Wesley Hilliard
The OWC Thunderbolt Go Dock claims to be the world's first Thunderbolt dock with a built-in power supply complete with 11 ports and 90W power delivery.
CES 2023 is underway, and OWC is rushing out of the gate with the Thunderbolt Go Dock. It is an 11-port Thunderbolt dock with a built-in power supply.
The 11 ports include a 90W Thunderbolt connection to the Mac or PC, two downstream Thunderbolt ports, an HDMI port, a 2.5G Ethernet port, two USB 3.2 Type-A ports, one USB 3.2 Type-C port, one USB 2.0 Type-A port, a headphone jack, an SD card slot, and the AC power input.
The HDMI port is capable of outputting up to 8K video. Also, the USB 3.2 ports enable up to 10Gb/s data speeds.
The ports themselves are high-specced and very useful, but the selling point of the Thunderbolt Go Dock is its built-in power supply. Generally, these kinds of Thunderbolt docks come paired with an enormous, hot power supply that can be much larger than the dock itself.
The "Go" name is a reference to the gained portability of the dock since the user only needs the dock and power cable.
"For the last almost 35 years, our focus has been on creating products that help creatives, professionals and general consumers build computing solutions without compromise for both desktop and mobile. Now, with the Thunderbolt Go Dock, our customers can enjoy the best of both worlds when it comes to portability and performance," said Larry O'Connor, founder and CEO of OWC. "The elimination of those big, bulky power adapters has always meant customers had to accept lower productivity for portable docks. We've developed our Thunderbolt Go Dock with virtually every modern accessory and need in mind to provide connectivity empowerment no matter when or where users need it."
Customers can register their interest for the OWC Thunderbolt Go Dock on the OWC website. It is expected to begin shipping in April and costs $399.
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4 Comments
We have a couple of dozen laptop docks of various brands, including OWC. This new OWC dock's built-in power power supply would be very welcome in reducing the number of power supply boxes and their trailing wires. But what's really needed in this product category is a $250 price, and definitely not a bump up to $400.
Considering how much laptop you can get for a grand, $400 just for a dock is, well, insulting.
Your OWC link didn't go to the device. It should be https://www.owc.com/thunderbolt-go-dock and this website doesn't say anything about its price. It's not listed on the normal MacSales website. The power jack is on the long side instead of the end so you'll have to deal with a power cord next to all the data cables.
As for its price, the current Thunderbolt Pro Dock (10G ethernet) is already $399 so for the same price you get slower ethernet but a built-in power brick (and when I say brick, they weigh about the same!).
For a moment I thought this had a built-in big-ass-battery. “Great idea - long overdue.” I thought. But still, nice to see the PS integrated.
Did OWC not notice they've already been selling a TB3 dock for years at that same price that supports 10GbE ethernet?