Razer Launches Thunderbolt 5 Dock Chroma With 10 Ports and Up to 8TB Internal SSD Expansion

[PaulD-UK]

10 Gigabit ethernet takes more than 1 channel of PCIe bandwidth.
Supporting more than Gigabit ethernet would come at the cost of removing a significant selection of other ports/display capabilities, or removing the M.2 slot.
They have chosen the best balance for the majority of users...

 

[axboi87]

Still waiting for a TB5 dock that has both an internal NVME slot AND 10gb/s ethernet. I imagine these manufacturers are worried about either price or size (for heat dissipation) but I wouldn't care *edit* ---> Just saw the above and this makes sense (channel bandwidth constrictions). Oh well

 

[Plutonius]

I wonder how hot it gets ?

 

[enricoclaudio]

The Anker Prime TB5 and OWC TB5 docks both have 2.5Gbps ethernet port.

 

[lairdo]

10 Gigabit ethernet takes more than 1 channel of PCIe bandwidth.
Supporting more than Gigabit ethernet would come at the cost of removing a significant selection of other ports/display capabilities, or removing the M.2 slot.
They have chosen the best balance for the majority of users...

That's a good point about channel budget. And you are probably right that this engineering trade off was the driver vs. price since 2.5Gb or higher ethernet controllers are not that much more expensive.

For me, the need of the higher port is not because of internet speed (although I have above 1 gig service). Rather, it's about connectivity to local servers for moving large files around. There really is a noticeable difference between the 1 and 2.5 (or higher) ports. It seems this dock is aimed at creatives in part and hence I would think server connectivity would be something they care about.

The solution would have been to require 2 cables to connect to the Mac but Razor probably felt people would balk at that. iVanky's Fusion One dock goes with that solution which is more expensive (although I see on sale for $299 at the moment) and only TB4. So, not really the same product, but it includes 2.5 Gb ethernet (and still supports 4 displays).

 

[PaulD-UK]

You have to prioritise your requirements, as there is only limited bandwidth compared to the internal connectivity available to the the Mac logic board:
If your primary need is to have a well engineered and certified NVMe SSD enclosure, with ports to use the rest of the bandwidth, get this Razer dock, or the Sonnettech equivalent, which manages 2.5 GigE:

Echo 13 Thunderbolt 5 SSD Dock - SONNETTECH

Thunderbolt 5 dock features built-in PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD storage, Thunderbolt 5, 10Gbps USB, 2.5GbE, SD and microSD, 140W power delivery, and up to 8K displays.

www.sonnettech.com

If you need a full speed 10 GigE port, with additional ports which don't compromise ethernet speed, get the CalDigit TS5+:

Thunderbolt 5 Dock | TS5 Plus | CalDigit – CalDigit

www.caldigit.com

If you are happy with 2.5 GigE speeds, then as mentioned above, Anker and OWC have this feature, but not an M.2 slot.
So does the CalDigit TS5:

Thunderbolt 5 Dock | TS5 | 15 Ports | 140W Charging – CalDigit

www.caldigit.com

All these are from well respected Mac focussed brands, As TB5 popularity increases, so will the budget product range.

 

[purplefox]

At least this one doesn't have an ugly usb-a port on the front that nobody uses.

 

[neuropsychguy]

As far as I know, at least from a few months ago, macOS does not yet support 3 displays via a Thunderbolt 5 dock. If it did, I would have been more enticed by the M4 MBP. Nothing on their website notes any lack of support via macOS though so.... maybe something has changed?

That’s why I said it’s unclear how compatible all features are with Macs. If you want 3+ screens, the iVANKY FusionDock Max 1 is great. It has dual TB4 chips so it can drive up to 4 monitors. It’s only Thunderbolt 4 but also happens to be on sale for $300.

 

[A-mac]

Why this is posted on a “mac” rumors website? Half of the features do not work well on mac, not only to control the colors. You need to rely on abandoned community 3rd-party software to try to run well. Running “plain”, the Gbe Network will stop working for no reason (sometimes come back after disconnect and restarting the macOS). Things connected to the usb will not be reliable. Never got problems with the thunderbolt for monitors, still powering ancient 5K LGs. The old generation managing the razer laptops team probably won the war and said that supporting mac is against the company objectives.

NOTE: I have the thunderbolt 4 chroma version and the silver mac edition.

 

[Dr McKay]

I wonder how hot it gets ?

Probably quite toasty on the outside, all metal devices like these tend to use the metal chassis as a heatsink

 

[jchurchill]

Unfortunately, these docks don't last long. You have a couple of years before the ethernet port malfunctions and causes problems on the network, earlier for the USB ports to die. That's on top of the HDMI not supporting native OSD. Too much integration, then it becomes a brick. I find it's better to buy the ones with just the ports you need for $20.

 

[Mac Fly (film)]

Feeling cute, might hold 20 TB later, I dunno.

I don’t speak this language.

 

[drrich2]

At least this one doesn't have an ugly usb-a port on the front that nobody uses.

It would be interesting to know just what research goes into deciding what ports to put in and which to leave out. The 2 USB-A devices that spring to mind that might see enough use to make a front port convenient are a thumb drive and a USB-B wireless keyboard/mouse receiver (especially if someone switches it around).

Why this is posted on a “mac” rumors website?

Thunderbolt 5 docks and hubs are of interest to the Mac community, and right now TB5 is almost a Mac exclusive from what I understand. Glad you shared your experience.

 

[leicaman]

Never mind. There are only three T5 ports. And one is upstream! It's not nearly as good as this article makes it sound. For the price it's not too bad, but far from the best.

 

[leicaman]

And all this time I was wondering if I was the only one who wanted 10Gbe or at least 2.5Gbe on a Thunderbolt 5 dock.

Cal-Digit's top one has 10 GbE for $500. It's not necessary to me, I got 10 GbE on my Mac Mini Pro.

 

[aperfectcircle]

The price is competitive for something that can drive three 4K displays. I agree with the other commenters about the lack of a higher speed Ethernet port. Not including at least 2.5 GbE makes this a no-go for many people. Yes, you could add one via a USB C dongle, but the cost difference for Razer would be trivial considering you can buy basic 2.5 GbE dongles for less than $20. Razer could increase the cost slightly to compensate.

It's also unclear how compatible this is with Macs. Historically, not all Thunderbolt docks have consistently worked with Macs.

I have the current model Razer TB4 Chroma dock and it has been flawless with my 14” MBP as well as with the M1 MBA I had prior. Drives an MSI 34” WUHD monitor and a bunch of peripherals whilst also delivering power to the MBP.

 

[PaulD-UK]

@leicaman ”There are only three T5 ports. And one is upstream!”

Actually there are 3 downstream and an additional upstream connection to the computer.

Which is the maximum available TB5 ports according to the Thunderbolt 5 specifications.

 

[theluggage]

The Anker Prime TB5 and OWC TB5 docks both have 2.5Gbps ethernet port.

...but no M.2 NVME slot. It's all down to available bandwidth and what PCIe lanes the particular TB controller provides.

These "kitchen sink" docks are always going to be best for concentrating your less-demanding peripherals & freeing up host TB ports to dedicate to your performance-critical ones. If you're forking out for 10Gb Ethernet or a super-fast NVMe drive, probably best to give it its own host port.

It would be interesting to know just what research goes into deciding what ports to put in and which to leave out. The 2 USB-A devices that spring to mind that might see enough use to make a front port convenient are a thumb drive and a USB-B wireless keyboard/mouse receiver (especially if someone switches it around).

You can please some of the people some of the time - some people want useful-but-ugly front ports, others want pointless-but-pretty rainbow-coloured LEDs. Some of us are still going to be using USB-A plugs for the foreseeable, others get triggered by the mere sight of a USB-A socket... Fortunately there's quite a wide choice of docks and hubs appearing now.

and right now TB5 is almost a Mac exclusive from what I understand

The new "Razer Blade 18" laptop has TB5, which removes any mystery as to why Razer are suddenly making a TB5 hub/dock. Also explains the gamer-friendly unicorn vomit multicoloured LEDs.

And, yeah, if you see a hub/dock from a PC manufacturer, you need to check the Mac compatibility specs very carefully - for one thing, some use DisplayPort MST daisychaining to provide additional displays, which MacOS doesn't support. Not sure if that's the case hear.

 

[jakey rolling]

Only having Gigabit Ethernet seems like a weird choice for a dock like this today targeting both those audiences. Would expect at least 2.5 GbE port on there.

That was the first thing that stuck out to me as well but I understand the trade-off with the NVMe speeds. I recently upgraded to 2.5Gbe on my workstation from 1Gbe and I rarely notice a difference (generally only if I'm downloading a large file). I think for most people, the trade-off for faster external storage makes sense.

One other alternative to these docks (at least for normies like me who <gasp> don't really see much benefit in so-called "retina" displays), there are a number of "thunderbolt dock" displays that can do a lot of the same thing without having to use an external dock at all. I've been running a Dell U2725QE as my main monitor for a few months now, and it is absolutely fantastic (4k, 120Hz, 27", built-in KVM, excellent colour, and has a whole array of downstream ports including 2.5Gbe ethernet). For the price of this dock and a relatively cheap monitor, you can get a really decent monitor with the expansion ports you need built-in.

 

[mrmod]

Gigabit Ethernet and only one 8K monitor? what a joke

 

[theluggage]

Gigabit Ethernet and only one 8K monitor? what a joke

Attaching a dock to a single TB5 port doesn't magically increase the bandwidth of that single port - nor is it as simple as having 80Gbps of bandwidth to dole out evenly between devices.

If you're wanting to run 10Gb Ethernet, an 8K monitor and a PCIe4x4 NVME stick off a single port then you're holding it wrong. That's why the higher-end Macs have anything up to 8 (on the Mac Pro) separate Thunderbolt ports.

 

[leicaman]

As far as I know, at least from a few months ago, macOS does not yet support 3 displays via a Thunderbolt 5 dock. If it did, I would have been more enticed by the M4 MBP. Nothing on their website notes any lack of support via macOS though so.... maybe something has changed?

I was under the impression that MacOS can support up to six displays. So isn't it up to the dock to make the lanes available? I'm sure that many would have to be 4K or less.

 

[hardwickj]

Only having Gigabit Ethernet seems like a weird choice for a dock like this today targeting both those audiences. Would expect at least 2.5 GbE port on there.

Was literally the very first thing I looked for. Immediate no-go. So disappointing.

 

[hardwickj]

I was under the impression that MacOS can support up to six displays. So isn't it up to the dock to make the lanes available? I'm sure that many would have to be 4K or less.

No, this is a well documented limitation at this point. It's not about MacOS's limitations, it's that Apple's implementation of their Thunderbolt 5 interfaces only supports 2 DisplayPort streams per interface. So even though the dock itself can support 3 monitors, that single TB5 cable connection back to the macOS host machine will limit it to 2.

Yes, an M4 Max MacBook Pro can support 6 displays...but that would require using all of its TB5 ports, each connected to a dock with 2 displays connected to it. Where as on a Windows machine you could achieve the same with only using 2 TB5 ports.

 

[drrich2]

Gigabit Ethernet and only one 8K monitor? what a joke

How many people have one 8K monitor, much less two? I'm a fan of future-proofing, and it is worth noting a product's limitations, but over the likely projected useful lifespan of this product, gotta wonder how many people will run into having more than one 8K display.

6K Displays are 'up and coming,' and while 5 and 6K displays seems to be sticking with 60Hz refresh rates IIRC, a lot of people are pushing (well, in posts on this forum) for 120-Hz 5K. How much it matters to run 2 off 1 TB5 port via a dock is another question.