How we test Thunderbolt docks at PCWorld

Deciding on the most easy Thunderbolt dock merely can’t be executed with an set on specs on my own. It’s a task that can take time and sources, however can pay off in the confidence that I’ve reached the accurate determination about which Thunderbolt docks are rate shopping for.

Thunderbolt docks emerged as mandatory instrument for the duration of the pandemic, when many people chanced on themselves working at dwelling and realized that their PCs lacked the correct form or number of ports to attach to all of their peripherals. A USB-C dongle will seemingly be correct sufficient, however a no-compromises work-from-dwelling setup demanded a Thunderbolt dock.

Varied publications will also treat Thunderbolt docks as a single product category. We acknowledge them as a part of a spectrum of I/O peripherals that involves the raw 40Gbps power of the most easy Thunderbolt docking stations on one cease, and more efficient, more cost-effective 10Gbps USB-C hubs on the other. In between are what are identified as DisplayLink docks that utilize proprietary data compression from Synaptics to design Thunderbolt capabilities at lower costs, and a related class of USB-C docks that utilize an open technology known as DSC with HBR3.

We test Thunderbolt docks and DisplayLink/DSC USB-C docks the usage of the same strategies and encompass our recommendations in the same article. We separate USB-C dongles into their indulge in roundup, with their indulge in tests. All of them part one thing in long-established, however: They’re designed to permit your laptop to attach to more peripherals and shows than it is doubtless you’ll perhaps otherwise contemplate that it is doubtless you’ll perhaps assume.

PCWorld’s testing standards for Thunderbolt docks

I test Thunderbolt docks the usage of a dwelling of long-established standards:

• Tag, and the diagram it compares to competitors
• The number of ports/suppose features, similar to the number of shows it connects to
• Steadiness, including whether peripherals all of a sudden disconnect
• Whether or now not it delivers the promised power to the laptop and the dock’s peripherals
• Performance, each and each in streaming and storage

The entire Thunderbolt docks we evaluate are equipped by the distributors after which assessed on my indulge in or other PCWorld workers with total editorial independence. Our decisions are made via arms-on testing, and we aren’t at all influenced by outside parties.

How I evaluate Thunderbolt docks on tag

My task begins with entering the Thunderbolt dock into our database. That will also seem irrelevant, however it no doubt also forces me to test its tag and availability. Is it correct on hand from the vendor, or from more than one retail outlets? Is the rate the same at all of them, or is there a sale that will make it more attractive to a reader?

Thunderbolt docks pushed up into the $300 fluctuate for the duration of the pandemic, and that’s most continuously mirrored in the MSRP pricing that accompanies our opinions. However dock makers have pushed exhausting to lower costs as provide chains have eased and competition has intensified.

How I evaluate Thunderbolt docks on features

Tag and features trot hand in hand. Most Thunderbolt docks are labeled as an “X-in-1,” where it is doubtless you’ll perhaps make a option from an 8-in-1 dock, or a 10-in-1 dock, or any other combination. This generally is somewhat subjective. Enact you, the client, need 30 USB-A ports? For certain now not. However are seven ports greater than 5? I even must search out out about at the rate a dock maker costs after which evaluate it to how accommodating the manufacturer is. A pleasant warranty is a plus, too.

It’s right here that I talk in confidence to search out out about at the physical dock itself. When I take away the dock from the packaging, I measure it to test that it matches the broadcast specifications. While I don’t care too worthy about the size of the dock itself, the length of the Thunderbolt twine matters.

What that capability is that selecting the accurate Thunderbolt dock is a dance between tag, ports, and guarantees. I’m in search of the most easy combination of features at the most inner your capability that it is doubtless you’ll perhaps assume tag, and I’ll most continuously alter my rankings merely attributable to a critical tag reduce.

I no doubt attempt to now not learn what any investors must yelp on websites cherish Amazon, as I’d cherish to develop my indulge in opinions. However I design trot abet and skim them sooner than I file my evaluate, in case I’ve disregarded one thing suppose that’s rate further testing or observation.

How I test Thunderbolt docks for steadiness

Now it’s time to attach. I jog the dock on a test laptop I even have dwelling up for the motive, and test for steadiness: When I connect the fresh cables, design they take a really prolonged time to attach? Enact the shows flicker or refuse to flip on? Does the dock require any utility instrument to be loaded? (The answer is generally no, however DisplayLink requires a instrument driver.) I then reboot and test again.

The ache with testing docking stations is that one test laptop doesn’t reduce it. Thunderbolt 3 docks generally is somewhat glitchy, in that connected shows can flicker and even disconnect. Thunderbolt 4 docks were designed to resolve this ache, with an incremental however more restrictive specification. However an accurate Thunderbolt skills relies on each and each the host laptop as well as the dock. In flip, I connect every dock to 5 test laptops with assorted substances inner, including Tenth-gen to 14th-gen Intel Core chips and an AMD Ryzen 7000 notebook. I utilize the cables and power provide that the dock ships with.

Thunderbolt 3/4 docking stations are supposed to reliably connect to 2 4K shows working at 60Hz. Some utilize compression to attach to four 4K shows at 60Hz. Many also tout the flexibility to attach to a single 8K fresh at 30Hz. I even have four 4K shows on hand, one which is rated at 144Hz. I will attributable to this truth test docks that claim that they can connect as a lot as four 4K shows, despite the truth that I lack an 8K fresh to test that ability. When Thunderbolt 5 arrives (three 4K shows, at 144Hz every) I’ll must make investments in more hardware.

It’s then abet to my day after day work laptop for a day or two of long-established utilize, as an further test. I’m also a gamer, so I’ll swap to a gaming laptop in the night and gaze the diagram it handles these, too. Right here’s all in the service of steadiness. If the shows flicker or disconnect, that’s atrocious news.

Many docks now strengthen as a lot as 2.5Gbps Ethernet. I don’t have get entry to to a 2.5Gbps Ethernet connection, however I will and design test the Ethernet connection on my dwelling connection which runs into the hundreds of megabits. I also test the dock’s headphone jack and the quality of the audio.

How I test Thunderbolt docks for his or her capability to provide power

Many sleek docks promote their capability to fee your smartphone via a dedicated power brick that sends power via the dock.

If truth be told, nearly about any port that offers power will ultimately fee a smartphone; I’m correct in search of one that can design at its rated power stage. I utilize a USB multimeter to test how worthy power every port offers, connecting it to a smartphone.

I design the same for the laptop itself. Most laptops don’t no doubt need as worthy power as at the fresh time’s high-cease docks provide. For that, I launch an intensive 3D recreation, then file the height power the dock offers over the Thunderbolt cable.

How I test Thunderbolt docks for performance

I complement my steadiness tests by testing the dock beneath several usage eventualities to gaze if there are any unexpected slowdowns as the dock transfers data.

The utilize of a test laptop that I utilize for every dock test, I trot 4K60 video from YouTube over the Ethernet connection as well as a prerecorded video the usage of the VLC video participant. Both applications can note how many, if any, frames are dropped. I trot at least 10,000 frames on YouTube and point to the number of dropped frames; the most easy tumble beneath 10 frames, whereas miserable-quality docks most continuously tumble over 100. Dropped frames translate into stuttery, choppy video playback.

I then connect a test, bus-powered SSD to the dock. The utilize of PCMark 10’s storage benchmark, I measure the SSD’s performance. Since I utilize the same laptop and the SSD from test to test, the most easy variable ought to be the dock itself. (Windows updates will also furthermore have an design.) I point to the win and the throughput and evaluate them to other docks I test. I then repeat the test whereas streaming video.

In the end, I file the time it takes to repeat a multi-gigabyte folder elephantine of assorted information from the dock to the laptop over the Thunderbolt 4 bus, then repeat the test whereas streaming video. Right here’s most continuously overkill, however I want to attempt to saturate the Thunderbolt bus if that it is doubtless you’ll perhaps assume and route as worthy data via the dock itself.

Thunderbolt docks tend to design more poorly than DisplayLink docks in these performance tests, despite the truth that now not by worthy. That’s seemingly attributable to the compression DisplayLink docks exhaust.

I don’t practice the same rigor to any SD or microSD card slots the dock has. I accelerate a easy storage test, with the appropriate card, to gaze if it delivers on its rated poke.

clarify our Thunderbolt dock rating machine

I award an Editor’s Possibility award if the dock is stable, performs well, delivers the rated power that it guarantees, and at a competitive tag. I will tag down for instability or technical system defects, or other deficiencies. In some conditions, I’d also now not subtract that worthy from the rating of a feature that I don’t take into accout severe; one fresh dock suffered from miserable audio, however it no doubt’s a feature that’s chanced on on nearly about all laptops. Our Most attention-grabbing Picks for Thunderbolt docks will most continuously point to docks that we’ve reviewed and design now not meet our standards, however now not constantly.

An Editor’s Possibility award will seemingly be assigned to a product with four stars or above, however now not at all beneath. In transient, I will simplest set an Editor’s Possibility award to a dock that I’d utilize myself and would advocate to a chum or member of the family.

Creator: Trace Hachman, Senior Editor