OWC's 14-Port Thunderbolt Dock for Mac Hits Record Low $99.99 Price ($180 Off)

[ImAlwaysRight]

OWC has again knocked the price of the popular 14-Port Thunderbolt 3 Dock down to $99.99, from its original price of $279.99.

LOL, popular items do not need to be marked down 70% just to try to sell them.

 

[lfaa]

I have a Thunderbolt Display (approx 10yr old) that it’s currently connected to a 2019 mbp with an adapter. Would that old display work connected on this owc device ? Also the S/PDIF output is interesting… if it works

 

[Spock]

https://www.anrdoezrs.net/click-462641-11911660?url=https://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/TB4DKG11P/
External Drives and Enclosures

• 4TB Mercury Elite Pro External Storage - $99.99, down from $199.99
• 12TB Mercury Elite Pro External Storage - $199.99, down from $369.99
• 16TB Mercury Elite Pro External Storage - $249.99, down from $379.99
• 8TB Mercury Elite Pro RAID External Storage - $193.99, down from $394.99
• 24TB Mercury Elite Pro RAID External Storage - $399.99, down from $699.99

... It's a dock. There's no hard drive in it.

Read the entire post before making a comment.

 

[Allen_Wentz]

I've used this dock for a few years and can't comment on the audio issues or SD card as I don't use those ports. I run two external monitors through the back of the dock and my biggest complaint is when waking my macbook pro from sleep the 2nd monitor often doesn't turn on and I have to manually unplug it twice from the back of the dock before my computer recognizes it. OWC said this is an apple problem and not their problem. I will be looking at other brands when I go to upgrade my dock.

Like OWC said, what you describe is an Apple problem, not OWC. I bet your MBP is an Intel like my older MBP is that had similar issues. My M2 MBP now effortlessly drives the same 3 external displays that the Intel MBP had recurring hiccups with.

 

[Allen_Wentz]

LOL, popular items do not need to be marked down 70% just to try to sell them.

They do when the world has moved to USB-C (not to mention to TB4) and their pricey aging dock has just one USB-C port. I wager OWC has a newer model imminent, hence the markdown.

OWC is a great vendor that I have used for many years.

 

[Allen_Wentz]

I have a Thunderbolt Display (approx 10yr old) that it’s currently connected to a 2019 mbp with an adapter. Would that old display work connected on this owc device ? Also the S/PDIF output is interesting… if it works

Probably it would work (TB is usu. backwards compatible) but note that docks do not add bandwidth just because they have more ports.

 

[Uofmtiger]

Despite the reviews above I bought one. I was already considering their $200+, 11-1 dock. I wanted something to pair with the iPad on the road (SD card, SSD backups)and give me the ability to connect a couple drives and thunderbolt monitor at home. Looking forward to it. For $99 it was worth the risk.

 

[BeatCrazy]

Is it weird that none of the links in the OP actually go to the $99 dock? Possibly margin already too low to support affiliate payments?

 

[Sasha-1]

How does this one compare to Caldigit?

I have the OWC because CalDigit didn’t have them when I was looking to buy a dock. The CalDigit is better. More ports, and it can power a laptop with full power even while powering other devices. CalDigit has much better power distribution and more ports. There are head to head reviews on YouTube you can watch.

 

[phrehdd]

I never bought from OWC since the experience I had with their SSDs many many years ago. They might be much better now, but its just hard after certain experiences.

Interesting. I had a 2012 Mini that I put two of their SSDs in and a month later, 1 died. However, I have bought other items from them that worked out well - external enclosures for CD/DVD player and for various drives. A couple of friends have other products of theirs and they don't have anything good or bad to say about OWC.

 

[Darren.h]

Who needs 5 USB 3.0 Type A ports??? old tech.

And why is there only 1 USB C Port?

Outdated. $100 is still too much.

 

[svish]

Good discount on multiple products from OWC especially on the external storage.

 

[Hopefully Smarter]

Our studio has two of these. Save your money and buy something else. They are underpowered, lack HDMI output, have too many legacy ports, and constantly drop off the bus causing data corruption issues.

Their tech support is next to useless.

buy a Caldigit instead. Or, flush your $99 down the toilet. Same effect.

 

[Hopefully Smarter]

I've used this dock for a few years and can't comment on the audio issues or SD card as I don't use those ports. I run two external monitors through the back of the dock and my biggest complaint is when waking my macbook pro from sleep the 2nd monitor often doesn't turn on and I have to manually unplug it twice from the back of the dock before my computer recognizes it. OWC said this is an apple problem and not their problem. I will be looking at other brands when I go to upgrade my dock.

Same problem. Garbage unit.

 

[theluggage]

Who needs 5 USB 3.0 Type A ports??? old tech.

Just because you don't need something doesn't mean that nobody else does. There are plenty of perfectly good USB 2/3.0 peripherals out there which gain absolutely no advantage from using USB-C - including a lot of "USB-C" devices which only actually support the 5Gbps USB 3 protocol and work just as well with a USB A socket (...and if they're not sold by Apple often come with a USB-C to A cable anyway) - actually even 10Gbps USB 3.1g2 doesn't need a USB-C connector, and type A ports with 10Gbps exist elswhere, though not in this case. "Full featured" USB-C ports (with all the USB 3.2 modes, 15W power, let alone video support) are more complex and expensive to implement.

There's also a rather complex relationship between Thunderbolt 3 and 4 which means that TB4 isn't always a straight upgrade from TB3, especially if you need lots of USB 3.0 ports. Vaguely speaking, TB4 hubs tunnel USB from the controller on the host computer - and support multiple, downstream Thunderbolt ports - whereas TB3 docks have internal PCIe busses to which additional USB controllers are connected. (its all a bit of a dumpster fire - but TB1-3 were Intel's own thing, then they handed over the TB protocol to the USB-IF and now TB4-5 are more like Intel certification programs for USB4/USB5 with higher minimum specs).

We're getting to the point now where, yes, I'd look for USB-C for future proofing (although its a grotesquely over-complicated future c.f. dedicated ports that do one thing well and predictably) but the need for USB A isn't going away any time soon.

 

[DEMinSoCAL]

No you don’t. Can buy a usb c to hdmi CORD.

The USB-C to HDMI is most certainly an adapter. It adapts the USB-c port to an HDMI port via a circuit board in the connector. A "CORD" would just change the end connectors without doing anything to the signal travelling across it which is certainly not the case here.

 

[Rafterman]

They do when the world has moved to USB-C (not to mention to TB4) and their pricey aging dock has just one USB-C port. I wager OWC has a newer model imminent, hence the markdown.

OWC is a great vendor that I have used for many years.

They already have a newer TB4 dock, the 11-port, with 3 Thunderbolt 4 ports, 4 USB-A, ethernet, SD slot. The TB3 dock on sale is just a lowout to get rid of them. Their next dock will probably be a TB5 dock later this year.

OWC 11-Port Thunderbolt Dock

Add three Thunderbolt 4 ports, 4 USB ports, along with Ethernet, audio, and card reader functionality to your Thunderbolt 3 Mac or Thunderbolt 4 PC.

www.owc.com

 

[Scoob Redux]

In reviews of modern Macs, Macrumors frequently praises the "elegant" I/O design of Macs with ports removed. The iMac with only USB-C ports was hailed as the future. So why would we need to spend money to add ports that Apple removed? hmmm.

 

[DogGone]

I just bought my first USB-C display (Phillips). I use it primarily for WFH with a Lenovo PC (Boo). I bought a USB-C hub so I could hook up the power for the laptop and connect the monitor via just 1 cable but the video didn't work. Odd because I thought the hub would just pass through the video signal.
Luckily I found out that if you connect the monitor to the PC via the USB-C cable it not only connected the video but also is charging the laptop. So I have a one cable solution even if the power charging is at a lower level than Lenovo will say is needed.

The point of this comment is that it is quite difficult to find whether a hub will actually do what you want. I don't think I am there yet where I need to spend 99 bucks on a hub for minimal usage.

 

[CTYankee]

I've used this dock for a few years and can't comment on the audio issues or SD card as I don't use those ports. I run two external monitors through the back of the dock and my biggest complaint is when waking my macbook pro from sleep the 2nd monitor often doesn't turn on and I have to manually unplug it twice from the back of the dock before my computer recognizes it. OWC said this is an apple problem and not their problem. I will be looking at other brands when I go to upgrade my dock.

The issue is with TB3 docks and when a Mac wakes up the various "handshakes" happen in such an order that the external display often doesn't get detected soon enough and it doesn't show up. I have a Cal-Digit TB3+ dock and it does the same thing. This is a common problem with TB docks, maybe not TB4, I have not tried a TB4 dock yet. I supply the hardware for my company so I test a lot of docks and configurations.

 

[mecloud]

Years ago, I thought of OWC as a class act. A few experiences in recent years have changed that opinion. I’ll leave it at that.

 

[ZipZap]

I Have the previous version of the TB3 dock I bought second hand many years ago. See no reason to not get the updated version at this price.

 

[theluggage]

No you don’t. Can buy a usb c to hdmi CORD.

The USB-C to HDMI is most certainly an adapter. It adapts the USB-c port to an HDMI port via a circuit board in the connector. A "CORD" would just change the end connectors without doing anything to the signal travelling across it which is certainly not the case here.

Not sure there's any such definition of "cord" vs. "adapter" (plenty of adapters for things like USB-C to USB-A that don't change the signal) but you're basically right - any USB-C to HDMI "cords" you find are most likely active DisplayPort to HDMI converters with tiny circuit boards in the connectors. They use the USB-C port in "DisplayPort Alt Mode". There was a "HDMI Alt Mode" for USB-C announced years ago, in which the USB-C port would detect a HDMI cable and output HDMI directly, but it never took off and is officially dead (https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/202...-axed-as-displayport-alt-mode-reigns-supreme/).

NB - before Thunderbolt 3, when TB 1 & 2 used Mini DisplayPort connectors, Macs had what were called "DP++" ports which did support passive (i.e. just change the connectors) HDMI and DVI (same basic protocol, actually) cables/adapters - even then, though, you needed active DP-to-HDMI adapters to get anything above 1920x1200.

 

[FasterQuieter]

I bought this in the last sale like another commenter mentioned. I was surprised at the lack of an HDMI port, but I guess I should have checked for that. I bought a USB-C to HDMI adapter and that has been ok. The hub has worked mostly fine for the few weeks I've had it. The only issue i've had is with a USB port. I had a cable hanging out to charge my daughter's iPad via USB-A to lightning. It worked ok for 2 weeks, but now there is no power coming out of that port.

 

[Strebor]

I've used this dock for a few years and can't comment on the audio issues or SD card as I don't use those ports. I run two external monitors through the back of the dock and my biggest complaint is when waking my macbook pro from sleep the 2nd monitor often doesn't turn on and I have to manually unplug it twice from the back of the dock before my computer recognizes it. OWC said this is an apple problem and not their problem. I will be looking at other brands when I go to upgrade my dock.

I'm afraird OWC is correct. I've had this issue with multiple Macs and docs. Very hard to pin where the exact problem is. Sometimes I wondered if using HDMI 2.0 in stead of Displayport would fix the problem. Also, MacOS 14.4 seems to have added to this problem.