Anker has introduced its first Thunderbolt 5 dock. At roughly 5.2 inches extensive and three.4 inches tall, the Anker Prime TB5 Docking Station is just not as compact as some opponents, like CalDigit’s Ingredient 5 Hub. However inside its aluminum alloy housing is an built-in GaN energy provide delivering as much as 232W of mixed energy output, so that you gained’t should take care of a chunky energy brick or a cumbersome adapter.
The Prime TB5 Docking Station has 14 ports, based on Anker, together with the SD and microSD reminiscence card slots on the facet. Together with these you get two 10Gbps USB-C ports, three 10Gbps USB-A ports, HDMI, DisplayPort, a 2.5Gbps ethernet port, a headphone jack, two downstream USB-C Thunderbolt 5 ports providing as much as 120Gbps speeds with a Bandwidth Enhance possibility, and an upstream USB-C Thunderbolt 5 port that may ship as much as 140W of energy to a bunch laptop.
For comparability, CalDigit’s TS5 Plus, the reigning champ of Thunderbolt 5 port choices, has 20 ports, together with three Thunderbolt 5, 5 USB-C, and 5 USB-A. The Ingredient 5 Hub has 15.
The Anker Prime dock can join as much as two 8K shows, though Anker says resolutions and refresh charges could also be restricted by the host system’s capabilities. The corporate hasn’t stated whether or not triple-display setups are potential; Cable Issues says its Thunderbolt 5 dock might be related to 3 shows working at 8K/60Hz or 4K/144Hz.
Out there beginning at present by way of Anker’s on-line retailer and different retailers for $399.99, the TB5 Docking Station additionally contains a ring of adjustable ambient LED lighting across the prime and a U-shaped air duct with a cooling fan that makes use of an “clever temperature algorithm” to forestall overheating and efficiency loss. Its firmware will also be up to date remotely utilizing Anker’s Dock Supervisor software program, making software program upkeep simpler in amenities with a number of in use.
