Brydge unveils Stone Pro TB4 Thunderbolt 4 docking station

Posted:
in General Discussion
Brydge, known for its collection of iPad keyboards, has just announced the upcoming availability of their newest Thunderbolt 4 dock, the Stone Pro TB4.

Brydge Stone Pro TB4 Docking Station with MacBook Pro


Designed to work with macOS, Windows, and ChromeOS, the Stone Pro TB4 is a docking station designed to help expand your workspace efficiently. It boasts twelve ports to manage that ever-growing collection of devices you use alongside your laptop.

The Stone Pro TB4 features the following ports:
  • 3 x Thunderbolt 4 ports

  • 1 x USB-A (2.0 5V/1.5A)

  • 3 x USB-A (3.3 Gen 2 10 GBps)

  • 1 x Thunderbolt 4 PD 3.0 90W

  • 1 x SD Card reader

  • 1 x Ethernet (Gigabit)

  • 1 x 3.5mm audio port (headphone/microphone)

  • 1 x dock power port
While the Stone Pro TB4 does not feature an HDMI or Display Port, it can support a single 8K display at 30Hz or two 4K displays at 60Hz through Thunderbolt 4. However, the M1 MacBook Air and M1 13-inch MacBook Pro do not support multiple displays.

This dock supplies up to 90 watts of charging power, making it compatible with all current MacBooks.

Brydge also includes a stand, allowing you to orient the dock vertically to maximize desk space.

The Stone Pro TB4 isn't out yet, but Brydge plans on shipping starting in November. It's currently priced at $349.99, and those interested can head to Brydge's website and sign up to receive an email when sales go live.

Read on AppleInsider

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 7
    sflocalsflocal Posts: 6,092member
    Now we're talking.  It's good to see ONE company taking advantage of the USB4 spec.  Looks like a solid dock.
  • Reply 2 of 7
    ciacia Posts: 248member
    I’d pay a little more for a version that included 10Gbe Ethernet.  Beyond that this is a top notch dock. 
    edited September 2021
  • Reply 3 of 7
    The fact that PD for computer is on the front is dumb as hell. Hide the cables that will always be plugged in! 
    fahlman
  • Reply 4 of 7
    rob53rob53 Posts: 3,241member
    "Thunderbolt 4 is the latest generation of Thunderbolt. These ports are found on PCs with 11th Gen Intel® Core™ mobile processors, or systems that are equipped with a Thunderbolt 4 controller.

    Thunderbolt 4 brings numerous improvements and new features to the table when compared to Thunderbolt 3.

    • Speed. Thunderbolt 4 ports have the same high-speed 40Gbps bandwidth as Thunderbolt™ 3. However, minimum PCIe data requirements have increased from 16Gbps to 32Gbps. This means that high-speed external PCIe devices like storage and external graphics could see significant increases in transfer rates and performance.
    • SecurityVT-d based DMA protection helps prevent security threats by remapping requests from external devices and checking for proper permissions.
    • Wake from sleep. This feature allows a PC to be brought out of hibernation with peripherals that are connected through a dock."
    TB4 speed is same as TB3, however, devices might actually be able to attain that speed with updated hardware. I presume this dock is using whatever PCIe version is capable of providing 32Gbps bus speed although their website doesn't display this information in their specifications. I agree with @cia that 10Gbe Ethernet would have been a no brainer but it might have kicked the price even higher than $350 it already costs. 

    To the majority of us, a TB4 dock probably won't be any faster than TB3 docks.
    commentzilla
  • Reply 5 of 7
    sflocal said:
    Now we're talking.  It's good to see ONE company taking advantage of the USB4 spec.  Looks like a solid dock.
    The only problem is that all of the TB4 docks have a known speed issue with the M1 Macs. It's well documented by OWC. I brought three already from OWC, Caldigit, etc, and all of them exhibit the same issue with the M1 Macs and I sent them all back. Who knows if Apple will fix the issue or if its an unfixable hardware flaw. Meanwhile companies keep pumping out these docks while remaining most silent about the issue.

    Also, isn't this just a clone of the OWC TB4 dock?

    MORE WAYS TO GET FASTER EXTERNAL DRIVE SPEED WITH YOUR M1 MAC

     More Ways to Get Faster External Drive Speed With Your M1 Mac 


  • Reply 6 of 7
    rcfarcfa Posts: 1,124member
    MJ23FE said:
    The fact that PD for computer is on the front is dumb as hell. Hide the cables that will always be plugged in! 
    It’s the ONE cable that consistently unplugged and replugged, so it should be easily identifiable.

    Also, a dock usually sits between the computer and the peripherals, so having this port on the front means least amount of cable bending, and maximal use of cable length.

    Putting that port at the front makes perfect sense.
  • Reply 7 of 7
    rob53 said:
    "Thunderbolt 4 is the latest generation of Thunderbolt. These ports are found on PCs with 11th Gen Intel® Core™ mobile processors, or systems that are equipped with a Thunderbolt 4 controller.

    Thunderbolt 4 brings numerous improvements and new features to the table when compared to Thunderbolt 3.

    • Speed. Thunderbolt 4 ports have the same high-speed 40Gbps bandwidth as Thunderbolt™ 3. However, minimum PCIe data requirements have increased from 16Gbps to 32Gbps. This means that high-speed external PCIe devices like storage and external graphics could see significant increases in transfer rates and performance.
    • SecurityVT-d based DMA protection helps prevent security threats by remapping requests from external devices and checking for proper permissions.
    • Wake from sleep. This feature allows a PC to be brought out of hibernation with peripherals that are connected through a dock."
    TB4 speed is same as TB3, however, devices might actually be able to attain that speed with updated hardware. I presume this dock is using whatever PCIe version is capable of providing 32Gbps bus speed although their website doesn't display this information in their specifications. I agree with @cia that 10Gbe Ethernet would have been a no brainer but it might have kicked the price even higher than $350 it already costs. 

    To the majority of us, a TB4 dock probably won't be any faster than TB3 docks.
    Most of the improve should be for people using multiple high-speed devices. Unfortunately there is some kind of bug when using USB devices and their is a significant speed impact.
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