Best Thunderbolt docks 2023: Extend your laptop’s capabilities

We originally thought our best pick would be the Kensington SD5760T, a dock that featured an ideal mix of ports on paper but also some performance issues. We then thought that the Plugable UD-4VPD would fit the bill, but an intensive gaming session caused the dock to overheat and shut down. So we reconsidered.

Kensington Thunderbolt 4 Dual 4K Dock (SD5780T) is the winner. It’s not perfect; this dock only includes support for one display port, requiring you to buy a converter cable or dongle. If flexibility is what you want, we’d recommend our runner-up pick, the Plugable TBT3-UDZ, instead. Kensington’s dock was also worryingly expensive when we first reviewed it, but price cuts have brought the price way down from $399 to about $260 or so.

However, this dock didn’t present any performance or thermal issues, and if you understand that one of the Thunderbolt ports can be used for charging your smartphone, you’ll find this dock delivers virtually everything you’ll need.

Plugable’s TBT3-UDZ used to be our pick for the best overall Thunderbolt dock, and we’ve only bumped it down a notch because newer, less expensive versions are available. But it’s a credit to Plugable that we simply can’t bump this dock off our list. In part, that’s because Plugable has reduced its prices, so that a dock that was once priced about $300 is now $230 or so.

While Thunderbolt 4 docks theoretically offer more stability, we’ve never had any problems with this dock. Why buy it? Because it offers virtually every port available: two DisplayPort and two HDMI ports, plus a boatload of other options. It’s also one of the few docks that can be mounted vertically perched on a stand to clear up desk space.

Belkin’s Thunderbolt 3 Dock Core is a smartly designed “powered” Thunderbolt 3 travel dock, and an inexpensive one as well. We’ve upgraded it to our best budget pick because of Belkin’s recent price cuts.

At a nearly square 5.2 x 6.5 x 1.5 inches, the Thunderbolt Dock Core black doesn’t take up much room, and the included 8-inch Thunderbolt 3 cord provides ample length for flexibility. Ports are adequately spaced around the flat, black plastic cube, with HDMI 2.0 and DisplayPort 1.4 ports providing a stable 4K/60Hz experience to both of my 4K displays. There’s gigabit Ethernet and a 3.5mm audio jack, but good luck telling the USB 3.1 and USB 2.0 Type A ports apart—they’re not labeled.

About the only knock against IOgear’s GTD737 is its use of two DisplayPort 1.2 ports on the rear of the dock, which serve as the only dedicated display outputs. (We suspect HDMI is more popular.)

Otherwise, this dock is excellent, providing almost all the features you’ll want at an affordable price: a 10Gbps USB-A port on the front for 7.5W smartphone charging; on the rear, two 5Gbps USB-A ports for legacy mice and keyboards and two 10Gbps USB-C ports for further expansion. There’s also a gigabit Ethernet port and a headphone jack. The 2.3-foot Thunderbolt 3 cable supplies 60W for your laptop via the associated 135W power brick. Performance details can be found in our review.

Note that this dock is essentially identical to the Kensington SD5500T, which at press time was priced slightly higher. Double-check our review to make sure.

This squat little Thunderbolt 4 dock feels a lot more solid than its rated 1.68 pounds would indicate, and sprouts ports to all sides: a 10Gbps USB-C port capable of 15W charging on the front, a 5Gbps USB-A port on either side, plus two more on the back, all capable of 7.5W out. The back also houses two DisplayPort 1.4 ports, an HDMI 2.0 port, Ethernet, and a USB-C 3.2 Gen 1 port designed for video. We only tested this dock with two 4K/60 external displays, but it’s capable of driving three 4K/60 displays provided you have a DisplayPort 1.4-capable laptop with Display Stream Compression, or DSC.

The 4J0A2AA supplies up to 100W to the host laptop via the Thunderbolt cable—still among the highest we’ve seen. Even then, there were no thermal issues at all.

The Kensington SD5780T replaces the Kensington SD5700T as our pick for the best premium Thunderbolt 4 docking station right now, but the price is also extravagantly high. (Amazon knocked 15 percent off the price at the time of our most recent revision, though, lowering the price considerably.)

The SD5780T improves on its predecessor by adding a dedicated HDMI 2.1 port and more laptop charging power. The dock performed excellently in our tests, though the external power was a bit lower in places than we’d hoped. (It counts where it matters, however, which includes charging a smartphone.)

A recent price cut caused us to reconsider naming the Anker Apex (777) the runner-up instead, but our review just reminded us of too many compatibility problems.

OWC’s Thunderbolt Go Dock has a unique selling point in its favor: the lack of an external power brick. This helps reduce cable clutter and, in theory, makes it easier to take this Thunderbolt 4 dock on the go. Unfortunately, it doesn’t quite achieve its promise.

Read our full OWC Thunderbolt Go Dock review

The Mac world tends to emphasize Thunderbolt-connected displays far more than the Windows world does, so this might be a niche product for most of you. But this thing is tiny (4.75 x 2.88 x 0.5 inches) even if, unfortunately, the associated power brick isn’t. It will send 15W of power via the Thunderbolt/USB-C connections to charge smartphones, and 60W to the host PC.

We lacked a Thunderbolt-connected display at the time of testing. (We have one now, and can confirm it works.) But the box does include a USB-C to HDMI adapter, so you can certainly connect one display natively out of the box, then attach a USB-C hub to connect another.

A USB4 docking station is very much like a Thunderbolt 4 docking station—you can see more explanation following our product recommendations. But if you’re specifically looking for a USB4 docking station, you should buy the Anker 568 USB-C Dock.

This 11-in-1 docking station favors DisplayPort, with two DisplayPort 1.4 ports, and a single HDMI 2.0 video port. The Anker 568’s distinguishing feature, however, is the pair of 10Gbps USB-C ports on the front, each supplying 30W of power as well as a separate 100W connection to the laptop. That’s quite unusual, and the two ports should fast-charge a smartphone and possibly even a tablet.

We noticed a small bit of instability on occasion, but in general the Anker 568 provided a solid connection to a pair of 4K displays and other peripherals.

Deciding between the best USB4 dock is a real dilemma. Plugable’s dock claims dual 4K120 capability, but Anker’s 568 dock edges it out in price and slightly in display flexibility. What sealed the deal for us were the Plugable UD-4VPD’s thermal issues. Plugable’s dock was absolutely fine for office work, only growing rather warm to the touch. But after a prolonged PC RPG gaming session, the dock heated up to the point where it shut down. That will be an issue for some users.

What we liked about this powered dock is its strong charging capabilities, but the thermal issues gave us pause. Our review goes into more detail.

This recommendation comes courtesy of our colleagues at Macworld, who have compiled their own list of best Thunderbolt docking stations for the Apple Mac market. “All the ports you could want coupled with high-wattage charging justify the price of this full-featured dock,” and who are we to argue? We can personally vouch for its progenitor, the TS3 Plus, which we ranked favorably among other Thunderbolt docks.

While we have yet to review the TS4 ourselves, a simple gander at the price re-affirms our certainty that this is a product for the Mac market.

If you’re the type of person who takes a maximalist approach to displays, then the Plugable USB-C Triple 4K HDMI and DisplayPort Display Docking Station (UD-6950PDZ) is for you. And yes, we connected three 4K displays using a USB-C cable. This is some black magic stuff.

Don’t expect to play multiple high-speed games on this dock. But for office work, this is a top-notch dock. There are some other drawbacks, including 60W (as opposed to the 90W or so other docks deliver) of charging power. But we’ve always found DisplayLink docks to be extremely stable, and this dock lives up to that promise.

Weirdly, what you’ll buy at Amazon (the Ugreen USB-C Triple Display Docking Station) doesn’t match the name on the box (the USB-C Multifunction Docking Station PRO). The other hitch? This is a powered dock…but you’ll need to supply the charger.

These are some odd quirks, set against what is quite a pricy product. Get past those, though, and this is really a solid device — it actually drives three displays! Just make sure to download the DisplayLink software as detailed in our review, below.