Priced at $299, Satechi’s Thunderbolt 4 Dock offers plenty of ports, including three Thunderbolt 4 ports, four USB-A ports, Gigabit Ethernet, a UHS-II card reader, and a 3.5mm audio jack to increase the versatility of your Mac setup. .
Thunderbolt allows data transfer from all ports through a single cable connected to your host device. While not all Macs have a Thunderbolt 4 port, Thunderbolt 4 is backwards compatible, meaning most Mac models from 2016 should work with Saatchi’s Thunderbolt 4 dock, as well as the latest iPad Pro models. The dock comes with a US power adapter and a short Thunderbolt 4 cable. Many competitors are still using Thunderbolt 3, so Satechi’s Thunderbolt 4 Dock is a great way to get the latest specifications.
The dock has a compact, premium look with a sleek aluminum enclosure. It has a tapered design, with recesses on either side in glossy black plastic with cutouts for various ports. While this is a minor concern, I found it difficult to remove the glossy plastic protective film because it is recessed so deeply inside the enclosure.
Rubber feet on the bottom of the dock prevent it from sliding around on surfaces, and the overall design feels solid and sturdy. The anodized aluminum finish closely matches Apple’s Space Gray, which is perfect for having a consistent-looking setup that gives your Apple device the color of choice, but I wish Satechi offered a silver option as well.
The Thunderbolt 4 Dock is a “plug and play” device, requiring no additional software or drivers. It also has a single Thunderbolt 4 host port that should connect directly to your Mac or iPad Pro. Simply connect the dock to power and hook a Thunderbolt cable from the host device Thunderbolt port to a port on your Mac and you’re ready to go.
In my experience, the dock is easiest to set up with a single, all-in-one Mac like a MacBook Pro or iMac. When you want to use an external display, things need to be thought out a little more carefully. My LG Ultrafine Thunderbolt Display doesn’t seem to work when connected to one of the three non-host Thunderbolt 4 ports, meaning I have to connect any display I want to use directly to my Mac. Satechi claims the dock supports dual 4K HDMI outputs at up to 60Hz, so I believe this is an issue with my LG Ultrafine display rather than a reflection of Satechi’s dock.
You can connect up to three USB-C devices to the dock’s Thunderbolt 4 ports, with support for 40 Gbps data transfer and 15W charging per port. Three USB-A 3.2 data ports are ideal for fast data transfer and backup with transfer speeds of up to 10 Gbps. When I maxed out the ports with devices like external hard drives, some accessories seemed to draw too much power and trigger a warning in macOS, but generally the dock seemed to handle most devices very well. The single USB-A charging port can be used to power or charge a device with up to 7.5W of power, and there’s also a Gigabit Ethernet port and a UHS-II card reader slot, all of which seem to work perfectly.
Overall, Satechi’s Thunderbolt 4 dock provides a great way to simplify cable management, especially for MacBooks, and expand your Mac’s port selection for more demanding setups and a single, fast, reliable connection.
how to buy
The Satechi Thunderbolt 4 Dock is available from the Satechi website. Note that it only comes with a US power adapter.
- Satechi Thunderbolt 4 Dock – $299.99
Note: MacRumors is an authorized partner of Satechi. When you click on a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps keep our site running. Satechi provided MacRumors with a Thunderbolt 4 dock for the purpose of this review. No other compensation was received.
