Plugable TBT-UDT3 review: best value Thunderbolt 5 docking station

At a glance

Expert note

Pros

• 11 ports, including four Thunderbolt 5
• 2.5 GB Ethernet

Disadvantages

• No additional USB-C ports
• North America only

Our verdict

This is the Thunderbolt 5 wharf of the best value we have tested, with enough ports for most people and offering excellent value for money for the latest performance strengthening technological updates.

Price during the examination

This value will show the geolocated pricing text for the undefined product

Best price today

Best prices today: Thunderbolt 5 rain station (TBT-ARD3)

$ 299.95

Compatible behind with the previous versions of Thunderbolt and the whole way to the USB-C, investing in Thunderbolt 5 is now the best way to save your office technology and be ready for super fast connectivity even if you do not have a ready mac for the Thunderbolt 5 at the moment.

A reception station puts a lot of connections at hand, and the plastered Thunderbolt 5 quay hosts a bunch of fast 8-gops Thunderbolt 5 itself at 2.5 GB Ethernet.

Plump

Design

The Thunderbolt 5 silver platform can be placed in a horizontal position or vertically through the support included.

The aluminum frame is solid and we appreciate the walking button in front. Although management of your laptop’s power supply should regulate the quantity of input power, we like the assurance that the battery is not constantly filled even when it is not used for hours.

It measures 6.9 (large or long) x 3.1 x 1.6 inches (17.6 x 7.8 x 4.2 cm) and weighs 1.5 lb (692 g).

Simon Jary

The ports are where they should be with the wearing of Thunderbolt 5 upstream of the laptop placed at the rear, rather than in a disorder at the front.

Front FaceGing is a port of audio jack and two fast card players, as well as a USB-A 10 Gbit / s port, the audio plug and a power button.

At the rear is the real end of the business of the quay. The most important are the two Thunderbolt 5 ports downstream that you will use to connect a monitor or two or other devices. These are seated alongside the TB5 port upstream to which you connect your laptop using the TB5 1M cable included. There is another TB5 port downstream on the front, where you could expect a USB -C – more on which later.

No DisplayPort or HDMI port to attach additional screens to your laptop? Plugable offers TB5 ports downstream for any instructor connection rather than a dedicated video port.

Many monitors today can be connected via USB-C, so the use of TB5 ports does not require a HDMI or Displayport adapter cable. If you want to attach a display via one of the two video connections, you will have to add such an adapter, but these are not expensive and it does not force you to choose DP VS HDMI.

Caldigit adopts this approach, preferring DisplayPort to HDMI for its higher refresh rate options. This allows the possibility of a wasted port if all your screens are based on USB-C. The rainfall solution is more flexible.

That said, we would have preferred to place the three TB5 ports downstream in the back. Having one at the front means that you will be back in the disorderly cable situation when connecting the devices or creating a powerful TB5 port in a glorified USB-C. Ideally, we would have three ports downstream at the rear and a USB spare (upper wave) at the front so you can use it to quickly load your iPhone. The Plugable Thunderbolt ports are limited to 15W, and Apple recommends at least 18 W for the iPhone Fast load.

Simon Jary

Power

The external power supply is evaluated at 180 W, which is sufficient to provide the TB5 port upstream 140W PD 3.1 to the laptop which can quickly reach the MacBook Pro of high -end.

If you charge your laptop in full skin, this leaves less than 40 W to load other devices via the quay, which will require part of the power itself.

Without additional USB-C ports but three USB-A ports, this lack of spare power should not execute the quay too strong, but it leaves port outings potentially undernourished for certain needs. You cannot load phones or other devices via USB-A, and even the first maximum at 7.5 W, enough for your Apple Watch or AirPods but not an iPhone.

Rain is not alone in this regard. The Thunderbolt 5 OWC Thunderbolt 5 Thunderbolt 5 quay of 180W has worn in the same way is the same. They may use a similar chipset that does not allow a more powerful USB-C port, but this is the only thing that I miss both.

To get a more powerful Thunderbolt 5 wharf, you will have to dig more deeply … much more deeply. Caldigit TS5 more much more expensive pushes as much feeding of its ports as possible – even the TB5 ports can each come out of 36W – and has a massive 330W diet.

The Sonnet Echo 13 Thunderbolt 5 Dock is most distant with a 60W USB-C port, but broke out if it is too advanced because the power supply is, like the rain and the OWC, limited to 180W. To be fair, most quays do not grow further than this note of 180 W.

Simon Jary

Specifications and features

• A port of Thunderbolt 5 upstream (80 Gbit / s, 140w)
• Three ports of Thunderbolt downstream (80 Gbit / s, 15W)
• Two USB-A ports (10 Gbit / s, 4.5 W)
• A USB-A port (5 Gbit / s, 7.5 W)
• Ethernet (2.5 GB)
• UHS-II SD card reader (312 Mbps)
• UHS-II microSD card reader (312 Mbps)
• 3.5 mm combo audio socket (in front)
• 180W power supply

While 11 ports may seem disappointing compared to the ridiculous 20 of Caldigit TS5 Plus, the Lumable TB5 quay is not addressed to the highest level of professional in the studio and has therefore nestled in an ideal place that will suit most companies and users at home.

Thunderbolt 5, of course, is the star of the show.

Simon Jary

It represents a big leap in terms of potential performance compared to Thunderbolt 4, which was not such a jump over Thunderbolt 3.

Thunderbolt 5 (TB5) Double the data bandwidth from 40 Gbit / s to 80 bidirectional Gbps, with 120 GB instead of 80 Gbit / s of bidirectional bandwidth, the quay can operate in asymmetrical mode to transmit up to 120 Gbit / s, then receive up to 40 Gbit / s.

Benefiting from high performance storage, the PCIe flow rate from 32 Gbit / s to 64 Gbit / s. Power delivery goes from 100W from TB4 to 240W.

The three inherited USB-A ports include two to 10 Gbit / s and one to 5 Gbit / s. The 5 GBPS port offers the output of 7.5 W upper but not very high.

The two card readers are both SD 4.0 UHS-II, so they can manage the transfer speeds of 312 Mbps, especially faster than the SDXC MacBook Pro 250 MBPS Card Slit. These portable storage cards are not only for photographers. You can use them to considerably increase the storage of your MacBook for as little as $ 100 for 1 TB.

Video options

Apple users are a little hard made when using most mooring stations. While Windows users can with the Lumable TBT -URD3, add two 8K screens to 120 Hz – or an 8K display at 144 Hz) – Apple limits Thunderbolt quays to just one or two 6K to 60 Hz when connected to a Mac.

Plugable is more circumspect on the Windows video capacities of its platform than the OWC, which claims more for Windows users, with three 8K screens to 60 Hz, or two 8K screens at 120 Hz. For the moment, there are in fact no Windows Thunderbolt 5 systems which support three simultaneous screens on a TB5 connection. Plugable has therefore chosen to publish the more realistic double edition configuration, rather than having something that is not yet possible. However, Plugable fully expects that this station

To add more than two monitors, you will need to use the MacBook’s own HDMI port or one of the Thunderbolt ports. Alternatively, search for a home station that supports DisplayLink – Third -party software that allows Macs (even MacBook M1 and M2 airs) to attach several monitors via a quay.

In this case, rainfall has one of the best of them – he recently published a UD -7400PD quay which can manage up to five monitors in extensive mode, surely enough for almost everyone.

Network speeds

Most of us are always attached to traditional Gigabit Ethernet (1 GB) networks, but faster houses and offices at 2.5 GB, 5 GB or 10 GB of speeds become more common.

Most of the new Thunderbolt quays now, such as the Lumable TB5 quay, include at least a Gigabit Ethernet port of 2.5 gigabit (2.5gbe) rather than 1gbe. To take advantage of this 2.5x network speed, your network must be noted at least as quickly, but it is behind compatible so that you can use it on any network.

I think we are on stage now where each platform should be at least 2.5 GBE.

Simon Jary

Price

At just $ 299.99, the Plugable 5 dock Thunderbolt (TBT-ARAD3) is the best value that we have tested. If you live outside the United States or Canada, you will have to wait for greater international availability.

Its closest competition in terms of technical specifications is the OWC Thunderbolt 5 Dock, at a price of $ 329.99. There are some differences: USB -A ports of 10 Gbit / s of OWC come out a little more power supply and Windows users can connect three screens if they wish – but you get just about everything with the pluble quay that you do with the OWC at a lower price. We believe that the plummant is more beautiful and can stand vertically and lie horizontally, which gives him the head of the head and a choice price of the editor.

The next steps remove the prices from many pockets. The Caldigit TS5 ($ 369) and TS5 Plus ($ 499) have more ports and power, and the Sonnet Echo 13 Thunderbolt 5 Dock (from $ 439) is delivered with integrated SSD storage.

Discover the competition for the best Thunderbolt 5 quay for MacBook.

Should you buy the Luvable Thunderbolt 5 wharf?

It is the Thunderbolt 5 quay of the best value that we have tested. It has enough ports for most people and offers excellent value for money for the latest technological performance strengthening updates.