CalDigit's New Thunderbolt 4 Dock for MacBook Pro Features 18 Ports

[Zdigital2015]

No VGA, no purchase.

1995 called and wants you to time warp back to state of the art for the time.

 

[Zdigital2015]

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 requires an LSPCON that not everyone wants to spend time engineering into their solution. Also, DisplayPort can be adapted to HDMI, not the other way around.

 

[Zdigital2015]

I guess I'll have to retire my dot matrix printer. ??‍♂️

USB to parallel port cable and Bob’s Your Uncle.???

 

[Zdigital2015]

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.

Simply get the 10GbE as a separate dongle. I know of only one TB3 dock that currently includes 10GbE out of the box and that’s the OWC Thunderbolt Pro Dock.

 

[theluggage]

A USB type-C doesn't have to be USB 4/Thunderbolt, it could also just do USB 2 or 3. What I'm talking about is the connector type, not the transfer protocol.

I completely understand the difference between connectors and transfer protocols. My point is that the majority of "USB-C" peripherals still only use USB 2 or 3 protocols so there's no performance advantage whatsoever in changing the connector. Moreover there's a key bit of USB 2/3 functionality that simply doesn't seem to be available from USB-C: namely the affordable, multi-port USB 2/3 hub.

 

[MartyF81]

Been waiting for this exact dock forever (want the computer input in back with the various inputs on the front)... saw the post... by the time I got back to my house from the store... it was sold out for "Batch 1". The crazy world of supply chain continues...

 

[Zdigital2015]

Find me a type-C equivalent to my $30 7 port (+3 power) USB 3 A hub that doesn't entail paying 10x as much for something that will provide no performance improvement whatsoever when used with the collection of USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 devices that I still need to connect (some bought in the last year). Then I'll think about getting USB-C cables for all my USB A devices.

USB 4/Thunderbolt is great for high end devices, but for a vast swathe of current peripherals (like any mechanical hard drive, and most affordable SSDs - we're still a long way away from the day when even basic SSD is cheap enough for backups and archiving, let alone the sort of high-end NVME that can actually exceed USB 3.0 speeds) the only "benefit" of USB-C over A is the exciting opportunity to buy new cables or adapters for all your perfectly good USB-A devices.

Work on condensing that for your tombstone. I’ll wait.

 

[Zdigital2015]

Would this be compatible with my MBP 2015?

No, while Thunderbolt 1/2 docks can be adapted to work with Thunderbolt 3, a Thunderbolt 3 dock is not going to work with Thunderbolt 1/2 hosts.

 

[Spock]

Sarcasm, parody or the sad truth?

If you have to ask, you'll never know..

 

[Zdigital2015]

I wish for these premiumly priced products they improved the design. Not sure if just me but most thunderbolt socks are gastly looking things.

Sure on the cheaper ones I get crap design for something cheaper to make and functional.

It’s a functional box with a bunch of ports on it, it’s never going to be elegant looking. 99% here only care if it’s reliable, does the job and stays cool with properly cooled insides.

 

[kingtj1971]

By the way you describe it it appears that the CalDigit dock is incompatible with the

• Mac
• macOS
• Mac app
• I/O

So why bring it up? Its sorta off topic...

Only mentioned it since someone joked about it lacking a Firewire and Mini-DP port and how those are surely of no use anymore ....

I'd really like a dock like this new Caldigit for my new Macbook Pro 16 M1 Max notebook. (I bought it mainly for things like FCP X video editing work and to just have an all-around great performing laptop with lots of battery life.)

But for now, hanging onto my first-edition iMac Pro running OS X Mojave and a Win 7 VM under VirtualBox..... Music gear has a longer useful "shelf life" than computer makers seem to believe it does or should.

 

[Big Jobs]

I much prefer my OWC thunderbolt 4 dock for ergonomics and the light on the top [which changes colour depending on connection status] its cheaper 2

 

[ibran]

Not sure why some folks are dropping links to USB-C hubs in here. This is a Thunderbolt dock with a 40Gb/s connection for high-res/refresh rate monitors, external RAID, eGPUs and the like — not some dinky 10Gb/s thing for plugging a hard drive and a 1080p monitor in to. That's cool if that's all you need, but this is in a different league.

 

[kingtj1971]

...but the reality is that even most new midrange audio interfaces that advertise USB-C are just using the same USB 3.1g1 protocol - if not plain old USB 2 - as you got with plain old USB 3 (3.1g1 is, for most purposes, the same as 3.0 and even the 10Gbps USB 3.1g2 version doesn't need USB-C - plenty of PCs support it over type A). Even with "Thunderbolt 3 compatible" devices you need to read the small print because sometimes it just means "works with USB 3 via a Thunderbolt port". Yes, there are some high-end devices that actually use Thunderbolt (to support lots of channels or maybe better latency) but those go for 'serious callers only' prices.

Plenty of brand new audio equipment, synths etc. still uses USB 2 or 3 - because it is good enough whereas Thunderbolt/USB 4 is more expensive to implement.

Bottom line: 96000k (samples/sec) mono audio at 24 bits = 2.304 Mbps, USB 2 speed = 480Mbps - so even USB 2 has more than enough bandwidth for a multi-channel audio interface, you're not even remotely close to 'maxxing it out' with audio interface (I'm happily running an 8-out, 4-in interface over USB 2). Firewire was a huge step forward when it was Firewire 400 up against 4.8 Mbps USB 1.0 but was already into diminishing returns when it was FW800 vs USB 2, and the CPU overhead may have been an issue when CPUs were a fraction of the power of modern ones...

Thing is, technology may have gotten better, but human hearing still tops out at about 20 kHz (= 40k sample rate).

Good points, but I was really more worried about the way USB devices tend to be connected in a series, so that 480Mbps speed gets divvied up among all the things plugged in. I've seen recording rigs on Windows where rolling the mouse around a lot while it was working with multiple audio tracks could create little pops or blips in the sound (USB wired or wireless mouse with USB transmitter dongle). Can't say I experienced it personally on a Mac recording setup but that doesn't mean the potential isn't there. I figured Firewire was on its own driver and chipset and is typically not going to do anything but handle the recording gear plugged into it.....

I'm not really advocating for an FW800 port on something like this CalDigit dock though... I'm just pointing out (in response to a couple of comments here) that these "legacy" standards are still useful to some of us. And it helps keep older machines and peripherals out of the dump, so I guess that's a good thing too.

 

[SFjohn]

Anyone make a 4 port USB C w/thunderbolt & similar power? That’s something I could use.

 

[joevt]

No, while Thunderbolt 1/2 docks can be adapted to work with Thunderbolt 3, a Thunderbolt 3 dock is not going to work with Thunderbolt 1/2 hosts.

The Apple Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt 2 Adapter can be used to connect Thunderbolt 1/2 devices to Thunderbolt 3 hosts and it also works in the reverse direction to allow connecting Thunderbolt 3 devices to Thunderbolt 1/2 hosts.

Thunderbolt 3 docks work with Thunderbolt 1/2 hosts.
Thunderbolt 4 docks don't work with Thunderbolt 1 hosts but I think someone said they got it to work with a Thunderbolt 2 host.

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

Reply at https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/caldigit-ts4-dock.2333931/post-30842234
Do we need two threads discussing the same product?

 

[SIRKGM14vg]

CalDigit today introduced its new Thunderbolt Station 4 dock with 18 ports, which it claims is the most on any Thunderbolt dock ever.

The dock features three Thunderbolt 4 ports, with one of them providing up to 98W of pass-through charging to compatible Macs, including the latest 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro. The dock is also equipped with three USB-C ports (3.2 Gen 2), five USB-A ports (3.2 Gen 2), SD and microSD card slots (UHS-II), one DisplayPort 1.4 port, one 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet port, an audio in jack, an audio out jack, and a combo audio in/out jack.

The dock is also compatible with Macs and iPads featuring Thunderbolt 3 or USB-C ports, with some functionality limited depending on the device.

While the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro brought back many ports, the dock can expand connectivity even further and serve as a hub for connecting external displays, microphones, headphones, speakers, and other equipment.

Priced at $359.95 in the United States, £324.99 in the United Kingdom, and €324.99 in the EU, the dock can be ordered through CalDigit's online store in those regions starting today. CalDigit said the dock will launch in other regions in mid-March.

Article Link: CalDigit's New Thunderbolt 4 Dock for MacBook Pro Features 18 Ports

The most interesting thing I’m finding in the comments is the, “Where are all the ports?” and for me, someone who is running an M1 Pro, using USB-C for pretty much, everything is saying, “What year is all your gear from?” And that’s the crux of technology and why I like Caldigit. Rather than build for today, they build for tomorrow. I don’t need another dock to support yesterday, because that isn’t the point. I’d like to be sure I’m buy a single type of cable and ensuring all my devices get the best performance. The ONLY devices using USB-A is my keyboard and my cable for my PS4; and even that I could just use Bluetooth for or just switch to my PS5 controller for USB-C.

 

[chaloum]

This product is playing catch-up. It needs 2 Display ports, at least 140watt power supply and while 2.5G ethernet is marginally better than 1G it really should be 10G

 

[CarlJ]

No SCSI ports? Forget it.

No Centronics Parallel, or RS-232 Serial, either.

 

[CarlJ]

I have no experience with this brand. That said, we have tested quite a few at work with our new 14 and 16inch Macbooks and the results are less than good.

To be clear, you're saying you have problems with other brands of docks, and no experience with CalDigit, yes? My impression is that CalDigit has a good reputation for actually making them work right.

 

[fearless22]

The world seriously needs to start getting over USB type-A connectors.

It's been like 30 years. USB type-C is better in every way and not exactly brand new.

Hope they do so!

 

[CarlJ]

USB to parallel port cable and Bob’s Your Uncle.👍🏻🤣

But will that adaptor work with my LapLink cables? I want to be able to use it to transfer files between computers.

 

[priamXus]

That thing doesn’t even have DB-9. A must have in 2022. Hard pass.

 

[cohen777]

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?

Because Displayport is better and you can easily go from displayport to hdmi

 

[cohen777]

Caldigit has hit a home run!