Elgato Thunderbolt 3 Pro Dock Review

Elgato Thunderbolt 3 Pro Dock Review There's hardly a downside to portable PCs. However, once you got a lot of peripherals, it can be a pain to connect it all. That's where docking stations come into play. Today I'm taking a closer look at Elgato's best docking station, the Thunderbolt 3 Pro Dock. Well, it's the best if you need what it has to offer. The Thunderbolt 3 Mini Dock might be enough for some. The Thunderbolt 3 Pro Dock offers everything with a single cable. Thunderbolt 3 Pro Dock Elgato's Thunderbolt 3 Pro Dock is perfect for those of you who need a lot of devices connected to your portable device. With a docking station like this, you only need to connect a single cable to your PC in order to enjoy it all. Whether you have an Ultrabook or a MacBook with Thunderbolt 3, the docking station will be awesome. Especially those with MacBooks will enjoy it as those seriously lack built-in connectivity. With the Thunderbolt 3 Pro Dock, you get everything from networking and audio connectors to dual 4K 60Hz support, card readers and plenty of USB ports. But, you're probably interested in what ports exactly. So, let us go through them. You get two 3.5mm audio jacks, two Type-A USB 3.1 (5Gbps), two Type-C USB 3.1 (10Gbps), and two Thunderbolt 3 ports. There's also an RJ45 Gigabit Ethernet port along with a DisplayPort 1.2. Last but not least, it features both an SD card and a micro SD card reader. Or as Elgato calls it: One cable, Ultimate connectivity. Thunderbolt 3 Makes it Possible With a docking station, you can avoid all the cable troubles while you enjoy all the connectivity. That is especially true for systems with Thunderbolt 3 and after all, that's what this docking station is for. Thunderbolt 3 offers 40 Gbps bandwidth which is enough to drive a whole lot of devices. For comparison, USB 3.1 Gen.1 (USB 3.0) only offers 5 Gbps bandwidth. With that in mind, we know that we can connect a lot at the same time and still get great speeds from it all. But we can't use all ports at full speed at the same time, that's a given. Simply the fact that it has a 40Gbps Thunderbolt 3 port for a device as well as the one for the PC connection. A single 4K 60Hz output requires 14.85Gbps which means that there's still a lot to spare for the rest. Dual Displays The Elgato Thunderbolt 3 Pro Dock supports great display connectivity. While it comes with a single DisplayPort 1.2, the docking station supports dual displays. A second one can be connected via the Thunderbolt 3 port and still provide full resolution. In fact, it supports better via the Thunderbolt 3 port than it does via the DisplayPort 1.2. The DisplayPort supports up to 4096x2160 at 60Hz while the Thunderbolt port supports up to 5120x2880 at 60Hz. As a dual-display setup, it supports 4096x2160 on both monitors. A Few More Details With the built-in card reader, you can quickly transfer all those files from your memory cards to your system, whether they're ordinary photos or 4K video. The readers support UHS-II transfer speeds for SD, SDHC, and SDXC cards. With the built-in card reader, you can quickly transfer all those files from your memory cards to your system, whether they're ordinary photos or 4K video. The readers support UHS-II transfer speeds for SD, SDHC, and SDXC cards. The Thunderbolt 3 ports also support computer charging for up to 85W and device power up to 15W. Besides the hardware features, there's also a software part. With a mere click in your menu bar, the free Elgato Thunderbolt Dock Utility app eliminates the chore of ejecting external drives one by one. When it’s time to hit the road, simply disconnect all your storage devices simultaneously. Instantly see when it’s safe to disconnect your Elgato Thunderbolt 3 Pro Dock. And head off without delay. The Physical Design There really isn't a lot to say to the design. What you see is what you get. A sleek, space grey enclosure with a black front and back. The whole thing feels very well made and sturdy, which is a plus. Some docking stations are just made of the cheapest plastic and it shows. Not so this beautiful Thunderbolt 3 Pro Dock from Elgato. The rounded edges give it a sleep feeling while the colour matches that of a lot of systems, including the grey MacBook Pro. Feature Highlights Dual 40Gbps Thunderbolt 3Dual 10Gbps USB-C and Dual 5Gbps USB-ADisplayPort 1.2 with 4K 60HzSD and micro SD card readerGigabit EthernetAudio jacks for headset and microphone Package and Accessories Elgato wrapped the Thunderbolt 3 Pro Dock in a simple packaging. The box is off-white with a picture of the device itself on the front. All the various connection options are also shown. The rear side has mode details on the available ports and connectors. It also shows a rear view of the device where as the front of the package showed the front of it. The vital information and detailed specifications are found on the side of the box. Everything from specs over port types to display resolutions and requirements. All in one spot. The top isn't particularly interesting, but still comes with important information. There's a picture of the Thunderbolt 3 Pro Dock in original size. This way you know exactly how big it is before you even purchase it; without taking out a ruler or measuring tape. Inside the box you find a power supply and at least one fitting power cable. There will be one for the region you purchased it in and sometimes one more. I got a UK plug and an EU plug with mine as they're using the same distributions. There's also a support note and a small pamphlet with safety instructions. There's also a Thunderbolt 3 cable included which you'll need to connect the docking station to your system. A Closer Look The unit in itself is a simple one. It isn't large which means that we'll get through this page quite fast. Front Connectors and Ports There are five connection options on the front, the ones you'll need most. Or at least, the ones you'll most likely plug in and out the most. There are two USB 3.1 Gen.1 Type A ports for all the ordinary USB peripherals. From thumb drives to input devices. There's also a 3.5mm jack for your headphones and the two card readers. While the SD card reader technically is able to read micro SD cards, it would require an adapter. With this docking station, you don't need it. Rear Connectors and Ports The more permanent connections such as networking and monitors are all placed on the rear of the unit. That allows it to look better and you to have a better cable management. There's an RJ45 Gigabit Ethernet port, a headphone 3.5mm jack, and two USB 3.1 Gen.2 (10Gbps) Type-C ports. Following them are two Thunderbolt 3 ports, one for the system and one for an extra device. This could be storage or it could be a monitor - or anything in between. Last but not least, you get the DisplayPort 1.2 for your monitor and a power connector for the power supply. Bottom View The bottom of the unit doesn't have any features as such, but there are four rubber feet which will make sure it stays where you place it. There's also a sticker with relevant device information. Power Supply Unit We have one more thing to look at before we get to the connection and setup of our unit, the power supply. The power cable is disconnectable from the PSU, allowing you to switch it depending on your region. However, it isn't the usual kettle type PSU plug but rather the three-pronged laptop kind. The PSU itself also resembles that of a laptop more than a docking station. It's also almost as large as the dock. The PSU is made by Lite-On which is known more for their impressive drives. But it's a renowned company which wouldn't release anythin subpar. Power wise, it can deliver 8.5A at 20V which equals to 170W. That's a lot of power which means that you won't have issues with any connected device. They'll all get as much as they need. Connect The Docking Station to Your System It really couldn't be any simpler than it is to connect your Elgato Thunderbolt 3 Pro Dock. Plug it in and you're ready to go. You might need to approve the device in your Thunderbolt 3 suite. The system needs to know that it is a trusted device before it will accept it. You can choose whether to accept it once or always. You'll probably want to pick the always-option as you'll be able to forget about this step with that selection. As soon as you've set the docking station as an approved device, your OS should start to find and install all the parts of it. Once you've connected it, you can check within the Attached Devices function whether it's found or not. Elgato Software The Elgato Thunderbolt 3 software is sadly only available for MacOS which means that I can't show it to you. I don't have a nice MacBook which I can use it with, sadly. Testing and Methodology The graphic part of this docking station works straight out, and as such, there isn't anything to benchmark here. What I can say about it, is that it worked like a charm in my test. The USB and LAN abilities, on the other hand, is something that I can test and compare. I will be connecting my trusted OCZ VX500 512GB through a SilverStone TS11C to the docking station and test how it is performing there. Then I'll disconnect the docking station and connect the drive directly to the system for another test. That should give us a great view on performance impact happening from the docking station if any. We should expect a minor fluctuation, but it is to be seen on the next pages how it will hold up. The network connection is the second thing that I can test and compare, and in a very similar way to the USB testing. Naturally, I won't be using my SSD here but rather connect the system to the LAN port on the docking station and run both TCP and UDP network benchmarks there. When those are done, I'll connect it my onboard LAN controller instead and run the same benchmarks. Test system Gigabyte X170-Extreme ECCIntel Xeon E3-1280 v5Crucial Ballistix DDR4 2400 MHz (4x 8GB) UDIMMEVGA SC GTX980Toshiba OCZ VX500 512GBbe quiet! Dark Power Pro 11 1200WNoctua NH-D15S Software Anvil's Storage BenchmarkAS SSD BenchmarkATTO Disk BenchmarkCrystalDiskMark BenchmarkPassMark PerformanceTest SuiteWindows 10 Pro Performance: Networkinge PassMark PerformanceTest Suite For the network tests, I'll be using Passmark Performance Test's Advanced Network Test which allows me to set a lot of variables and test both TCP and UDP connections. As a baseline comparison, I will be using my onboard Gigabit Ethernet. TCP Performance UDP Performance USB 3.0 Performance As previously mentioned, testing the USB performance of a hub is an easy task. What we're interested in here isn't the maximum possible speeds, but rather if it has any impact on the transfers speeds compared to using a direct connection. First, the drive is connected to the USB hub and tested with several applications after which it will be connected to the same onboard USB port instead of the hub for a second test. Below you'll find charts showing you the comparison in any easy way. Anvil's Storage Benchmark Anvil’s Storage Utilities is a complete benchmark solution used to test any write-able storage drive. It also has a drive endurance test that consistently reads and writes data to the selected medium to deliver days, months, and potentially even years of use in a shorter period. AS SSD Benchmark The AS SSD software determines the performance of Solid State Drives (SSD). The tool contains five synthetic and three practice tests. The synthetic tests determine the sequential and random read and write performance of the SSD, and they aren't using the operating system cache. ATTO Disk Benchmark The ATTO Disk Benchmark performance measurement tool is compatible with Microsoft Windows. Measure your storage systems performance with various transfer sizes and test lengths for reads and writes with several options to customise, including queue depth, and overlapped I/O. CrystalDiskMark CrystalDiskMark is a small HDD and SSD benchmark utility that allows you to measure a drive's sequential and random performance. Pricing and Final Thoughts Elgato's Thunderbolt 3 Pro Dock isn't cheap, but it is a really nice docking station. At the time of this review, it can be yours for £339.95 and $349.95. Conclusion Elgato's Thunderbolt 3 Pro Dock is a beauty in function as well as design. It is a simplistic but well designed device which will look great on any desk. With a single cable you can connect everything to your MacBook Pro or Ultrabook with Thunderbolt 3. Whether you want to run a dual 4K 60Hz monitor setup, connect the latest USB-C devices, connect your headset, wire your network, or unload your memory cards. It offers it all through a single cable. The included Thunderbolt 3 cable has a good length, allowing you to place the docking station out of the way without moving it too far. And there isn't a large role of cable on your desk somewhere either. It's no secret that I'm a huge fan of Thunderbolt 3 and that all the systems I've had in the past years have been picked because of that port. The 40Gbps throughput and versatility in connection options make it my favourite port. As such, the Elgato Thunderbolt 3 Pro Dock will easily be my pick if I had to get a docking station. It has everything I want and it just looks awesome. It's also a great build-quality which is a must in my home. Pros Dual 4K 60Hz display outputGigabit EthernetDetachable Thunderbolt 3 cableGreat build quality and beautiful looksPerfect for power users with portable Thunderbolt 3 systems Cons none Neutral Price might be too high for some people "Elgato created what I consider the perfect Thunderbolt 3 docking station. The Thunderbolt 3 Pro Dock looks great and comes with every connection you'll want." Elgato Thunderbolt 3 Pro Dock Review Thank you Corsair for providing us with this sample.