Plugable Thunderbolt 3 Docking Station
The TBT3–UD1–85W provides compact connectivity
$199 From Plugable, plugable.com
Features USB–C, 2x USB–A, 2x Thunderbolt 3, HDMI DisplayPort, Audio In, Audio Out
The snappily named TBT3–UD1–85W Thunderbolt 3 Docking Station from Plugable is a compact hub for Thunderbolt 3–equipped Macs and PCs. It’s capable of delivering up to 85W of power through its Power Delivery USB-C port, which is more than enough for almost all Apple’s portables, with juice to spare to power other connected USB devices as well. Only the 16–inch MacBook Pro ships with a more powerful native charger, but will still charge through the hub, albeit slightly more slowly than with its own power supply.
Sleek, unobtrusive and finished in a lightweight metal, the hub has a couple of ports on its front edge for convenience: one USB–C and one USB–A. The rest are on the rear, starting with a second USB–A (these feature USB3 speeds) and two Thunderbolt 3 ports, one of which is the aforementioned high power–enabled charging port for your laptop. Plugable includes a 2.6ft Thunderbolt 3 cable. Delivering all that power also requires a physically hefty wall PSU which is, of course, also supplied, and hiding this away is made a little easier by the longer cables.
There’s a DisplayPort video output in HDMI format that can drive a single external display of up to 4k resolution (albeit running at a lesser 30Hz, not 60Hz), and you get an HDMI cable thrown in for this. The second (non-high power) Thunderbolt 3 port can also work “downstream” and be used to connect an external display, though you’ll have to add your own adapter cable for this. There’s also a gigabit Ethernet and two audio mini jacks, for audio in and for audio out.
THE BOTTOM LINE. With slightly fewer ports than some rivals, this hub retains power delivery and 40GB/s speed at a reasonable price. HOLLIN JONES