At a look
Expert’s Rating
Pros
- Four show ports that eradicate further cables
- Absolutely steady
- Tons of legacy USB-A ports
Cons
- Four simultaneous 4K show outputs are attainable solely in some situations
- Just one USB-C port
- Poor charging
Our Verdict
One of the higher full-featured Thunderbolt 4 docks, although its full capabilities are dependent upon your laptop computer’s {hardware}. Relatively reasonably priced, too.
Price When Reviewed
This worth will present the geolocated pricing textual content for product undefined
Best Pricing Today
Price When Reviewed
$330.99
Best Prices Today: StarTech.com Thunderbolt 4/USB4 Quad Display Docking Station
StarTech’s Universal USB4 & Thunderbolt 4 Docking Station (132N-TB4USB4DOCK) is an reasonably priced monster of a Thunderbolt 4 docking station, supporting as much as 4 4K60 shows supplied you could have the proper {hardware}. It additionally guarantees to avoid wasting you a couple of dollars, as its huge port assortment consists of devoted show ports.
Specifically, StarTech’s dock is within the vein of a number of the flagship docks I’ve reviewed prior to now, such because the Plugable TBT4-UDZ, identified for its two teams of show ports, every with a DisplayPort and HDMI choice. These show teams principally mean you can take an present exterior monitor and its show cable and join both the HDMI or DisplayPort. Other docks could power you into a particular configuration, forcing you to pay about $15 for an identical show cable. This doesn’t.
One distinction between these two docks: Plugable’s choice (featured on our checklist of the best Thunderbolt docks) was simply barely cheaper at press time, and lets you mount it vertically with an included stand. Buying any Thunderbolt 4 dock with as many port choices as this dock gives for about $250, although, is a pleasant deal within the tariff period. If you could find it for much less, pat your self on the again.
Physically, StarTech’s dock is of common dimension: a bit over 8 inches lengthy, virtually 4 inches deep, and 1.5 inches excessive. It seems to be made solely of plastic. There’s nothing mistaken with that, although you’ll in all probability discover that it turns into hotter than one product of aluminum. That’s probably not an issue, although the dock warms greater than others I’ve tried.
Though the dock seems to lack an energetic fan, there are small vents on both aspect of the dock itself which promote airflow and cooling. I additionally used the dock for numerous days, and the dock by no means crashed and even disconnected from the shows. On the opposite, it was completely steady on a wide range of check laptops.
Mark Hachman / Foundry
There are ports like loopy: the connection to the laptop computer is discovered on the entrance of StarTech’s dock, subsequent to a 3.5mm audio jack. You’ll additionally discover an older USB 2.0 USB-A port for a mouse, and a 10Gbps USB-A port subsequent to it for a keyboard or webcam. The dock even consists of an SD 4.0 UHS-II slot and an influence button. StarTech additionally features a 1-meter Thunderbolt 4 cable within the bundle, which is customary.
On the rear, the dock consists of much more ports. To the proper, two 5Gbps and two 10Gbps USB-A ports seem, good for legacy gadgets. Next to them is the dock’s solely 10Gbps USB-C port. There can be a 2.5Gbps Ethernet port and the 4 show ports: two HDMI 2.1 ports and two DisplayPort 1.4 ports.
(All the Thunderbolt 4/USB4 title signifies is that this dock can be utilized with laptops with an Intel Core chip inside, in addition to these with AMD Ryzen or Qualcomm Snapdragon processors. Intel notebooks sometimes embody Thunderbolt ports; the others embody USB4 ports. They’re primarily equivalent.)
StarTech’s Universal USB4 & Thunderbolt 4 Docking Station’s claims of providing 4 4K show outputs on the identical time are just a little bold. Otherwise, it is a stable Thunderbolt 4 dock, properly priced.
Still, there are two drawbacks: solely the 132N-TB4USB4DOCK entrance USB-A port is devoted for charging, and it solely provides 7.5W at most — far beneath the 40W most smartphones demand for fast-charging. This dock additionally consists of gobs of legacy USB-A ports, however only one USB-C port supplying 4.5W of energy. Still, it does move alongside 90W of rated energy to a laptop computer; most want 45W to 65W, however some require extra. (Check your laptop computer handbook.) StarTech’s handbook says that the facility button ought to embody an LED, which ought to gentle inexperienced when energy is utilized; my overview unit didn’t.
If that is an excessive amount of flexibility, StarTech additionally ships a Thunderbolt 4/USB 4 Docking Station (TB4CDOCK) which I reviewed just a few years in the past. In place of devoted show ports it makes use of Thunderbolt ports, making it nearer to a hub than a dock. Still, it’s at the moment priced at about $199, an unlimited worth reduce from its unique $480 MSRP. It too suffers from energy issues, nevertheless it’s about $50 cheaper.
Mark Hachman / Foundry
StarTech Universal USB4 & Thunderbolt 4 Docking Station: Performance
Four shows is perhaps overkill for many customers, and the mathematics doesn’t actually assist, both.
Each 4K show requires about 12Gbps of bandwidth at a fundamental 4:4:4 coloration depth. Multiply that by 4, and also you exceed the 40Gbps that the Thunderbolt 4 spec permits for — and that’s with out a gigabit plus of Ethernet and no matter bandwidth the peripherals require. That signifies that the dock nearly requires your laptop computer to assist what’s often called Display Stream Compression, which compresses the accessible video bandwidth. So you’ll in all probability see higher outcomes with simply two 4K/60Hz shows, which is what’s often paired with a Thunderbolt 4 dock.
Mark Hachman / Foundry
But I do have 4 4K shows helpful, so I related all of them. (When you do that, your laptop computer’s display will probably be compelled to clean and also you’ll use the related shows as an alternative.) It wasn’t simple. Two 13th-gen Core notebooks lit up two or three shows, relying on the configuration and the decision, however solely a comparatively brand-new Core Ultra Series 3 (Panther Lake) efficiently turned on all 4 shows at 4K60 decision.
To accomplish that, I needed to open the Display settings inside Windows (the Windows key, plus P) after which set it for “second screen only.” That turned off my laptop computer’s show and lit all 4 exterior shows. So it’s attainable, however metal your self for some attainable frustration, too.
Otherwise, this dock was rock stable: completely steady, and never all docks are.
I then examined the dock utilizing our existing methodology for testing Thunderbolt docks.
StarTech says that I ought to get a most of 7.5 watts out of the entrance charging port, and the dock gave me 6.8 watts as an alternative. Under load, the dock handed a stable 82.5 watts to my laptop computer, as an alternative of a full 90 watts.
Mark Hachman / Foundry
The dock dropped 16 frames out of 10,000 on my 4K60 streaming check, which is satisfactory, although not excellent. When I examined a related SSD utilizing PCMark’s storage benchmark, the dock’s information switch fee was 131.5MB/s, and 125.8MB/s whereas working the streaming check on the identical time. That’s on par with the Plugable TBT-UDZ and the Satechi Thunderbolt 4 Dock Pro. The latter guarantees connectivity to 4 shows as properly, although for considerably extra.
When I copied a folder full of varied information from the SSD to the desktop, it took 1 minute 4 seconds, then 1 minute 6 seconds whereas streaming. That’s on par with most different Thunderbolt 4 docks.
StarTech Universal USB4 & Thunderbolt 4 Docking Station: Conclusion
I’d purchase it. At StarTech’s $275 MSRP, that’s inside the vary of a superb Thunderbolt 4 dock, and at press time Lenovo was promoting it for barely much less. I don’t discover the warmth worrisome, and the show ports make this a handy purchase.
I’m hesitant to advocate this as a quad 4K show dock, if solely as a result of the expertise merely isn’t constant throughout a wide range of {hardware}. My outdated rule holds: use the newest laptop computer and pray. As a extra typical dual-4K Thunderbolt 4 dock, although, my assist is far more full-throated. The one large exception is that some dock prospects like a dock that may route a few of its charging energy to cost your telephone. This dock doesn’t even come shut.
Other docks, then, would possibly ask you to pay $15 to $30 extra for adapter/show cables. This dock gained’t, however if you wish to cost a telephone you’ll have to make use of an present charger or spend about the identical quantity for a separate charger. It’s a wash.
Is it the perfect Thunderbolt dock? No. I nonetheless control our top Thunderbolt docking station picks, and I issue worth in. StarTech delivers a stable product right here, and one I’d advocate. I prefer it! But the dearth of stable charging and points attaining quad-display functionality barely maintain it again from an Editor’s Choice award. Barely. Otherwise, it’s stable.