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Ugreen Revodok Max 208 review: An expensive Thunderbolt dock lacking variety
The Revodok Max 208 offers plenty of USB and Thunderbolt ports, but you'll probably still need adapters. Is there a point?
Thunderbolt docks can expand the I/O selection at your desk, hook up a laptop to a workstation setup, and serve plenty of other needs. Earlier this year, I reviewed the most expensive Thunderbolt dock to ever cross my desk: the $400 Ugreen Revodok Max 213. Now, Ugreen has come out with the Revodok Max 213's little brother, also known as the Revodok Max 208. It has slightly fewer ports, a slightly smaller design, and a slightly more reasonable price tag. However, it's still not a Thunderbolt dock I can recommend to everyone. The Revodok Max 208 has plenty of versatile ports, but lacks a variety of ports. And if you need to connect adapters to your docking station, what's the point?
Dell UltraSharp 34 Curved Thunderbolt Hub Monitor review: It's an ultrawide, dock, and KVM switch all-in-one
Dell puts all the pieces together with the UltraSharp 34 Thunderbolt, making a "super monitor" for productivity.
Dell has plenty of experience making great monitors, and that prowess has led to the creation of the UltraSharp 34 Curved Thunderbolt Hub Monitor. The monitor was first revealed at CES 2024 last month, but officially debuted today. It puts together a few great features that Dell has shipped separately on a few monitors, but not together. The newest UltraSharp 34 Thunderbolt monitor offers a 34-inch IPS Black display, a Thunderbolt hub, KVM switch functionality, and a curved ultrawide form factor.
Best Thunderbolt dock in 2024
A quality Thunderbolt dock is the best modern way to expand your laptop's connectivity.
As modern laptops shrink in size, ports are usually a casualty. There's no longer room in many sleek and light laptops for the likes of USB-A, HDMI, Ethernet, and SD card readers, but they're still required for many workflows. That's where the versatile Thunderbolt connector comes into play. It's the best way to save space and still get a high-performance connection, and connecting a great Thunderbolt dock can help you regain the missing ports.
Thunderbolt 5 could be the standard that make external SSDs and GPUs mainstream
Connectivity was a focus of CES, with specifications like Wi-Fi 7 and Thunderbolt 5 being previewed. The latter could change up the PC accessory game.
Connectivity stole the show at CES 2024 this year more than any other in recent memory. Wi-Fi 7 is the new standard that crept up in the industry with fast speeds and lower latency. There's also Thunderbolt 5, the latest connectivity standard from Intel that promises double the bandwidth of Thunderbolt 4. Although Wi-Fi 7 is a significant achievement, Thunderbolt 5 is truly an exciting standard that opens up new possibilities for what you can do with external hardware.
Plugable TBT4-UDX1 review: A premium docking station with some drawbacks
Plugable's latest Thunderbolt 4 dock has a solid supply of ports on offer, and despite some minor issues, it's still a decent option
Generally speaking, I've always had good experiences with Plugable's docking stations and USB-C hubs, and the company has some great options in its lineup. The latest addition is the Plugable TBT4-UDX1, a USB4 and Thunderbolt 4 docking station aimed at the higher-end market.
This sleek Thunderbolt dock is down to its lowest price ever this Prime Day
This Kensington dock adds plenty of ports to your laptop, and it's never been this cheap.
Modern laptops tend to miss out on some ports, but thanks to Prime Big Deal Days, you can get them back for a very low price. This Kensington Thunderbolt 4 dock has all the ports you could want in a sleek chassis, and it's down to its lowest price ever, thanks to a $65 discount, bringing it down to just $195.
Best Thunderbolt cables in 2023
Check out some of the best Thunderbolt cables you can get for your new iPhone 15, where you will find options with fast charging and data speeds
Android users have been enjoying the benefits of having USB-C cables with Thunderbolt support for several years now, and it’s finally time for iPhone users to join the party, as Apple has finally ditched its Lightning technology in favor of a universal solution. Indeed, there are many great options, but we have narrowed it down to the best cables with Thunderbolt certification that will ensure fast charging and data transfer speeds.
Best Thunderbolt accessories for your laptop in 2024
Thunderbolt gives you tons of expansion options for your laptop, and we've rounded up the best accessories to make use of it.
In recent years, Thunderbolt has become an essential part of many laptops and PCs. Developed by Intel, the Thunderbolt protocol uses USB Type-C ports to deliver very high speeds — up to 40Gbps, as of Thunderbolt 4 — that can be used to connect all kinds of peripherals. Many of the best laptops you can buy today come with Thunderbolt ports, and the accessories you can use with them range from docking stations to external GPUs, all of which can greatly expand the capabilities of your laptop.
Best accessories for Dell XPS 15 (2023)
Want to maximize your Dell XPS 15? Here's a selection of the best accessories!
The new Dell XPS 15 is one of the best laptops in its own right, but it can be even better when used in partnership with quality accessories. You can expand your screen real estate with an external monitor for extra windows and apps, zip around quicker and more accurately with a standalone mouse, or use a single cable to connect your laptop to accessories and charge simultaneously with a Thunderbolt 4 dock. And that's not all, which is why I've gathered a selection of the best accessories to make the most of the Dell XPS 15's potential.
Best docking stations for Acer Swift Go in 2023
Expand the connectivity of the Acer Swift Go with these docks.
The Acer Swift Go is one of the best Acer laptops thanks to its wide range of connectivity options, rivaling even some of the best laptops on the market with multiple Thunderbolt 4 ports alongside a USB-A port, a microSD card reader slot, and an HDMI output. While this is an excellent amount of ports for a laptop in 2023, it's still worth getting a dock if you use your laptop at a desk most of the time. A docking station will allow you to connect the Acer Swift Go to multiple monitors or to devices like printers without worrying about running out of ports. I've gathered eight of our favorite docks to help you decide which is best for you.
Best Thunderbolt 4 laptops in 2024
With Thunderbolt 4 replacing the previous-gen standard, we list out the best laptops on the market with the new super fast connectivity port.
Thunderbolt has become an increasingly common feature in laptops over the last few years. Since the introduction of Thunderbolt 3, which uses the familiar USB Type-C connector, many more laptops have adopted this feature. And with Thunderbolt 4, the experience has been standardized so all Thunderbolt laptops offer the best speeds promised in Thunderbolt 3.
Kensington SD5780T review: A powerful Thunderbolt 4 dock with HDMI 2.1 and up to 96W of charging
Kensington's SD5780T combines the SD5700T and SD5750T for better compatibility and some other worthwhile upgrades
Kensington was one of the first manufacturers to break into the Thunderbolt 4 docking station market in 2021 in the form of the SD5700T and SD5750T docks. These are both still available and are considered some of the best Thunderbolt 4 docking stations around, but buying one or the other can cause some confusion due to compatibility. The Kensington SD5700T was built to handle Windows and macOS devices, while the SD5750T was built Microsoft Surface compatibility. The docks are identical and share the same port selection, and it's not a far reach to assume that some buyers unknowingly picked up the wrong version when shopping. And what about users swapping between Surface and other devices?
Best 24-inch iMac M1 accessories in 2023
Looking for the right set of accessories to make the most out of your 24-inch Apple iMac with M1? Check out our recommendations!
Apple revealed the first Silicon-powered 24-inch iMac back in 2021. This great Mac offers an all-in-one (AiO) desktop experience and packs the base M1 chipset in a redesigned, colorful chassis. Though, taking advantage of a powerful computer on its own can limit its potential. That's why accessories exist. Think of them as additional limbs that your machine can grow in order to further utilize the power of its unrivaled chipset. They also allow you to personalize the overall experience based on your particular needs and workflows. If you've bought the 24-inch iMac M1, below you can find some of the best accessories you can pair with it to supercharge your experience.
Intel teases next-gen Thunderbolt with 80Gbps of bandwidth
Intel has shared the first teaser of next-gen Thunderbolt technology based on USB4 version 2.0, promising 80Gbps of bi-directional bandwidth.
Intel today shared a teaser for the next generation of Thunderbolt, which is built on the USB4 version 2.0 specification. While the company doesn't have a lot to say right now, we did learn that next-gen Thunderbolt will offer 80Gbps of bi-directional bandwidth, or up to 120Gbps for special configurations.
There's a chance you've come across and are thinking of buying the HP EliteBook 840 G9, and you might be wondering if the HP EliteBook 840 G9 has Thunderbolt ports. The answer to that question is yes, the laptop does have Thunderbolt ports. In fact, it has 2 Thunderbolt 4 ports, which is the newest technology. Other than that, that laptop also has 2 USB-A ports, an HDMI 2.0 port, But we're here to talk about Thunderbolt.
Unlike its fancy Polishing Cloth, Apple's new 3-meter Thunderbolt 4 Pro cable is fairly priced
Apple has started selling a 3-meter Thunderbolt 4 Pro cable. It is currently unrivaled and costs a reasonable $159 in the US.
Apple is notorious for selling relatively overpriced products. One could argue that for their excellent qualities and long lifespans they're actually fairly priced. However, some products almost objectively have ridiculous price tags -- such as the infamous $19 Polishing Cloth. Ultimately, the Cupertino tech giant isn't a nonprofit organization, and making more money is its aim -- as an ever-expanding business. Despite that, sometimes it surprises us with some of its releases, and this includes its latest Thunderbolt 4 Pro cable -- which it announced back in March. In spite of it being the first on the premium market to have a 3-meter length, the company still settled for a $159 price tag. This makes it such a steal -- considering companies like OWC, Belkin, and CalDigit still don't offer similar products.
Apple has a new $159 Thunderbolt 4 cable, but it's not overpriced
Apple is selling new Thunderbolt 4 cables that go up to $159.00, and for once, Apple actually isn't charging much more than the competition.
Apple revealed a handful of new devices on Monday, including the new iPhone SE with 5G connectivity, an iPad Air with an M1 chip, the Mac Studio, and an updated Studio Display. Although it didn't get a mention during Apple's live event, the company also has a new Thunderbolt 4 cable that costs $159, which actually appears to be a decent value.
Best Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon docks in 2023
We list down some of the best docks for the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon that can help you expand its I/O connectivity options!
The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon is one of the best business notebooks you can buy today. The laptop maker recently introduced the 9th-generation model that's powered by the latest Intel 11th-gen Tiger Lake processors, along with other improvements, including a taller 16:10 display and a bigger touchpad. While the laptop doesn’t offer the worst set of I/O ports, the support for Thunderbolt 4 does open up the opportunity of hooking an external dock to further expand your connectivity options.
Best Thunderbolt 3 laptops in 2023
Thunderbolt 3 standard makes use of the USB Type-C connector, but offers faster data speeds. Check out the best laptops with Thunderbolt 3!
Data transfer speeds have grown exponentially in the past few years, be it mobile networks or your local storage media. Similarly, the good old USB has also become quite reliable when it comes to transferring large amounts of data over a wide bandwidth. Intel had announced Thunderbolt 4 last year and we are expecting new products with the next-gen protocol to finally hit markets soon. Until then, we are checking out some of the best Thunderbolt 3 equipped laptops.
Intel announces Thunderbolt 4 protocol and new Thunderbolt Controllers with USB4 compliance
Intel has announced Thunderbolt 4 and 8000 series controllers with USB4 compliance, hardware DMA protection, and support for up to 4 extension ports.
Thunderbolt is a cross-platform data and power transfer standard developed by Intel. The protocol is often found in laptops and PCs and can be used to connect DisplayPort-compatible devices including external monitors as well as PCI Express (PCIe) peripherals including external graphics cards, hard drives, Wi-Fi or Ethernet connectors, over a USB-C port. The current generation of the protocol – Thunderbolt 3 – supports upstream or downstream bandwidths of up to 40Gbps and serves as the basis for USB4 specifications. Thunderbolt 3 was announced in late 2015 and an update has been long due. Intel spoke of the Thunderbolt 4 while unveiling its Tiger Lake mobile processors at CES 2020 but without revealing any details. Now the day has come and Intel is finally announcing the Thunderbolt 4 connectivity protocol along with new 8000 series controllers for backward compatibility with Thunderbolt 3 and USB 3.1 (and upwards) devices.