Caldigit launches $249 Thunderbolt Station 3 Plus dock with 10Gbps USB-C, 85W charging, cu...

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CalDigit has introduced two new products to its range of docks, with the Thunderbolt Station 3 Plus offering extensive connectivity options via a total of 15 ports, while last year's Thunderbolt Station 3 is now being offered at the lower price of $199.




The Thunderbolt Station 3 Plus is similar to the standard version of the dock, using the familiar design of its predecessor but adding more connection points to the front and back. Just as with the original, it offers two Thunderbolt 3 ports for daisy-chaining and for connecting to the host Mac, which also provides up to 85 Watts of power delivery that can charge a MacBook Pro alongside its 40 gigabit per second of bandwidth.

On the front are headphone and microphone sockets along with two USB 3.1 Gen.1 connections offering transfer speeds of up to 5 gigabits per second, consisting of one Type-A and one Type-C connection. The front panel also houses an SD card reader that supports SD 4.0 and UHS-II speeds, with a theoretical maximum throughput of 312 megabytes per second.

CalDigit Thunderbolt Station 3 Plus
CalDigit Thunderbolt Station 3 Plus


To the rear alongside the aforementioned Thunderbolt 3 ports are four more USB 3.1 Gen.1 Type-A ports, a USB 3.1 Gen.2 Type-C port capable of 10 gigabit per second speeds, a digital optical audio connection, gigabit ethernet, DisplayPort, and a power connection. The dock is capable of powering dual 4K monitors at 60Hz or a single 5K-resolution screen at 60Hz, using a combination of the DisplayPort and Thunderbolt 3 connections.

The TS3 Plus is expected to ship on February 20, and is currently available to pre-order ahead of release through CalDigit's online store at introductory prices of $249.99, $269.99, and $279.99 with 0.5, 1, and 2 meter Thunderbolt 3 cables respectively. It is also available to purchase through B&H Photo.

CalDigit Thunderbolt Station 3
CalDigit Thunderbolt Station 3


The Thunderbolt Station 3 is identical to the original version released last June, offering the same features and physical design as before. Again, a pair of Thunderbolt 3 connections offering transfer speeds of up to 40 gigabits per second are included, as well as 85 Watts of power delivery, and the ability to daisy-chain up to six devices through a single ThunderBolt 3 port.

Audio connections and a single USB 3.1 Gen.1 Type-A port reside on the front, with another two of the USB ports residing on the rear, bringing the total up to three. Also on the back are the Thunderbolt 3 ports, DisplayPort, two eSATA connections, and a Gigabit Ethernet port.

The main change for this revision is the price, dropping from the previous $299.99 down to $199.99. CalDigit claims this now makes the dock comparable in price to non-charging Thunderbolt 3 docks, making this a more attractive proposition for customers looking for a dock with sufficient power delivery to charge a MacBook Pro.

The reduced-cost Thunderbolt Station 3 is currently available to buy directly from CalDigit under the new pricing. They can also be purchased from AppleInsider partners B&H and Amazon, though as of Tuesday morning, listings at such resellers were not yet reflecting the new price.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 5
    rezwitsrezwits Posts: 878member
    No eSata, but eh... that's the DOCK TO GET!
    cmka~+
  • Reply 2 of 5
    It looks like a decent TB3 dock has finally arrived! Anyone know if all the USB 5Gbps ports share a single bus? I'm wondering about total throughput when multiple HDDs are connected.
  • Reply 3 of 5
    Mike WuertheleMike Wuerthele Posts: 6,858administrator
    cmka~+ said:
    It looks like a decent TB3 dock has finally arrived! Anyone know if all the USB 5Gbps ports share a single bus? I'm wondering about total throughput when multiple HDDs are connected.
    Don't know yet. We'll find out, though.

    As far as throughput goes, total bandwidth is obviously limited by the 40Gbit/sec in the TB3 protocol. There are other overheads, such as if all the USB ports share a single controller (they probably do), and other factors. We'll see how it goes.
  • Reply 4 of 5
    barthrhbarthrh Posts: 137member
    Arguably this is a better combo than the OWC dock (which I own). It does not have FW800 (who cares) and instead adds in useful USB-C ports. Still, it would be nice to have a native TB2 port rather than have to waste a TB3 or USB-C port on a dongle.
  • Reply 5 of 5
    Mike WuertheleMike Wuerthele Posts: 6,858administrator
    barthrh said:
    Arguably this is a better combo than the OWC dock (which I own). It does not have FW800 (who cares) and instead adds in useful USB-C ports. Still, it would be nice to have a native TB2 port rather than have to waste a TB3 or USB-C port on a dongle.
    If anybody did a TB2 port on a dock, it would replace the down-stream TB3 port. Thunderbolt isn't a hub/spoke protocol like USB.

    For that reason by itself, I don't think we'll see it.
    edited January 2018 fastasleepcaladanian
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