SetupReady Guide
How to read a dock spec sheet
Docks and hubs live or die on bandwidth and power budget, and listings love to blur both. Four things determine whether a dock will actually run your setup.
Standard — the bandwidth ceiling
- Thunderbolt 4/5: 40–120Gbps. Runs multiple high-refresh 4K displays plus fast storage without breaking a sweat. Needs a Thunderbolt-capable laptop.
- USB4: mostly Thunderbolt 4 in practice; check the display claims.
- USB-C (10Gbps "3.2 Gen 2"): fine for one external display + peripherals. Multi-display on these uses DisplayLink compression or MST.
Display support — read the fine print
A "triple 4K60" claim usually means Windows via MST; Macs (which don't support MST over USB-C) often cap at one or two extended displays on the same dock. If you run a Mac with multiple monitors, look for the Mac-specific display note or a DisplayLink dock.
Power delivery — can it charge your laptop?
The "100W PD" number is what flows to the laptop. A gaming laptop that ships with a 230W brick will still drain slowly on 100W under load. Also check the dock has its own power supply — bus-powered hubs share your laptop's power rather than adding any.
Port math
Count what you'll actually plug in — and note port speeds: a "10-port dock" where eight ports are USB 2.0 480Mbps is a keyboard-and-mouse dock, not a storage dock. Ethernet: 1GbE standard, 2.5GbE on premium docks.
The 10-second cheat sheet
- MacBook + 2 monitors: Thunderbolt dock, confirm the Mac display note, 90W+ PD.
- Windows laptop + 3 monitors: TB4 or a DisplayLink dock with MST.
- Just need ports: a 10Gbps USB-C hub is half the price of Thunderbolt.