Sonnet announces Echo 11 Thunderbolt 4 Dock with four Thunderbolt ports

The newly announced Sonnet Echo 11 Thunderbolt 4 Dock has 11 ports, four of which are backwards-compatible Thunderbolt ports.

Thunderbolt 4 is a backwards-compatible spec that allows for a single device to work across multiple port specs. Connect the new Sonnet dock to any Thunderbolt 3 Mac, including the M1 Macs.

The Sonnet Echo 11 Thunderbolt 4 Dock has four Thunderbolt ports, one for connecting the dock to your Mac and three additional Thunderbolt ports for accessories. The Thunderbolt 4 spec will allow you to connect any device to those ports that uses a USB-C port.

The dock connects via a single Thunderbolt cable so the maximum data that can be carried from the dock to your computer will be limited to 40Gb/s. This means that even if you connect fast NVM-e Thunderbolt drives to each of the three ports, they all cannot transfer data simultaneously at 40Gb/s, with speeds managed by the controller in the dock.

When using the dock with an M1 Mac only one external display can be connected at up to 6K resolution through a Thunderbolt port. The dock is rated for a maximum output of two 5K displays with Intel Macs.

Turn one Thunderbolt port into 11

The ports included on the Echo 11 Dock are:

• 3 Thunderbolt 4 peripheral ports
• One Thunderbolt 4 90W charging port
• Three USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A ports
• One USB 2.0 Type-A port
• One SD 4.0 Card Slot
• One Gigabit Ethernet Port

The Sonnet Echo 11 Thunderbolt 4 Dock is available for preorder now, for $199.99. The price reflects a $50 savings off the final retail price. Preorders are expected to ship in April.