Whereas there’s no scarcity of Thunderbolt docks, the OWC 11-port Thunderbolt 5 dock stands out for a number of causes. As you’ll see in my overview, it packs loads of Thunderbolt 5 and USB-A ports, together with SD card slots and the power to quick cost your MacBook Professional at full pace.
Right here’s what makes the OWC 11-port Thunderbolt 5 dock price contemplating to your Mac.
OWC 11-Port Thunderbolt 5 dock overview
A Thunderbolt dock means that you can get essentially the most out of your Mac. With only a single cable, you may join a number of displays, equipment and storage units to your Mac — all whereas holding your desk tidy and arranged.
I can’t think about utilizing my MacBook Professional or M4 Professional Mac mini and not using a Thunderbolt dock. It is because I’ve a number of equipment related at any given time, together with a number of displays and storage drives, a Logi Bolt BT receiver for the keyboard and mouse, an Ethernet cable, a microphone and an exterior speaker.
Whereas a USB-C hub would possibly work for some, given the bandwidth and energy necessities, I want Thunderbolt docks. And whereas I’ve used a number of Thunderbolt docks prior to now, the OWC Thunderbolt 5 dock stands out for its vary of ports, design and construct high quality.
OWC 11-Port Thunderbolt 5 Docking Station
The OWC 11-port Thunderbolt 5 dock stands out for providing three Thunderbolt 5 ports and a 2.5GbE Ethernet port. Plus, it could quick cost your MacBook Professional whereas powering all of your equipment.
- Loads of Thunderbolt 5 and USB-A ports
- 140W upstream quick charging
- 2.5GbE Ethernet port
- No HDMI or DisplayPort
- Not one of the USB ports assist 18W or larger energy output
Desk of contents: OWC 11-port Thunderbolt 5 dock overview
{Hardware} and design
The OWC Thunderbolt 5 dock consists of two elements. One is the dock itself. Whereas not compact, it measures a decent 7 inches broad, 1.7 inches tall and three.1 inches lengthy. This a part of the hub will sit in your desk and connect with all of your equipment.
One other half is the chunky 180W (21V, 8.58A) energy brick. It ensures the Thunderbolt 5 dock can output 140W of energy over USB-C to fast-charge your Mac, whereas additionally offering sufficient energy to different related equipment.
Picture: Rajesh Pandey/Cult Of Mac
The dock sports activities a brushed aluminum end, performed in house grey. The highest incorporates a shiny black floor with an OWC emblem within the heart, which provides to the dock’s enchantment. Nevertheless, I fear it should entice scratches and fingerprints over time.
OWC outfitted its Thunderbolt 5 dock with 11 ports: 5 of them within the entrance and the remainder on the rear. All of the ports are thoughtfully organized, with ample house between them to make sure they gained’t intrude with one another.
The dock makes use of a barrel connector to take energy from the 180W energy brick.
I/O
Under is the breakdown of the OWC Thunderbolt 5 dock’s port choice:
Entrance:
- 1x SD card UHS-II slot
- 1x microSD UHS-II card
- 1x USB-C (Thunderbolt 5)
- 1x USB-A (10Gbps)
- 1x 3.5mm audio jack
Rear:
- 1x Thunderbolt 5 upstream
- 2x Thunderbolt 5 downstream
- 1x USB-A 3.2 (10Gbps)
- 1x USB-A 3.2 (5Gbps)
- 1x 2.5GbE RJ-45 Ethernet port
As you may seean see, the dock presents loads of USB and Thunderbolt ports to attach your equipment.
Picture: Rajesh Pandey/Cult Of Mac
Thunderbolt 5 presents double the bandwidth of Thunderbolt 4 (80Gb/s versus 40Gb/s), with a bandwidth enhance mode growing it to 120Gb/s. And, as a substitute of together with HDMI or DisplayPort outputs like most Thunderbolt docks, OWC makes use of Thunderbolt 5’s further bandwidth to make the present ports higher.
With a Mac, you may join as much as two 6K Thunderbolt exterior displays on to the OWC dock. And with Home windows, the dock can drive as much as three displays concurrently.
Most notably, the dock’s Ethernet port helps quicker 2.5GbE speeds. It additionally permits you to drive as much as two 6K displays and join high-bandwidth equipment with out compromise.
So, when you personal a network-attached storage gadget, you may join it on to the OWC dock to take pleasure in quicker data-transfer speeds between your Mac and your NAS. Virtually all different docks characteristic a Gigabit Ethernet port.
I maintain alternating between the MacBook Professional and the M4 Professional Mac mini on my desk. So, I discover the dock’s entrance SD and microSD card slots useful. They let me shortly offload pictures from my DSLR and different equipment with out fumbling with adapters. Plus, you need to use each of them concurrently.
Picture: Rajesh Pandey/Cult Of Mac
My one main gripe with the OWC Thunderbolt 5 dock is the facility output of the USB-C and USB-A ports. The downstream Thunderbolt ports can output a most of 15W of energy, whereas the USB-A ports present 7.5W of energy. That’s sufficient for nearly all exterior equipment and exhausting disks. However that’s not sufficient to quick cost an iPad or iPhone (or different smartphones).
In distinction, many competing docks can ship 18W to 20W over USB-C and as much as 10W over USB-A to shortly high up power-hungry units.
The entrance of the OWC dock additionally homes an influence button and an LED indicator. To make sure you don’t by chance flip off the dock, OWC requires a long-press of the button for not less than two seconds.
Observe that Thunderbolt 5 is backward-compatible with Thunderbolt 4 and Thunderbolt 3. Which means you utilize the dock with older Macs as properly. Nevertheless, because of the lack of bandwidth on these machines, the dock gained’t work at its full potential.
Efficiency
Throughout my testing for this OWC Thunderbolt 5 dock overview, I related two 4K displays through the rear Thunderbolt 5 ports, a USB-C SSD, a WD MyBook by way of USB-A, an Ethernet cable on to my Wi-Fi router and several other different USB-C equipment to the dock.
To emphasize check, I transferred a number of recordsdata throughout the related disks. Many USB-C hubs battle to supply related equipment with sufficient energy throughout such situations. However OWC’s dock dealt with it fantastically.
Picture: Rajesh Pandey/Cult Of Mac
As I discovered throughout testing for this overview, one other spotlight is the OWC Thunderbolt 5 dock’s skill to output 140W energy to my related MacBook Professional. That’s the utmost energy Apple’s newer MacBook fashions assist for quick charging. So, with a single cable, I’ve a number of displays, USB-C and Thunderbolt equipment related to my MacBook — all whereas quick charging it.
Should you nonetheless use an Apple SuperDrive for some purpose, OWC supplies a particular driver with the dock to play and burn CDs and DVDs. You’ll additionally want to put in this driver for connecting an Apple USB Keyboard or charging an iPad 1, 2 or 3.
I did discover the dock getting heat to the contact throughout prolonged use. Whereas the warmth wasn’t extreme or alarming, it’s one thing to pay attention to, particularly when you plan to maintain the dock in a confined house with out a lot air flow.
The aluminum construct helps dissipate a number of the warmth passively. So, you don’t want to fret about overheating.
OWC takes benefit of Thunderbolt 5’s improved specs and bundles a 1-meter, 240W cable with the dock. Most Thunderbolt 4 docks solely ship with a 0.8-meter cable. The additional size can turn out to be useful, particularly in case your setup requires flexibility in cable routing.
Pricing and guarantee
Picture: Rajesh Pandey/Cult Of Mac
OWC costs its Thunderbolt 5 dock at $329.99, placing it in step with related units by different producers. The dock may not be for everybody — that’s very true if you wish to add DisplayPort or HDMI ports. However when you require entry to high-speed Thunderbolt ports and Ethernet connectivity, the OWC Thunderbolt 5 dock is among the many few choices out there.
Not like most different corporations, OWC presents a two-year guarantee on its Thunderbolt 5 dock for added peace of thoughts.
★★★★☆
OWC 11-Port Thunderbolt 5 Docking Station
The OWC 11-port Thunderbolt 5 dock stands out for providing three Thunderbolt 5 ports and a 2.5GbE Ethernet port. Plus, it could quick cost your MacBook Professional whereas powering all of your equipment.
- Loads of Thunderbolt 5 and USB-A ports
- 140W upstream quick charging
- 2.5GbE Ethernet port
- No HDMI or DisplayPort
- Not one of the USB ports assist 18W or larger energy output
OWC supplied Cult of Mac with a overview unit for this text. See our evaluations coverage, and take a look at different in-depth evaluations of Apple-related gadgets.
