Hey everyone welcome to Thunderbolt Tech Tips, your source for all things Thunderbolt.
I'm your host Lyle Warnke and today's topic is going to be Thunderbolt 4 docks
and specifically researching dock solutions are going to fit your needs
I've gathered up a small lineup of Thunderbolt 4 docks and we're going to check them out side
by side what do they all have in common as well as what makes each one of them unique
in addition we're going to go behind the scenes with a Thunderbolt 4 dock and set up a clean
workspace ideal for work working from home as well as schoolwork from home so you're not going to
want to miss that especially if you've never set up a dock before and lastly you're not going to
want to miss our Thunderbolt Tech Tip contest at the end of this video before we dive into
the Thunderbolt 4 dock lineup let's do a quick thunderbolt for a refresher for example how do you
get Thunderbolt 4 well Intel launched Thunderbolt 4 starting with Intel's 11th gen core base laptops
and desktops a little over a year ago so you can get Thunderbolt 4 on a variety of PC's whether
they're gamer creator 2-in-1's thin and lites even business-oriented PCs and from all your
favorite pc brands Dell, HP, Lenovo, Microsoft, Acer, Asus, MSI, and the list goes on and on
and the best way to check for Thunderbolt 4 on your pc is to check out the connection specs for
the particular model that you're looking at just be sure it says Thunderbolt 4. and here's a tip
on any 11th gen Evo or 11th gen VPro branded laptops they'll have Thunderbolt 4 since
It's a requirement on both those platforms okay back to our Thunderbolt 4 dock lineup
by the way there's so many more Thunderbolt 4 docks in the market today so the ones I've
selected is simply to give you a flavor for the different dock solutions that are out there
so let's get started with each one of these Thunderbolt 4 docks and what they have in common
they all have a fast 40 gigabit second connection to the pc so lots of bandwidth they all support
laptop charging so I don't have to break out my laptop charger while I'm connected to the dock
they all support pc wake from sleep via usb keyboard and mouse sorry who doesn't want
to wake up their pc really quick and they all support adding at least two 4k displays so every
single one of these and you also get Thunderbolt 3 backwards compatibility so you can connect the
Thunderbolt 3 storage Thunderbolt 3 monitor or whatever else Thunderbolt 3 device you may have
and you get full usb compatibility so usb 2 usb 3.2 gen 1 gen 2 and full usb 4 compliance in each
is Thunderbolt certified so that means they go through extra rigorous testing more so than
what other standards require let's now look at what makes each one of these docks unique
first let's start with the Caldigit element hub it's about the same size as a deck of cards and
perfect for that minimalistic look it has three Thunderbolt 4 downstream ports for video or data
all offering up to 15 watts per port since it doesn't have a traditional HDMI port you can use
a USB-C to HDMI or USB-C to DisplayPort adapter or you can directly plug in a thunderbolt 3 or
USB-C style monitor remember you can also drive up to two 4k displays with this small dock it's
also perfect for plugging in other Thunderbolt data devices such as external Thunderbolt storage and
it has four USB-A ports these are USB 3.2 gen2 at 7.5 watts so great for adding those other devices
as well as charging different devices as well overall this is a powerful dock in a small package
next is the Anker 12-in-1 Thunderbolt 4 dock it is more of the traditional standard ports
that you might expect a Thunderbolt 4 downstream port for video data
dual HDMI ports ethernet and 4 USB-A ports and on the front side an SD card reader an auxiliary
audio port and a USB-C 3.2 gen 2 port and what makes this dock unique is that it supports
not two but three 4k displays made possible with a 40 gigabit second bandwidth of Thunderbolt 4.
so a good example of a full-size dock with traditional ports and here we have the Kensington
SD5700T Tthunderbolt 4 dock a combination of full-sized dock with that modern hub design it
has three Thunderbolt 4 downstream ports for data or video so full support for dual 4k monitors from
any two of these ports gigabit ethernet four USB a ports three on the back and one on the front
an SD card reader and one auxiliary audio port it also has the Kensington lock port on
the side so it doesn't walk away so a nice full size dock with that modern hub design
next is the Lenovo Thinkpad Thunderbolt 4 dock a little bit more business oriented for the
workplace or home office this gives you all the typical ports you would want as a corporate user
so two Thunderbolt 4 ports one input and one downstream for video or data
two display ports and one HDMI port for video four USB-A ports three on the back and one on the front
and one USB 3.2 gen2 USB-C port and what makes this stock unique is that it's an AMT capable
dock which is perfect for corporate use with VPro pcs for enhanced it manageability options
so a really good lineup representing different styles of Thunderbolt 4 docks out in the market
today and the great news is there are a lot of Thunderbolt 4 docks to choose from you just need
to see which docks fits your needs as you're doing your research next up let's go behind the scenes
with a Thunderbolt 4 dock and see how easy it is to set it up at home here behind this seems like
Thunderbolt I want to show just how easy it is to turn any computer desk into a more ergonomic
and productive workspace using the Thunderbolt 4 dock so let's add some devices to my 11th gen core
laptop such as keyboard mouse and 4k display and by the way this is perfect for anyone who wants a
little bit more comfort for everyday computer use more productivity maybe from working from home and
also great for remote learning and schoolwork so I'll start by adding this OWC Thunderbolt 4
dock because I really like its size it has plenty of ports for what I'm looking to do
so my power's already plugged into the wall so I'm going to add power to the dock
next I'm going to take the included Thunderbolt 4 cables plug it in the input of my Thunderbolt
4 dock plug it into my Thunderbolt 4 port on my laptop and the first thing you'll notice
is my laptop is charging so I don't have to break out the charger that came with a laptop
next let's go ahead and add keyboard mouse and this one now uses the wireless bluetooth
dongle so I'm going to plug it into my usb a port and I should immediately get my mouse got that
and my keyboard and I'm going to add this 4k monitor and you'll notice that this dock
doesn't have an hdmi port but it does have three Thunderbolt 4 downstream ports that I can use for
data or video so I'm simply going to use an HDMI to USB-C adapter and plug into one of my ports
and there you have it in under a minute we created a more comfortable productive workspace with my
keyboard mouse and my 4k display but we can add even more devices to our workspace due to the
40 gigabit a second bandwidth of Thunderbolt 4 offers for example I'm going to add an external
webcam that I've mounted on top of my monitor and it uses USB-C cable so I can simply plug this
in to the next Thunderbolt 4 downstream port and I'm ready for video conferencing and what
is great about this workspace is I'm using a single Thunderbolt for connection to create this
workstation-like environment so when I unplug and go I know that my laptop was charging so I'm ready
and when I come back and plug in, I know I'm going to have all the same devices
so that's it a very simple yet powerful way to expand my 11th gen core laptop with a Thunderbolt
4 dock. Hey I hope you've enjoyed today's Thunderbolt topic and if so we always appreciate a thumbs up
and be sure to subscribe to our channel for more Thunderbolt Tech Tip videos
Hey we didn't forget and I hope you didn't forget about the Thunderbolt Tech Tip contest so check
out the link below in the video description to enter to win a full-size Thunderbolt 4 modern dock
compliments of Thunderbolt Tech Tips and one more thing if you have a Thunderbolt Tech Tip you want
to share or a Thunderbolt related topic you want to request then #ThunderboltTechTips in
the comments section below as we want to hear from you and it can be used in a future video segment