Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
This thing is like the holy grail of TB4 docks. Audio and computer uplink on the rear of the device are a bit win. Hmm...not sure if I care enough to change out my OWC dock.
 
There are people claiming in another thread that this dock can connect (2) 6K displays to an M1 Pro.

There is no other Thunderbolt 4 dock in existence that can do this, and they all use the same tech. So I'm curious where this claim comes from.
 
There are people claiming in another thread that this dock can connect (2) 6K displays to an M1 Pro.

There is no other Thunderbolt 4 dock in existence that can do this, and they all use the same tech. So I'm curious where this claim comes from.
It's a claim that CalDigit themselves are making on the product page. Also very curious about that, because as I understand it, Thunderbolt 4 don't have the bandwidth to allow two 6K60 displays over a single Thunderbolt port
Capture d’écran, le 2022-02-08 à 11.56.47.png
 
Dollars to donuts the Power Brick is 60% of the size of the Dock. Love how Dock vendors try to hide the bulk in marketing shots and then when you purchase the "space saving" Dock you gotta figure out how to stow the giant wall wart.

Dodging the need for UL approval makes me just feel all warm and toasty inside.
 
  • Like
Reactions: amartinez1660
Is it just me, or does this dock seem a little overkill?
I have a CalDigit Element Hub which simply has: (4) Thunderbolt 4 ports, and (4) USB-A ports, and is quite a bit cheaper than this one...and it seems like mine is even more useful than this one because of the extra Thunderbolt port. The only other port on this hub that's interesting is the Ethernet port, and I'm already doing that with an adapter on my existing hub through the thunderbolt port. And if I wanted to, I'm sure I could just use a USB-A port for Ethernet too, and free up this Thunderbolt port for something else. Display port is useless, the extra audio ports too. All can be done some other way.
 
Would have been an instant buy if the ethernet was 10G but 2.5 just doesn’t cut it in our setup unfortunately. It’s a shame because everything else is great.
If you NEED that in your current setup, then you already have a (some port) to 10Gs ethernet port, and that will most likely be able to be plugged into this dock.
 
It's a claim that CalDigit themselves are making on the product page. Also very curious about that, because as I understand it, Thunderbolt 4 don't have the bandwidth to allow two 6K60 displays over a single Thunderbolt port
View attachment 1956087
I truly think people are just getting confused here, because this doesn't look like a chart of what the Dock can do. It looks like a chart of what the machines can do.

I see now that its not just the chart, the website text says dual 6K displays, but that makes absolutely no sense. There is no reason why this dock could do that while every other Thunderbolt 4 dock cannot. This is not made possible by the dock.
 
  • Like
Reactions: fwmireault
I have a CalDigit Element Hub which simply has: (4) Thunderbolt 4 ports, and (4) USB-A ports, and is quite a bit cheaper than this one...and it seems like mine is even more useful than this one because of the extra Thunderbolt port. The only other port on this hub that's interesting is the Ethernet port, and I'm already doing that with an adapter on my existing hub through the thunderbolt port. And if I wanted to, I'm sure I could just use a USB-A port for Ethernet too, and free up this Thunderbolt port for something else. Display port is useless, the extra audio ports too. All can be done some other way.
Hdmi is far more useful, I have never bought or even seen a display with DisplayPort.
 
I have a CalDigit Element Hub which simply has: (4) Thunderbolt 4 ports, and (4) USB-A ports, and is quite a bit cheaper than this one...and it seems like mine is even more useful than this one because of the extra Thunderbolt port. The only other port on this hub that's interesting is the Ethernet port, and I'm already doing that with an adapter on my existing hub through the thunderbolt port. And if I wanted to, I'm sure I could just use a USB-A port for Ethernet too, and free up this Thunderbolt port for something else. Display port is useless, the extra audio ports too. All can be done some other way.
I also have the CalDigit Element. Which Ethernet adapter are you using? I've been holding out for a reasonably-priced 2.5Gb/10Gb Thunderbolt adapter.
 
$20 per port is marginally cheaper than individual adapters, or more depending on brand
 
Hdmi is far more useful, I have never bought or even seen a display with DisplayPort.
The HDMI port on my MacBook Pro is useful, because I might bring this somewhere one day that I need to hook up to HDMI for some unknown reason.

The HDMI port on the dock I use in my office is of no use to me because there is predictable equipment there, and none of it is going to use HDMI. It's going to use Thunderbolt, because that's what modern high quality displays for Mac use.
 
The most ports on any Thunderbolt dock ever, maybe… but still no HDMI. Can someone explain to me why the makers of these things seem to have such an aversion to it? It seems silly that I can pay so much money for one of these things but still have to use a dongle to connect any monitor I own to it. Is it a licensing issue?

HDMI licensing is a thing, yes.

  • High-volume (more than 10,000 units) HDMI Adopter Agreement – US$10k/year
  • Low-volume (10,000 units or fewer) HDMI Adopter Agreement – US$5k/year + flat US$1/unit administration fee

On top of that there's a per unit charge.

  • US$0.15 – for each end-user licensed product
  • US$0.05 – if the HDMI logo is used on the product and promotional material, the per-unit fee drops from US$0.15 to US$0.05.
  • US$0.04 – if HDCP is implemented and HDMI logo is used, the per-unit fee drops from US$0.05 to US$0.04

HDCP has its own licensing fees.

DisplayPort has no per-device fee, VESA just asks that you join the consortium to have access to the standards - it's a $5k fee.
 
$20 per port is marginally cheaper than individual adapters, or more depending on brand
In what way is that even remotely relevant?

The entire reason these docks exist is so that people with office setups can connect all of the desk peripherals to the dock, and when they bring their MBP to the desk, they plug in 1 Thunderbolt cable. That experience is worth every penny.
 
Looks like a solid dock. Too late for me. I bought the OWC TB4 11 port dock and am pretty happy.
Hopefully, the TS4 is better quality than the Element Hub that I had for a couple of weeks and the USB-A ports died.
The 2.5 Ethernet is a big win.
Might consider it down the road. Still a bit expensive, maybe wait for a Black Friday deal or something.
 
There are people claiming in another thread that this dock can connect (2) 6K displays to an M1 Pro.

There is no other Thunderbolt 4 dock in existence that can do this, and they all use the same tech. So I'm curious where this claim comes from.
There's a picture of it on their site with two Pro Display XDR connected.
 
I also have the CalDigit Element. Which Ethernet adapter are you using? I've been holding out for a reasonably-priced 2.5Gb/10Gb Thunderbolt adapter.
Mine is actually just a USB-C adapter, I only care about gigabit ethernet. Not worried about anything more. Maybe one day when I care to spend tons of time and money updating my entire house LAN equipment...
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.