StarTech Unveils 15-in-1 Thunderbolt 4/USB4 Dock with Quad Display Support
by Anton Shilov on March 18, 2024 12:30 PM EST- Posted in
- Docking Stations
- Thunderbolt
- StarTech
- USB4
- Thunderbolt 4
StarTech.com has introduced its latest Thunderbolt 4/USB4 docking station, which has a plethora of ports and supports four display outputs. This makes it suitable for 4Kp60 quad-monitor setups often used for professional applications. The Thunderbolt 4 Quad Display Docking Station can also deliver up to 98W of power to the host, which is enough to feed a high-end laptop, such as Apple's MacBook Pro 16.
StarTech's 15-in-1 docking (132N-TB4USB4DOCK) has pretty much everything that one comes to expect from a dock engineered explicitly for demanding professionals, such as those involved in photography, content creation, video production, and computer-aided design. The unit comes with one Thunderbolt 4/USB 4 port with a 98W power delivery capability to connect to the host, a 2.5 GbE adapter, six USB Type-A ports (three supporting 10 Gbps, two supporting 5 Gbps, and one being USB 2.0 for up to 7.5W charging), one USB Type-C connector (at 10 Gbps), four display outputs (two DP 1.4, two HDMI 2.1), an SD Card reader with UHS-II, a microSD card reader with UHS-II, and a 3.5-mm audio jack.
The dock's main selling feature is, its support for up to four displays. Of course, this is a valuable capability, but it has a couple of catches. The device can support four 4Kp60 displays when connected to a laptop featuring Intel's 12th or 14th Generation Core processor using a Thunderbolt 4 or USB 4 connector and with DSC enabled. With AMD Ryzen 6000 and Intel's 11th Gen Core-based systems, only three 4Kp60 displays are supported. Meanwhile, with MacBooks, users must get on with two 5Kp60 or one 6Kp60 display. The good news is that the Thunderbolt 4 Quad Display Docking Station requires no drivers and works seamlessly with MacOS, Windows, and ChromeOS.
The docking station has a 180W power supply, so it can simultaneously charge a laptop and power on all the remaining ports.
Thunderbolt 4 and USB 4 docks with rich capabilities are not cheap as they have to pack loads of quite expensive controllers, and StarTech's 15-in-1 docking station is no exception, as it costs $330.99.
The StarTech.com Thunderbolt 4 Quad Display Docking Station is available for purchase directly from the company and through various IT resellers and distributors such as CDW, Amazon, Ingram Micro, TD SYNNEX, and D&H.
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Reflex - Tuesday, March 19, 2024 - link
Stock traders are *not* creating content, lol, my kingdom for an edit button. ReplySkeptical123 - Wednesday, March 20, 2024 - link
"but the point is that it's not so useful for content creators without it." there is no truth to this. Most "content creators" don't even use CFe nor do those that do use 4 4k screens at least at their point of ingest.“If I have to buy this *and* an $80 Prograde CFe reader then it's not all in one” lol Reply
Reflex - Thursday, March 21, 2024 - link
Again, my point is that the "content creator" part is silly. This is just a general purpose dock. Sure, that's something that some content creators are satisfied with. It's also fine for a stock broker. Or just a regular computer user. But without functions that are specifically useful to people who are content creators rather than generic ports that almost everyone could use, it's marketing fluff.Content creators commonly need CFe. That's a fact. No not all of them, but many of them. Especially the Youtubers. Also videographers and photographers. This dock offers them nothing special. Reply
Eliadbu - Tuesday, March 26, 2024 - link
This dock already has a lot going on, adding CFe will make it more complexed adding to the cost. The question is, how many potential buyers require it? let say you connect CFe reader, is it deal breaker it isn't a "pure AIO" ? also you could probably connect the CFe reader to one of the 10Gbit/s Type A port, saving the type C port.if you look at the picture you see the 4 monitors are showing financial information, and it's not by mistake - a lot of investors\brokers use sh!tload of displays - 4,5 and even 6
it makes a lot of sense to make a dock that geared towards this crowd, adding CFe reader might be too niche and expensive to justify such an addon. Reply
PeachNCream - Monday, March 18, 2024 - link
"Content creation professionals" is a pretty vague category that could mean anything from some obese 35 year old trying to post copyrighted material on a monetized YouTube channel as his only attempt to generate income or could mean a member of a video editing and production crew so I think it's a bit unfair to state a specific capability's absence disqualifies it from what is already just a made-up marketing term that is intended to be interpreted by potential buyers in any number of different ways. ReplyReflex - Tuesday, March 19, 2024 - link
By that definition I guess literally everyone is a content creator and we shouldn't care if they actually include a pretty important feature that a huge amount of people who make the best content in the space actually require.... ReplyPeachNCream - Tuesday, March 19, 2024 - link
Or, and buckle up for this because it's revolutionary and insane thinking, people could buy things based on the capabilities they want and whether a product can fulfill that want.I guess it's a valid alternative to flip the proverbial lid in the comments section of an article for a single product that is missing a desired feature you have allocated as important to a meaninglessly silly marketing-created category of buyers that doesn't actually exist. Reply
Reflex - Tuesday, March 19, 2024 - link
It's important to literally anyone using a modern camera, which is literally most of what people consider to be "content creators". You admit that when you state that the term is diluted, which...is my point. If it does not include the capabilities most content creators need in 2024 then the term is meaningless marketing in this case.Which was my point. They are using the term for SEO but it's not actually a device for a serious content creator. Reply
kirsch - Monday, March 18, 2024 - link
The one thing all these new Thunderbolt docks seem to be short on is Thunderbolt and USB-C ports! ReplyReflex - Monday, March 18, 2024 - link
Yup, I'm struggling to find a good USB-C hub like the many 7+ port USB-A hubs I've owned. Reply