Best Thunderbolt docks 2023: Extend your laptop’s capabilities

Plugable’s TBT3-UDZ is simply one of the best Thunderbolt 3 docks we’ve tested, with a boatload of ports. It’s expensive, however.

On the front, the TBT3-UDZ includes a 10Gbps USB-C and a 10Gbps USB-A (USB 3.1) port, microSD and SD card slots, plus a headphone jack. On the rear, five USB-A (USB 3.0 ports) and gigabit ethernet complement a pair of DisplayPort 1.4 ports and HDMI 2.0 ports. (It’s all based on Intel’s Titan Ridge chipset.) A 29-inch 40Gbps Thunderbolt 3 cable connects the dock to your laptop, and is capable of delivering 96W of power. Naturally, this is a powered dock, with a hefty 170W (!) charger.

About the only knock against IOgear’s GTD737 is its use of two DisplayPort 1.2 ports on the rear of the dock, which serve as the only dedicated display outputs. (We suspect HDMI is more popular.)

Otherwise, this dock is excellent, providing almost all the features you’ll want at an affordable price: a 10Gbps USB-A port on the front for 7.5W smartphone charging; on the rear, two 5Gbps USB-A ports for legacy mice and keyboards and two 10Gbps USB-C ports for further expansion. There’s also a gigabit ethernet port and a headphone jack. The 2.3-foot Thunderbolt 3 cable supplies 60W for your laptop via the associated 135W power brick. Performance details can be found in our review.

Note that this dock is essentially identical to the Kensington SD5500T (review), which at press time was priced slightly higher. Double-check our review to make sure.

Plugable’s TBT3-UDC3 is a smaller, less-expensive version of the TBT3-UDZ, with less I/O flexibility but more focus. The dock includes a pair of USB-A 5Gbps ports on the front for a mouse and keyboard, and then a second USB-A (10Gbps) port on the back. A pair of two 10Gbps USB-C ports sit alongside it for further expansion. There’s gigabit ethernet, too. Smartly, Plugable includes one HDMI 2.0 port and a DisplayPort 1.4 port for display connections, plus an HDMI-to-DisplayPort dongle in the box in case you own two HDMI displays.

Belkin’s Thunderbolt 3 Dock Core is a smartly designed “powered” Thunderbolt 3 travel dock, and an inexpensive one as well.

At a nearly square 5.2 x 6.5 x 1.5 inches, the Thunderbolt Dock Core black doesn’t take up much room, and the included 8-inch Thunderbolt 3 cord provides ample length for flexibility. Ports are adequately spaced around the flat, black plastic cube, with HDMI 2.0 and DisplayPort 1.4 ports providing a stable 4K/60Hz experience to both of my 4K displays. There’s gigabit ethernet and a 3.5mm audio jack, but good luck telling the USB 3.1 and USB 2.0 Type A ports apart—they’re not labeled.

This squat little Thunderbolt 4 dock feels a lot more solid than its rated 1.68 pounds would indicate, and sprouts ports to all sides: a 10Gbps USB-C port capable of 15W charging on the front, a 5Gbps USB-A port on either side, plus two more on the back, all capable of 7.5W out. The back also houses two DisplayPort 1.4 ports, an HDMI 2.0 port, ethernet, and a USB-C 3.2 Gen 1 port designed for video. We only tested this dock with two 4K/60 external displays, but it’s capable of driving three 4K/60 displays provided you have a DisplayPort 1.4-capable laptop with Display Stream Compression, or DSC.

The 4J0A2AA supplies up to 100W to the host laptop via the Thunderbolt cable—still among the highest we’ve seen. Even then, there were no thermal issues at all.

The Kensington SD5780T replaces the Kensington SD5700T as our pick for the best premium Thunderbolt 4 docking station right now, but the price is also extravagantly high. (Amazon knocked 15 percent off the price at the time of our most recent revision, though, lowering the price considerably.)

The SD5780T improves on its predecessor by adding a dedicated HDMI 2.1 port and more laptop charging power. The dock performed excellently in our tests, though the external power was a bit lower in places than we’d hoped. (It counts where it matters, however, which includes charging a smartphone.)

OWC’s Thunderbolt Dock Go has an immediate selling point: Its power brick is integrated, like a desktop PC, saving space in your bag. It’s still a bit big for a travel dock, though.

About the only concerns we had with this dock were the initial glitchiness with the ethernet (now, apparently, solved) and the high price, which may come down over time. That includes the possible need for a display dongle (sold separately), which you may need to connect a second display. Otherwise, it’s a solid effort from OWC. You can read more about it in PCWorld’s own review of the OWC Thunderbolt Go as well as on our sister site, TechAdvisor, which agrees.

The Mac world tends to emphasize Thunderbolt-connected displays far more than the Windows world does, so this might be a niche product for most of you. But this thing is tiny (4.75 x 2.88 x 0.5 inches) even if, unfortunately, the associated power brick isn’t. It will send 15W of power via the Thunderbolt/USB-C connections to charge smartphones, and 60W to the host PC.

We lacked a Thunderbolt-connected display at the time of testing. (We have one now, and can confirm it works.) But the box does include a USB-C to HDMI adapter, so you can certainly connect one display natively out of the box, then attach a USB-C hub to connect another.

The Apex Thunderbolt 4 Dock features one 40Gbps upstream TB4 port (that connects to the computer with the included Thunderbolt 4 cable) and one 40Gbps downstream TB4 port for other devices, such as a fast SSD storage drive. The upstream Thunderbolt port can supply up to 90W of power to your laptop, while the downstream port can charge other devices at 15W.

Anker’s inclusion of two HDMI ports means you don’t need any adapters to connect displays, provided you own two with HDMI connections. In total, the dock supports the two Thunderbolt 4 ports, two USB-A ports (10Gbps, 4.5W of power), another two USB-A ports (480Mbps, 4.5W), and a USB-C port (10Gbps, 20W) alongside gigabit ethernet, a UHS-II SD card reader, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. The dock is powered, with a 120W power supply.

Really, this is a perfectly useful Thunderbolt 4 docking station that challenges our top-ranked Thunderbolt docks. If the price is right, consider it.

A USB4 docking station is very much like a Thunderbolt 4 docking station—you can see more explanation following our roundup of best picks. But if you’re specifically looking for a USB4 docking station, you should buy the Anker 568 USB-C Dock.

This 11-in-1 docking station favors DisplayPort, with two DisplayPort 1.4 ports, and a single HDMI 2.0 video port. The Anker 568’s distinguishing feature, however, is the pair of 10Gbps USB-C ports on the front, with each supplying 30W of power as well as a separate 100W connection to the laptop. That’s quite unusual, and the two ports should fast-charge a smartphone and possibly even a tablet.

We noticed a small bit of instability on occasion, but in general the Anker 568 provided a solid connection to a pair of 4K displays and other peripherals.

CalDigit’s Thunderbolt Station 3 Plus is one of the most popular Thunderbolt 3 docks available, and it’s easy to see why: a space-saving vertical orientation, 87W charging, gobs of available ports, and even niceties like a S/PDIF optical connection and an external Thunderbolt jack for daisy-chaining devices.

Port selection includes: two Thunderbolt 3 ports (one from the laptop, and one for an external connection), and a single DisplayPort 1.2 port. That’s ideal for a single 4K display, but awkward for two. The TS3 Plus includes one full-sized SD (SD 4.0 UHS-II) card reader, the S/PDIF port, gigabit ethernet, and two 3.5mm audio jacks—one in, one out. Five USB Type A ports are also included (all 5Gbps USB 3.1 Gen 1) and two USB-C ports (one 5Gbps port, and one 10Gbps port).

This recommendation comes courtesy of our colleagues at Macworld, who have compiled their own list of best Thunderbolt docking stations for the Apple Mac market. “All the ports you could want coupled with high-wattage charging justify the price of this full-featured dock,” and who are we to argue? We can personally vouch for its progenitor, the TS3 Plus, which we ranked favorably among other Thunderbolt docks.

While we have yet to review the TS4 ourselves, a simple gander at the price re-affirms our certainty that this is a product for the Mac market.

Plugable’s UD-6950PDH doesn’t allow the bandwidth for the latest HDMI or DisplayPort interfaces. But the dock preserves what we like about Plugable’s docks: two pairs of optional DisplayPort and HDMI connections to choose from, as well as 100W of charging power to your laptop. One omission, however, is a dedicated charging port for powering a smartphone, or any USB-C port at all.

At about $199 MSRP, however, the price is absolutely right. Just don’t forget your smartphone charger.