/s hyperlink pace as you’ll when connecting the drive straight your Mac’s Thunderbolt 5 port. In case you tried to attach the identical drive to an older dock just like the TS4, the hyperlink pace would fall again to 40Gb/s.
However that in and of itself showcases one of many strengths of Thunderbolt 5, and that’s backwards compatibility. So even for those who don’t but personal one of many newest Macs with Thunderbolt 5, you’ll be able to nonetheless take pleasure in its advantages with Thunderbolt 4, Thunderbolt 3 (Macs solely), and even straight USB-C gadgets just like the iPad Air or iPad mini, and have the peace of thoughts of realizing that you just’re ready for a future improve when the time comes.
140W Thunderbolt 5 upstream port
The earlier technology CalDigit TS4 was able to offering as much as 98W of energy to a number pc through its upstream port and included Thunderbolt cable. Whereas 98W is nothing to scoff at, that falls far under the 140W most energy enter of Apple’s 16-inch MacBook Professional. You wanted to make use of Apple’s fast-charge succesful 140W USB-C energy adapter for quick charging prior to now. The TS5, alternatively, can cost the 16-inch MacBook Professional at full 140W pace when linked through the included braided 240W-capable Thunderbolt cable. Even higher is the truth that it could actually recharge your linked MacBook Professional at full pace, even whereas different gadgets are being fed energy from its different ports.
140W + 36W(3) + 7.5W(9) = 315.5 W
That’s as a result of CalDigit features a huge 330W energy provide, which gives simply sufficient energy to feed all 12 powered ports with out throttling again the upstream energy connection – spectacular. Granted, the draw back of that is that the facility brick has gotten a lot greater, however this can be a tradeoff that I believe should be customers shall be high-quality with given the advantages.
The unit additionally helps offline charging for the entire energy ports except two of the USB-A ports on the rear which are purposely disabled when there’s no host connection. That is ultimate for connecting gadgets that you just want to remain powered down when your Mac will not be connected to the dock.
36W Thunderbolt 5 downstream ports
The TS5’s two downstream Thunderbolt 5 ports now provide greater than double the facility, going from 15W on the TS4 to 36W on the TS5 Plus. This is sufficient to quick cost the iPhone 16 Professional, and shall be greater than sufficient energy for future power-hungry bus-powered Thunderbolt 5 SSDs.
I additionally tried connecting my Rodecaster Duo audio interface to one among these downstream ports, reasoning that because it solely required 27W of energy, it needs to be sufficient to energy the interface. Oddly sufficient it wouldn’t energy the interface via the downstream 36W Thunderbolt 5 ports, however powered it high-quality from the front-facing 36W USB-C knowledge port. I reached out to CalDigit to see why this is perhaps, however I’m guessing it’s one thing to do with the way in which that Rode has applied its energy supply spec.
36W USB-C knowledge port
CalDigit upgraded its powered front-facing USB-C port on the TS5 Plus, going from 20W on the TS4 to a strong 36W. Once more, this shall be nice for quick charging the newest iPhone 16 Professional, recharging an iPad, and many others.
Twin USB Controllers
When linked to a Thunderbolt host machine, the TS5 Plus gives additional bandwidth to linked USB gadgets through two devoted 10Gb/s controllers. How is that this helpful? Earlier than, once you’d add two excessive bandwidth SSDs to 2 separate USB connections, these drives would share the identical logical bandwidth, and due to this fact have to separate the quantity of 10Gb/s bandwidth. In such a situation with the TS5, it’s now attainable for each of these drives to derive the utmost 10Gb/s bandwidth independently.
CalDigit has configured the entire USB-A ports and front-facing USB-C ports to a single controller, and the entire rear-facing USB-C ports, together with the 2 Thunderbolt ports, and the front-facing SD Card and microSD card slots, to the second controller. This makes for probably quicker speeds when shifting information from a number of SD Playing cards to an exterior USB-C SSD in case you have them linked to separate controllers.
10 Gigabit Ethernet port
Some of the noteworthy upgrades is the transfer from 2.5GbE on the TS4 to a full 10GbE connection on the TS5 Plus. This was one of many areas that I hoped would get addressed, and I used to be not disillusioned. The addition of 10GbE means having tremendous quick connections to 10GbE NAS containers just like the UGREEN NASync, or within the case the place you’re lucky sufficient to have 5- or 10Gb fiber Web connectivity, it’ll be nice for that as nicely.
DisplayPort 2.1
The final main port enchancment over the TS4 is the transfer from DisplayPort 1.4 to Show Port 2.1. This is smart contemplating that DisplayPort 2.1 incorporates an enormous enchancment over 1.4, offering as much as 80Gb/s of show bandwidth. This permits for connecting to larger decision show with larger body charges.
Show connectivity
I presently run a single show setup, that being the Asus ProArt 5K show, which I reviewed earlier this 12 months. This show options a number of methods to attach it to a Mac, together with USB-C, DisplayPort, and HDMI. For connecting to HDMI displays, customers can buy a USB-C to HDMI dongle like this USB-C to HDMI 2.0b Adapter.
I examined the ProArt 5K with the CalDigit TS5 Plus through a USB-C connection, and it labored high-quality. One factor to notice, nonetheless, is that USB-C show connections want to make use of one of many dock’s two Thunderbolt ports, though technically, the show doesn’t require Thunderbolt. Alternatively, I can hook up with the dock’s DisplayPort connection utilizing a DisplayPort cable. This serves to liberate that Thunderbolt port, which is clearly extra fascinating seeing as that there are solely two downstream Thunderbolt ports accessible.
For Mac customers with a number of shows, the TS5 Plus helps as much as two exterior shows without delay, at as much as 6K decision. Which means you’ll be able to simply join two Professional Show XDRs for those who occur to have it like that. 💰
CalDigit’s Dock additionally works nicely with excessive refresh fee shows due to Thunderbolt 5’s Bandwidth Enhance expertise. Bandwidth Enhance allocates one of many downstream 40Gb/s lanes for a complete of 120Gb/s for show connectivity. The remainder of the dock due to this fact retains 40Gb/s for knowledge switch. This permits customers to attach a single 4K show as much as 240Hz, or with sure Macs, even twin 4K shows at 240Hz. The earlier TS4 was solely capable of do excessive refresh for a single 4K show as much as 144Hz. CalDigit says that Mac customers can join a single 8K show as much as 60Hz on Professional/Max Apple Silicon. On the TS4, 8K help was restricted to PCs.
As a result of exterior show configurations may be complicated, CalDigit gives a full chart outlining show such connectivity. Additionally included are specs for Thunderbolt 4 and Thunderbolt 5 Home windows PCs. Home windows customers can take pleasure in connecting triple 4K shows as much as 144Hz, one thing Mac customers can’t, however be aware that the TS5 Plus doesn’t work with Thunderbolt 3 PCs.
Downsides
Like with any product, the TS5 Plus isn’t excellent, and there are a number of downsides. The obvious draw back is the asking value: at $500, it’s far-off from impulse purchase territory. In case you’re buying this dock, then it’s best to positively just remember to have a necessity for it now, or that you just’ll be capable to reap the benefits of it absolutely sooner or later.
The unit can be bigger than its predecessors, so it’ll take up a bigger desktop footprint than earlier than. With that being stated, the truth that you’ll be able to orient the dock in each horizontal and vertical mode offers the TS5 Plus extra flexibility on this space than competing merchandise.
In case you’re connecting to a USB-C monitor, you’ll must make the most of one of many two downstream Thunderbolt ports so as to take action. Since downstream Thunderbolt ports are at a premium, I recommend utilizing DisplayPort connectivity for those who can. Some folks will scoff at the truth that the down lacks an HDMI port, however there are official technical causes for its omission, and since DisplayPort is native to the Thunderbolt spec, that connector makes much more sense. You possibly can nonetheless use an energetic adapter for those who completely want to attach through HDMI.
Upsides
To be clear, the TS5 Plus characteristic extra upsides than downsides, as outlined all through this submit.
- It’s a one-cable answer for all your Mac’s peripherals
- It options Thunderbolt 5 connectivity, which is double the pace of Thunderbolt 4, options Show Port 2.1, and Bandwidth Enhance for top decision or excessive body fee shows.
- 140W quick charging in your MacBook Professional that doesn’t throttle down when different gadgets are linked.
- Seven USB-C ports in all, with three of these ports able to charging gadgets at 36W.
- 10Gb Ethernet connectivity, nice for connecting to a NAS.
- Twin USB controllers to stop bottlenecking with a number of USB SSDs.
- A modern, silent design that dissipates warmth, and may be oriented each horizontally and vertically.
9to5Mac’s Take
CalDigit’s TS5 Plus is the very best Thunderbolt dock that you just can presently buy [Note: The TS5 is out of stock until early June. We’ll update this post once it’s available.], however as such, it is available in at an eye-watering value level of $499.99. That’s a steep value to pay, and falls far exterior of impulse-buy territory.
That being stated, there’s merely nothing else available on the market that competes with this dock when it comes to present options, and even for those who don’t but personal a Thunderbolt 5-capable machine, it ought to serve you nicely for years to come back. This dock helps you to get full pace charging, monitor connectivity, 10GbE, Thunderbolt 5 accent connectivity, alongside connections to many extra peripherals, all through a single cable connection. For MacBook Professional house owners, it’s a reasonably superior machine.
Like its predecessor, the CalDigit TS5 Plus consists of every thing, however this time throws in your complete kitchen sink for good measure. If you may get over the admittedly steep value, and wish to future proof your setup, then the TS5 Plus is a strong buy, nonetheless the TS4 will nonetheless present greater than sufficient punch for many basic customers, may be discovered cheaper, and is definitely accessible in inventory.
…Otherwise you may select to attend for the common TS5. As talked about on the outset, CalDigit plans to launch a base TS5 with much less ports for much less cash. But, the common TS5 will nonetheless embody Thunderbolt 5, 140W host charging, and can even have yet one more Thunderbolt 5 port than the TS5 Plus. However it can lack 10GbE, 36W USB-C ports, and different options like twin USB-C controllers. I simply bought my fingers on the common TS5, and shall be again shortly with a full breakdown and comparability.
Do you employ a dock together with your Mac? Would you take into account the TS5 Plus? Pontificate within the feedback together with your ideas.
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