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The best Thunderbolt 3 docks
By Nick Guy This post was done in partnership with Wirecutter. When readers choose to buy Wirecutter's independently chosen editorial picks, Wirecutter and Engadget may earn affiliate commission. Read the full guide to thunderbolt 3 docks. After putting in more than 25 hours of research and hands-on testing 13 Thunderbolt 3 docks with more than $7,000 worth of high-end gear, we think CalDigit's TS3 Plus remains the best choice for Mac or PC owners who need to connect multiple displays, USB-A input devices, and high-speed storage. It has more useful ports than most docks, it can charge most laptops at full speed, and it takes up little room on a desk. The CalDigit TS3 Plus has the most useful array of connections we found, starting with two Thunderbolt 3 ports, five USB-A ports, and two USB-C ports (one USB 3.2 Gen 1, one USB 3.2 Gen 2). It also has an SD card slot, a DisplayPort connector (which works with HDMI via an inexpensive adapter), Gigabit Ethernet, audio-in and -out jacks, and an S/PDIF jack for digital optical audio—the last one a rarity in these devices. And while most docks have a horizontal orientation, you can also position the TS3 Plus vertically to minimize its footprint. All current Apple laptops and desktops have Thunderbolt 3 ports, as do a lot of newer PCs, such as our top ultrabook picks; check your computer's manual. If a cheaper USB-C hub or dock can't meet your needs and you need the extra bandwidth of Thunderbolt 3, this CalDigit model has the best combination of ports, size, and shape we've yet found. CalDigit's USB-C Pro Dock is less expensive than the TS3 Plus but has most of the same features. It's also designed to be compatible with computers that have USB-C but not Thunderbolt 3, making it a good fit if you need a dock that can work with lots of different kinds of computers. This dock has three fewer USB ports (three are USB-A, and one is USB-C), an SD card slot, two DisplayPort outputs, Ethernet, and audio, and it supports the same 85-watt power output. But it doesn't have a spare Thunderbolt 3 port, so you can't daisy-chain Thunderbolt devices. The USB-C Pro Dock is also larger than the TS3 Plus, but for the price, we think this model's sacrifices are forgivable. In addition to a middle-of-the-road three USB-A ports, the HP Thunderbolt Dock 120W G2 offers a second USB-C port, making this dock more useful if you have more modern accessories and don't need access to as many older devices at once. It also includes two DisplayPort connectors, so you can attach two displays at the same time without taking up your Thunderbolt 3 port. We like its small cube shape and its low price.
CalDigit announces Thunderbolt Station 2
CalDigit makes some amazingly fast disk drives and arrays, usually featuring fast Thunderbolt or Thunderbolt 2 connections to speed your data back and forth. Today the company announced the CalDigit Thunderbolt Station 2 (US$199.99, pre-order for $169.99), a new docking station that goes a bit further than the Belkin Thunderbolt 2 Express Dock HD we reviewed earlier this month. Most of the Thunderbolt 2 docks we've seen are similar, with three USB 3.0 ports, audio in/out ports, a pair of Thunderbolt 2 ports, an HDMI adapter, and a LAN adapter. CalDigit's dock adds a pair of 6 Gb/second eSATA ports, perfect for those Mac users who have accumulated a few eSATA peripherals over the years. The CalDigit Thunderbolt Station 2 also flips between vertical and horizontal orientations easily, has double the warranty of the Belkin and Elgato Thunderbolt 2 docks, and is the least expensive of the bunch at a full $100 less than the suggested retail price of the Belkin dock. The only thing missing is an actual Thunderbolt cable, which you'll need to connect the dock to your Mac. Mac users with tons of speedy peripherals will want to take a look at the CalDigit Thunderbolt Station 2 when it arrives. Pre-orders until January 15, 2015 take an extra $30 off of the price, so it's a heck of a deal.
CalDigit T4 RAID: Big, fast storage in a compact enclosure
Speed and storage capacity are the qualities that creative professionals look for in a RAID array, and they're willing to pay a lot for the ability to store huge amounts of video or photographs on a fast and redundant unit. CalDigit is now shipping a very affordable 4-bay storage solution called the T4 RAID that comes in a variety of capacities: 4 TB (US$899), 8 TB ($1,199), 12 TB ($1,399), 16 TB ($1,699), 20 TB ($1,999) or 4 TB SSD ($3,299). I had a chance to put a T4 through our standard benchmarks and found it to be a speedy, quiet and sturdy high-capacity RAID array. Specifications Weight: 7.2 lb. (3.3 Kg) with 4 SSD installed, 12.5 lb. (5.65 Kg) with 4 HDD installed Dimensions: 5.8 x 5.3 x 9.5 inches (148 x 135 x 242 mm) Interface: Two Thunderbolt 2 ports with transfer rates up to 20 GB/s RAID: Supports RAID 0,1,5 and JBOD, auto disk failure detection, hot swappable disks Design The T4 is surprisingly small for a 4-disk RAID array. The entire case is machined out of aluminum, with an appearance similar to that of the T3 3-drive array that I reviewed earlier this year. As with the T3, the drives (either SSDs or HDDs) come in proprietary drive modules. Those drive modules come in a variety of sizes: hard disk drives in capacities of 1 TB ($129), 2 TB ($179), 3 TB ($229), 4 TB ($299), 5 TB ($399), and a 1 TB SSD ($799). These drive modules are also compatible with the CalDigit T3 and the AVPro. There are some tiny keys that are included to lock the drive modules into place for extra security, and there's a Kensington lock slot on the back of the case. Both are nice physical security features that aren't commonly found on other RAID arrays. The small size comes at the cost of a good-sized external power supply; usually, that's going to sit under your desk with all of the other power supplies. Although the T4 has a built-in fan to keep those drives cool, it's surprisingly quiet. During testing the drive was about two feet away from me at ear level and all I could hear was a faint white noise. This was an 12 TB HDD configuration that was tested, and there was absolutely no drive noise that I could discern. With a quiet drive like this, you'll want to have some indication that it's actually working and a set of tiny blue LEDs on the front of the array perform that task without being too bright or distracting. CalDigit includes a monitoring app that's also useful for setting up your array. That app includes some useful tools for benchmarking video throughput to the drive. Functionality/Benchmarks Like the T3, the CalDigit T4 is easy to set up. You simply plug a Thunderbolt cable into your Mac and into one of the two Thunderbolt 2 ports on the back of the T4. Plug in the AC adapter, then plug the cable from the power supply into the T4. Turn on the T4 with the front-mounted power button and it spins right up. The array can be set up as RAID 0 (stripe set), RAID 1 (mirror set), RAID 5 (block-level striping with distributed parity) or in a JBOD ("just a bunch of disk") array with no RAID functionality. Our benchmarking was done with the array set up in RAID 0 with a total volume size of 10.914 TB (four 3 TB drives installed). For the purposes of testing external drives and RAID arrays, we traditionally use the Intech SpeedTools QuickBench 4.0.6 app to run multiple cycles of read/write tests. The T4 was directly connected to a MacBook Pro with Retina display using an Apple Thunderbolt cable. This MacBook Pro was equipped with Thunderbolt 2 ports. To ensure accuracy in testing, I performed a 100-cycle complete test. This subjects the drive to sequential and random read and write tests with file sizes from 4K to 100 MB, then graphically or textually displays that information to show the "sweet spots" for a specific drive or array. For example, if your work involves shuffling around a lot of very large files, you'll probably want a drive that has peak read/write speeds for files around your average file size. Here are the test results for a RAID 0 stripe set, compared with the T3 using a Thunderbolt connection: Sequential Read: 324.063 MB/Sec (313.917 MB/Sec for CalDigit T3 connected via Thunderbolt) Sequential Write: 303.615 MB/Sec (279.731 MB/Sec for CalDigit T3 connected via Thunderbolt) Random Read: 92.613 MB/Sec (69.402 MB/Sec for CalDigit T3 connected via Thunderbolt) Random Write: 74.876 MB/Sec (62.263 MB/Sec for CalDigit T3 connected via Thunderbolt) Large Read: 906.819 MB/Sec (538.599 MB/Sec for CalDigit T3 connected via Thunderbolt) Large Write: 1045.913 MB/Sec (763.516 MB/Sec for CalDigit T3 connected via Thunderbolt) Extended Read: 739.724 MB/Sec (552.096 MB/Sec for CalDigit T3 connected via Thunderbolt) Extended Write: 671.629 MB/Sec (553.392 MB/Sec for CalDigit T3 connected via Thunderbolt) Now the CalDigit T3 was our previous speed demon for RAID arrays tested by TUAW, and the T4 blows right past it. The first four results - done with extremely small files - show an improvement over the T3 of up to about 33 percent in the case of random file reads. But it's with the large (2 - 10 MB) and extended (20 - 100 MB) file sizes that we really see the T4 take off. The large read test was 68 percent faster than the T3, large writes were 36 percent faster. The average large write test result was 1045.913 MB/sec, the first time we've seen a RAID array result in this range. Extended file reads and writes were also improved over the T3, with a 34 percent improvement in read speeds and 21 percent faster writes. What does this mean? Well, the T4 is perfect in those situations where you're going to be reading and writing large files a lot; not so much with those smaller files. For professionals who do a lot of video or photographic work, connecting the CalDigit T4 up to a Mac Pro or MacBook Pro with Thunderbolt 2 makes a lot of sense and can speed up almost any workflow. CalDigit is targeting the T4 for those who are working on 4K video production, and I can see where it would be perfect for those large files and big data streams. Conclusion CalDigit has outdone itself with the T4 RAID, creating a fast RAID array at a price point that isn't out of the realm of any creative professional who needs big storage. The addition of Thunderbolt 2 to the new array improves throughput for those who have Macs with the new interface built in. I was impressed by the CalDigit T3 earlier this year, but the T4 surpasses its smaller sibling in every way. Rating: 4 stars out of 4 stars possible
CalDigit T3: Lightning-fast Thunderbolt RAID
Back at the end of 2012 I purchased a pretty well-equipped iMac and naively believed that the 1 TB Fusion Drive was going to be all the storage I would need for a long time. Less than 18 months and a lot of video editing later, I'm watching as the last 200 GB dwindle away. That's why it's great that products like the CalDigit T3 exist. It's a Thunderbolt RAID box with space for three hard drives or SSDs set up in either RAID 0 (striped set) or RAID 1 (mirrored) configuration. Pop three 4 TB HDDs into this sleek box and you can have a 12 TB striped set or 4 TB of mirrored storage. You can also set up your T3 as JBOD (just a bunch of disks) if you wish. Specifications Price: From US$449 (three 1 TB HDD) to $2799 (three 960 GB SSD). Available in hybrid (SSD + HDD) configurations as well. Price as tested: $749 Dimensions: 4.5" x 5.3" x 9.5" (116 x 135 x 242 mm) Weight: 6.1 lb/2.76 kg (3 SSD), 9.98 lb/4.53 kg (3 HDD) Ports: 2 Thunderbolt ports Power: Proprietary power supply adapter, 100-240V, 2.0A, 50-60 Hz input; 12V, 7.5A DC output Material: Aluminum Enclosure Specifics: Not rack-mounted, the CalDigit T3 is a self-contained unit Design Highlights CalDigit makes some really fine products, and the T3 is no exception. I was impressed with the CalDigit Thunderbolt Station earlier this year, a Thunderbolt-based expansion dock that offers a variety of ports in a compact size. The T3, of course, is really something you'll want to keep in a desktop environment due to the sheer weight of the device. The three drives -- you can mix or match hard disk drives or SSDs -- come in proprietary drive modules that must be purchased from the company. While I'm not a fan of proprietary modules, I have to commend CalDigit for making these affordable. A 1 TB HDD module in an archive box runs $129, while a 4 TB module is $339. There's a single SSD module capacity available at 960 GB for $799. Made of aluminum with special keys used to lock the drive modules in place, the T3 is one of the most solid pieces of equipment I've had the pleasure to use in quite a while. CalDigit's other products also have that solid, well-built feel and look to them, and it's great to see a manufacturer that takes the time and effort to create products that look like they'll last for years. Functionality/Benchmarks Setup of the CalDigit T3 is a piece of cake: Just plug the Thunderbolt cable into a port on your Mac and then into one of the two Thunderbolt ports on the back of the device. Plug in the AC Adapter, and plug the appropriate end into the T3. Turn on the T3. That's it. You can choose to set up the drive in RAID 0 or RAID 1 configurations using OS X's Disk Utility. For the purposes of testing external drives and RAID arrays, we traditionally use the Intech SpeedTools QuickBench 4.0 app to run multiple cycles of read/write tests. The T3 was directly connected to a MacBook Pro with Retina display using an Apple Thunderbolt cable. To ensure accuracy in testing, I performed a 100-cycle complete test. This subjects the drive to sequential and random read and write tests with file sizes from 4K to 100 MB, then graphically or textually displays that information to show the "sweet spots" for a specific drive or array. For example, if your work involves shuffling around a lot of very large files, you'll probably want a drive that has peak read/write speeds for files around your average file size. Here are the test results for a RAID 0 stripe set, compared with a Drobo 5D also using a Thunderbolt connection: Sequential Read: 313.917 MB/Sec (140.504 MB/Sec for Drobo 5D connected via Thunderbolt) Sequential Write: 279.731 MB/Sec (93.245 MB/Sec for Drobo 5D connected via Thunderbolt) Random Read: 69.402 MB/Sec (116.435 MB/Sec for Drobo 5D connected via Thunderbolt) Random Write: 62.263 MB/Sec (70.410 MB/Sec for Drobo 5D connected via Thunderbolt) Large Read: 538.599 MB/Sec (341.327 MB/Sec for Drobo 5D connected via Thunderbolt) Large Write: 763.516 MB/Sec (282.060 MB/Sec for Drobo 5D connected via Thunderbolt) Extended Read: 552.096 MB/Sec (255.953 MB/Sec for Drobo 5D connected via Thunderbolt) Extended Write: 553.392 MB/Sec (262.864 MB/Sec for Drobo 5D connected via Thunderbolt) In just about every benchmark, the CalDigit T3 blasted by the speeds provided by a five-port competitor, the Drobo 5D. The exception to the rule was in random read/write tests performed with smaller file sizes (4KB to 1024 KB), where slow throughput on the very small files really slowed down the results. Get into large files, though, and it's tough to beat the T3. These files are in the 2 - 10 MB size range, and the T3 chewed 'em up and spit them out at high speed. The write throughput of 763.516 MB/Sec is incredible -- this would be a perfect drive to use for capturing video. Extended files in the 20 to 100 MB range were also written and read quickly at over twice the speed of the Drobo 5D. For RAID 1 (mirroring), the results were not as fast as those for RAID 0 -- but that's expected. While a stripe set basically writes your data once across the three drives in the T3 array, the mirrored set is writing three copies of the data. Without a comparison, here are the throughput numbers for the mirrored T3: Sequential Read: 132.220 MB/Sec Sequential Write: 128.190 MB/Sec Random Read: 20.684 MB/Sec Random Write: 22.327 MB/Sec Large Read: 291.590 MB/Sec Large Write: 181.604 MB/Sec Extended Read: 330.083 MB/Sec Extended Write: 165.950 MB/Sec One final environmental note: the T3 is really quiet in operation. Although there is some fan noise, it's truly white noise that doesn't get on your nerves and there is no drive "clicking" to be heard at all. This would be a really good unit to use even in a quiet office. Conclusion CalDigit's T3 is the fastest Thunderbolt RAID array we've had the opportunity to test so far. If you have a need for large, fast storage or multiple mirrors of your data, this is the device to look at. You'll be able to store your data on an external drive without it becoming a bottleneck to throughput, thanks to the speed of the Thunderbolt connection. Ease of setup, solid design, and exceptional speed make the CalDigit T3 a top choice for anyone who needs fast and reliable storage. Rating: 4 stars out of 4 stars possible
CalDigit Thunderbolt Station expands your MacBook options
Now that the entire Mac line has been blessed with Thunderbolt (or in some cases, Thunderbolt 2) ports, more manufacturers are beginning to make accessories that allow a single port to perform many duties. That's the case with CalDigit's Thunderbolt Station (US$199), a compact docking station that gives Mac users a hand when it comes to getting connected to peripherals and the world. Specifications Dimensions: 6.85" long x 3.15" wide x 1.02" high (17.4cm x 8cm x 2.6cm) Weight: 0.4 kg / 0.88 lbs. Power: AC Power Adapter Full range, Output is DC 12V, 5A Max Interfaces: 2 x Thunderbolt, 3 x USB 3.0 (1x Front), 1 x Gigabit Ethernet, 1 x HDMI Out, 1 x Headphone Out, 1 x Microphone In Case Material: Aluminum Amazon Buyer Ratings: 4 stars out of 5, 16 customer reviews Similar Products Belkin Thunderbolt Express Dock, $299 Matrox DS1/HDMI, $249 Design Highlights Probably the most notable differences between this and the original Belkin Thunderbolt Express Dock are that the CalDigit Thunderbolt Station includes a HDMI port, provides UASP and Bus Power support, and also supports USB charging. CalDigit's offering also has an MSRP that's $100 less. Functionality Highlights During my testing, I connected the Thunderbolt Station to a MacBook Pro with Retina display, an external HDMI monitor, an USB 2.0 external hard drive, an iPad mini (through a USB to Lightning cable), and a set of headphones. In addition, I used the Thunderbolt Station's Gigabit Ethernet port to connect the MacBook Pro to the network. This is truly a plug-and-play solution, as there was no configuration required, no drivers installed, anything. It just worked, and worked quite well. The Ethernet connection once again made me wonder why I don't have my office wired for Ethernet, and the iPad mini charged right up as it should have. The bus-powered USB 2.0 drive? Started right up. Note that the no-driver installation is only for OS X Mavericks users; if you are using an older version of OS X, there is a driver to install to enable the Ethernet port. Size-wise, the Thunderbolt Stations is just small enough to be portable, if you don't mind lugging another pound of weight in your computer bag. But it's meant as a desktop "dock" to allow for easy external expansion of your MacBook, and that's where it really excels. I appreciated the placement of the headphone, microphone and one of the USB ports on the front of the device, as they're always at your fingertips. My two "complaints" are really quite minor. First -- and realize that this is a pet peeve of mine -- I dislike generic power bricks. I'd gladly pay $50 more for a dock that had a built-in power supply, and with some of the advances being made in switching power supplies, it could probably be built in without increasing the size or weight of the Thunderbolt Station drastically. I mean, seriously, look at the size of the brick in one of the gallery photos... Second, I heard a high-pitched sound that could be a bit distracting. Unplugging the Thunderbolt cable eliminated the sound, but that also kills the functionality of the device. Conclusion I honestly can't think of any reason not to purchase the CalDigit Thunderbolt Station rather than one of the other two options listed above. Those who are still tied to DVI monitors might want the Matrox DS1/DVI, but for the rest of us, this dock is just as powerful and less expensive. Rating: 3-1/2 stars (out of 4 stars possible)
CalDigit brings USB 3.0 AV Drive to the Mac, still working on peace in the Middle East (video)
With Intel showing signs of jumping on board, USB 3.0 is looking more and more like the one next-gen interconnect to rule them all. Them all except for Apple, of course, who has notably thrown its support exclusively behind Light Peak. The chums at Cupertino have no interest in newer, bluer revisions of USB, but enterprise storage firm CalDigit thinks that many Apple lovers will. It has developed USB 3.0 PCIe and ExpressCard adapters (plus the necessary drivers) that will bring 5Gbps transfers to Macs, and is releasing its CalDigit AV Drive to match, up to 2TB of external storage with 145MBps transfers. (It also sports FireWire 800 compatibility if you're not ready to cross the interface picket line just yet.) That PCIe adapter will set you back a not entirely unreasonable $59, while the 1TB external drive is $199. No price on the ExpressCard adapter or 2TB version yet, but all are said to be shipping presently. Update: As bhillyer70 pointed out in comments, these are now available in the CalDigit store. The 2TB drive will set you back $299, while the ExpressCard adapter is listed at $69 and sports this somewhat troubling disclaimer: "CalDigit does not guarantee USB 3.0 performance on all Macs or when used in conjunction with third party products. The driver has been optimized for CalDigit certified products." Perhaps we should re-open those peace talks...
