Anker debuts pair of PowerExpand Thunderbolt 3 docks

Comments

• Reply 1 of 7

  dysamoria Posts: 3,430member

  June 17, 2020 10:01PM

  These things are still ludicrously expensive, over the top for some uses, and insufficient for others. It’s like this category of product is impossible to get right and no one cares to make it affordable. Yet, Apple has created this market by dropping all the ports on MacBooks and not saving us any expense while doing so.

  
• Reply 2 of 7

  anome Posts: 1,533member

  June 17, 2020 10:43PM

  The Elite is listed on Amazon.com.au for A$645, which is expensive even for a Thunderbolt 3 dock, they're normally at least A$100 cheaper. And with the mid-year deals on a lot of the bigger names, like the Calidigit, Belkin, Kensington and Plugable docks are currently over A$300 cheaper (~A$300-350).
  
  Still waiting to see what happens with USB4 and the changes in Intel's licensing for TB. In the meantime, I'm using my Hyperdrive dock I got from a Kickstarter shortly after I got my MBP in 2016, and it cost a lot less and works fine.
  

  
• Reply 3 of 7

  chasm Posts: 3,291member

  June 18, 2020 2:14AM

  I can't recommend the Mini Dock, even though I am normally a fan of Anker products. Amazon sells a few no-name and HyperDrive docks that offer exactly the same features (except for 100W rather than 45W on the TB3 port in some cases) for anywhere from half to a quarter the price. Possibly you won't get as many years out of it as you would with an Anker model, the IMO the Anker Mini is too little too late.

  
  

  The Elite is a different story, but again it's around the same price as most TB3 docks, so build quality and the ports you're looking for are the main distinguishing features. 
• Reply 4 of 7

  Pylons Posts: 32member

  June 18, 2020 4:31AM

  I agree with Dysamoria and Anime. This one is too expensive for the ports it offers, probably mostly due to the cost of the TB chipset. The only things in this dock that push the aggregated bandwidth towards needing Thunderbolt are the 10 Gbps USB ports. Other than those, you can get everything this dock offers in the various $50-$80 USB-C-based docks already available. If you need 10 Gbps USB then there are cheaper options as well.
  I love Anker's battery products but this one doesn't seem to have much of a place in the market.
  
  Also I wish someone would put faster than 1 GbE in these. 2.5 GbE chipsets are below $5. With the recent launch of AMD B550 and Intel Z490 motherboards 2.5 GbE is becoming standard so we can expect cheaper switches soon as well.
  

  
• Reply 5 of 7

  mattinoz Posts: 2,316member

  June 18, 2020 4:46AM

  After co-working at home I'm convinced what a want is the dock that pairs with a monitor. Highjacks the power cable for the monitor, provides a display connection to the monitor, adds maybe ethernet and a few USB ports. Better still if it double sided tapes or fixes to the monitor so they can be moved one piece.
  

  
  

  That would seems to be a winner for lots of offices home and non-home that have good displays that aren't USBc
  

  
• Reply 6 of 7

  Clarus Posts: 48member

  June 18, 2020 5:49AM

  dysamoria said:

  These things are still ludicrously expensive, over the top for some uses, and insufficient for others. It’s like this category of product is impossible to get right and no one cares to make it affordable. Yet, Apple has created this market by dropping all the ports on MacBooks and not saving us any expense while doing so.

  Dropping ports did not create these docks, because they were not technically practical with the limited ports (yes I said that) available on old Macs. What created the market for these docks was the alternate mode capability of USB-C and Thunderbolt 3 ports. That capability, and support for higher bandwidth and power levels made possible the single cable from laptop to everything (power, wired network, displays, etc.) solution that I currently enjoy every single day with my OWC TB3 dock. Only one cable to plug or unplug when I need to run. And since the dock supplies power, my Apple adapter was freed up to stay in my laptop bag.
  
  If Apple equipped Mac laptops with the typical number of ports they used to, or still found on PC laptops, it would not have been enough. The 13 ports on my hub - most of which are in use - will not all fit on a laptop. I probably would have bought one anyway.
  
  I cannot dispute that they are very expensive, which definitely hurts when you're already paying over $2000 for a laptop. But my hub handles so many peripherals for me rock solid all day long, and the convenience of one-cable connect/disconnect is so valuable, that after a year of use I think it's proven its worth. Especially if it works for another 2-4 years. Offloading all those ports helped me downsize to the 13" for better portability when mobile. I do have a small USB-C hub in my laptop bag too, of course, for times when I need it.
  
  

  Pylons said:

  Also I wish someone would put faster than 1 GbE in these.
  

  Someone does. You will find 10GbE in the OWC (Macsales) Thunderbolt 3 Pro dock. If you look up the specs, you have to be looking at the Pro dock, the non-Pro is regular old 1GigE. Of course, it's even more ridiculously priced...

  edited June 2020
• Reply 7 of 7

  jrc Posts: 817member

  June 18, 2020 10:43AM

  I'm surprised none of these have super-expensive WHEELS as options.