OWC 12 Port Thunderbolt 2 Dock

Product Information

Removing any device besides the last one will cause a disruption that renders all devices unusable until the chain is re-established. Where it differs from the other Thunderbolt 4 hubs reviewed here is its 96W laptop-charging, backed up with an external 150W power supply. Like many TB4 docks and hubs you will need a display adapter or two if your monitors don’t have a USB-C connector. The power adapter that comes with the 13-inch MacBook Pro and M1 MacBook Air doesn’t have a breakaway MagSafe connector.

for the Thunderbolt 4, Thunderbolt 3 or USB-C port Adapters for the Thunderbolt 4, Thunderbolt 3 or USB-C port

That’s one fewer audio port than Belkin’s and Elgato’s designs, but unlike Belkin, Kanex supplies continual 1. You may well have devices such as hard drives and external displays that use Thunderbolt 2 connections. OWC ClingOn custom cable stabilizers (available separately) screw into the OWC Dock or OWC Drive housing to reduce – if not completely eliminate – cable strain on Thunderbolt and USB-C connections so you can work with confidence even in the highest foot traffic environments.

If you're looking for an easy way to connect fast-as-blazes eSATA hard drives to your Thunderbolt 2-equipped Mac, the Thunderbolt Station 2 is the way to go. OWC's Thunderbolt 4 Dock is in many ways almost identical to Kensington's SD5700T, right down to port selection, port layout, and lock slots. There are also two 5Gbps USB-A ports, Gigabit Ethernet, UHS-I SD and microSD Card readers, and a USB-C port for PD passthrough charging at up to an impressive 87W—enough for most laptops. You could try daisy-chaining adapters, but that’s always risky and may not work, not to mention potentially bad for the adapters. It costs around the same as the OWC Thunderbolt Hub, reviewed above, and matches that hub on ports, with the only difference being that the OWC’s 10Gbps USB-A port can charge a device at 7.

Thunderbolt 4 and USB4 hubs and docks - Tech Advisor Best Thunderbolt 4 and USB4 hubs and docks - Tech Advisor

This Thunderbolt 4 docking station looks very similar to the Satechi Thunderbolt 4 Multimedia Pro Dock reviewed above. This adapter has a female Lightning connector on one end, so you can plug in your Lightning earphones.

This cute little adapter is simply to allow you to plug in one standard USB device or cable at a time, great for charging or syncing your iPhone or using a USB stick. Thunderbolt/Thunderbolt 2 (mDP) device support requires a certified Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) to Thunderbolt 2 (mDP) adapter and a Thunderbolt 2 cable (available separately) and provides data transfer at up to 20Gb/s. Accell’s slim Thunderbolt 4 Docking Station (K160B-002G) has one powerful DisplayPort and two downstream TB4 ports. The USB-C ports don’t support passthrough charging or video output, and can handle only two hard drives or SSDs at the same time. If you don’t want a dock, or you can’t find a dock with the mix of connections you need, Apple or another company probably has an adapter for you.