If you’re one of those people lucky enough to own one of Apple’s new Mac Mini M4 Pros with Thunderbolt 5 ports, you may be wondering when a compatible dock will be available to take advantage of those massive speed boosts that latest Thunderbolt standard has to offer.
Thunderbolt 4 offers a data bandwidth of 40Gbps and can carry signals for video, audio, power and data through a single cable. It’s a handy technology that Intel has now supercharged with the release of Thunderbolt 5 which boosts the transfer speeds to an impressive 120Gbps.
If you’re looking for a Thunderbolt 5 docking station, then today’s announcement by Anker launching its new Prime Thunderbolt 5 Docking station will make you very happy. This new 14-in-1 dock can handle 8K video and offers Thunderbolt 5 speeds and includes a comprehensive selection of ports designed for creative professionals, gamers and videographers.
Thanks to Gallium Nitride technology, the dock eliminates for a bulky power supply while offering up to 232W of total power output and 250W of total power input. To ensure everything stays cool and runs efficiently, the Anker Prime Thunderbolt Docking Station has a precision U-shaped air duct, built-in turbo fan and smart temperature control algorithms that maintain high performance under heavy load while keeping surface temperatures stable.
To keep things running smoothly, the new docking station can receive remote firmware updates using the Anker Dock Manager app which intelligently delivers updates only when they are necessary, helping to prevent compatibility issues across multiple devices.
As an All-in-One 14-port docking station there are plenty of ports housed withing the square and compact aluminum alloy case. On the front of the docking station there is a power switch, a 3.5mm audio jack, two 10Gbps USB-Type C ports sharing up to 45W of power delivery output for topping up smartphones or tablets. There is also a 10Gbps USB Type-A port for using thumb drives and external SSDs.
To the left side of the docking station there are a couple of memory card slots for SD and microSD type storage. Meanwhile, at the back, there’s a single Thunderbolt 5 upstream port for connecting to the host computer, plus two Thunderbolt 5 downstream ports.
Also at the rear are two USB-A 10Gbps ports, a 2.5Gbps Ethernet RJ45 port plus HDMI 2.1 and DisplayPort 2.1 outputs that can support a wide range of high-resolution displays up to 8K and 60Hz without the need for manual configuration or adapters.
The video ports have a multiplexed architecture for automatically activating the first connected output. In addition, dual Thunderbolt 5 downstream ports support high-speed daisy-chaining of devices for seamless connections to high-performance external devices like SSDs and multi-monitor setups.
The Anker Prime Docking Station features dynamic ambient lighting and an aluminum alloy body that chimes with the Mac Mini’s aesthetic. The docking station is powered by a standard figure-of-eight mains cable so there’s no need for an external power supply to clutter your workspace.
Pricing and Availability:
The Anker Prime Thunderbolt 5 Docking Station and Thunderbolt 5 cable will be available from April 30 at anker.com, Amazon.co.uk and select global retail partners priced at $399.99 / £399.99.
Tech Specs:
- USB: 2 x USB-C 10Gbps, 3 x USB-A 10Gbps.
- Thunderbolt: 1 x Thunderbolt 5 upstream, 2 x Thunderbolt 5 downstream.
- Thunderbolt speeds: Up to 120Gbps.
- Card slots: 1 x SD, 1 x TF 3.0 (microSD).
- Ethernet: 2.5Gbps RJ45.
- Audio: 1 x 3.5mm stereo.
- Video: Supports dual 8K displays.
- Power technology: GaN.
- Total power output: 232W.
- Total power input: 250W.
