Imagine you wanted to buy a USB hub, but there were only a few available. That’s the state of the Thunderbolt dock market. Or it was, until CES 2021 brought a bunch of new gear from OWC and Anker.
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Anker’s new PowerExpand 5-in-1 Thunderbolt 4 Mini Dock is a relatively budget-friendly version of its existing 7-in-1 Thunderbolt 3 dock, but OWC’s new Thunderbolt Dock has something new: three pass-through Thunderbolt ports for further expansion.
A Thunderbolt dock is essential if you have a MacBook or Windows laptop with Thunderbolt. Not only are Thunderbolt docks more reliable than USB (thanks to rigorous certification from Intel), but the Thunderbolt connection is so high-bandwidth that you can load a dock with peripherals, including 4K displays, and connect them to your computer with a single cable.
You can also daisy chain Thunderbolt devices, making it easy to connect multiple peripherals (even a display, if desired) without the need for a dock.
