Thunderbolt 5 docks turn your humble MacBook into a full-fledged desktop workstation. They allow for a clean, one-cable setup, with support for multiple monitors, external drives and other USB-C accessories.
There are plenty of Thunderbolt docks on the market, but not all of them are created equal. If you want the fastest speeds, the right mix of ports and seamless compatibility with your Mac, these are the best Thunderbolt 5 docking stations you can buy right now.
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A Thunderbolt 5 dock makes it easy to connect multiple high-bandwidth devices to your MacBook — all with a single cable. While there are plenty of options, as you’ll see from this review, the CalDigit TS5 Plus is the dock for Mac power users.
It stands out from the competition by offering features you’ll not find elsewhere. If you have the budget, the CalDigit TS5 Plus is the Thunderbolt 5 dock to own. Find out what makes it special in my hands-on review.
The newly announced CalDigit TS5 Plus is for very elaborate setups. The sort of professional-grade setups that can make use of 20 ports, including a pair of Thunderbolt 5 ports, five more USB-C ports, 140W charging, a 10Gb Ethernet port and plenty more.
Those who can struggle by with a mere 15 ports might choose the smaller CalDigit TS5 instead.
Everybody loves a big, beautiful external display in a computer setup — and this LG OLED TV monitor is a great way to go. Today’s setup is built around a 42-inch LG OLED TV plugged into a MacBook Pro.
Also: See if you can guess what the cool-looking desktop wallpaper showing on the display pictures. Answer below.
The CalDigit Element 5 Hub includes four Thunderbolt 5 ports. That puts it ahead of all directly competing hubs, as these include only three ports with the latest super-fast networking standard.
And that’s not all. CalDigit’s latest includes nine ports in total, and offers up to 90W of power.
When you run a ton of peripherals with your Mac, how do keep it all connected and running smoothly? Well, today’s featured M4 Pro Mac mini user drives a pair of 4K external displays, runs a power hub and input devices, and keeps backups on portable storage devices. And they keep it connected without a hitch using the well-regarded CalDigit Thunderbolt 4 hub named “Element.”
Today’s featured M4 Pro Mac mini user drives a pair of 4K external displays with the tiny new powerhouse desktop. And they keep an array of budget peripherals, including data and power hubs and solid input devices. And in addition, for physical backup, they like portable storage solutions in addition to cloud backup — in this case, fairly affordable hard drives from Samsung and La Cie (and the Samsung is deeply discounted right now — see below).
Not everyone would consider a well-equipped M4 Pro Mac mini driving a pair of 4K external displays a “budget” computer setup, but today’s user does. After suffering a job loss, they replaced an M1 Mac mini with the tiny new powerhouse and a nice array of peripherals, including data and power hubs and solid input devices.
These days, folks who use their computer setups to work on media, especially video, tend to rely on some sort of studio controller to streamline workflow. Today’s MacBook Pro user and YouTube video maker takes advantage of one of the top products out there, Elgato Stream Deck. Now the company is on its newer MK.2 edition. The device gives you 15 customizable keys to control all sort of actions in your workflow, including launching apps, posting to social media, adjusting lights and audio, and more.
Certain names in USB-C and Thunderbolt docks and hubs carry a lot of weight, like CalDigit and Satechi — both well-respected brands. But in today’s M2 MacBook Air setup, a discussion broke out over the user’s exceptional experience with a CalDigit Thunderbolt dock and a commenter’s woes over a Satechi Thunderbolt dock. Read some of the commentary and learn more about the gear below.
Classic keyboard designs continue to reign supreme in computer setups, but a split keyboard makes for a more ergonomically healthy choice. Some split keebs look just a little different than a regular keyboard. But some, like the one in today’s M2 Mac mini setup, look almost alien. This one has two completely separate halves that the user places on either side of a Magic Trackpad 2.
Some people prefer two or more displays in their computer setup, some go for just one — often a big one. Today’s outstanding MacBook Pro setup, run by an Apple admin no less, goes ultra-wide and then some with a 49-inch curved Samsung display. It’s massive. If you like customizing your Apple devices, you may also want to check out how to name my iPhone and personalize your setup further. It’s massive, and if you’re considering a Viewfinity option, take a look at this Samsung ultra-wide monitor setup.
The main complaint about Apple’s 5K Studio Display is price — at about $1,600, it’s financially out of reach for many people. And 5K monitor competitors like LG only bring the cost down a few hundred bucks. So how about saving some dough by making your own DIY Studio Display? The owner of today’s M3 Pro MacBook Pro setup did just that, crafting dual 27-inch 5K monitors for several hundred dollars less than buying production models.
There’s a lot to love about M1 MacBooks, but easy connectivity with multiple external displays isn’t on the list. So people often wonder which dock or adapter might suit their need to use one or more external displays with the laptop. Today’s M1 MacBook Air user asked for advice and got it. You can check out the three main recommendations for a good dock for MacBook Air below.
Thunderbolt docks bristling with ports are great tools for connecting your Mac to displays and other peripherals in your computer setup. And right now you can get excellent deals at Amazon on well-reviewed 15-port CalDigit Thunderbolt 3 dock or — for blazing-fast connectivity — an 18-port Thunderbolt 4 dock.
The other day we featured an M1 Ultra Mac Studio setup. We wanted to loop back to call out a couple of cool components in it — namely, a Loupedeck streaming media console and a Keychron Q1 Pro Mechanical Keyboard. It turns out Loupedeck Live is great for video editing (photos, too!).
The M1 Ultra Mac Studio set a new benchmark for computing power in a package smaller than Mac Pro when it came out in spring 2022. Today’s setup sparked discussion about the relative merits of the powerful desktop machine, with one user citing a surprising point of praise — the Mac Pro braided power cord!
After a recent debate over whether dual external displays should be lined up straight across or angled for better ergonomics, a Mac Studio and dual-MacBook setup addresses the question in a different way. It uses three identical displays in landscape mode, placing the center one one straight and one on either side of it at an angle.
And the setup also offers connecitivity tips, running the two MacBooks into two of the displays via a CalDigit dock while the Mac Studio drives one directly.
If Apple’s popular but pricey Studio Display is well-suited to anyone, it’s any type of designer because of the monitor’s formidable graphics chops.
In today’s loaded MacBook Pro setup, a designer sets apart his Studio Display for the highest praise among many items in a remarkably well-equipped workstation. And his Lego collection is epic, too.
If you had a gigantic 49-inch curved ultra-wide display, would you dream of adding more external monitors to it? If so, would you stack them, or add one or two displays in portrait mode (vertical) on either side of the big screen?
A MacBook Pro user with a giant Samsung display is pondering those very questions.
Perhaps you’ve heard an expression often used in sports commentary — “so-and-so is running a clinic on this,” meaning showing anyone and everyone how it’s done.
Today’s featured computer setup comes from an Apple administrator who clearly knows how it’s done, if “it” is setting up a rock-solid and highly functional workstation.
From time to time we see setups with both a Magic Trackpad and a mouse because of their different peculiarities — mainly because many people find trackpads especially good for gesturing. But why would you use two Magic Trackpads?
Well, today’s MacBook Pro setup with dual Studio Displays and dual Magic Trackpads provides a use case.
These days, MacBook laptops are more than powerful enough to handle most users’ computing needs. So if you don’t need an even brawnier desktop Mac, why not build your laptop into a full workstation with a few peripherals and accessories?
Today’s setup gets by with a 3-year-old MacBook Pro hooked up to a CalDigit Thunderbolt 3 dock and a nice LG 4K display, plus Logitech input devices and a few other items. It’s a complete workstation whether or not the user ever takes the MacBook Pro to go.
Cult of Mac‘s coverage of user computer setups shows lots and lots of people love Studio Displays. And tons of folks love dual-display setups. But two Studio Displays in a setup? You’d think we’d see more of those.
And today’s featured setup not only boasts dual Studio Displays, it sports two Macs — an M2 Mac mini and an M1 Pro MacBook Pro — in addition to a split mechanical keyboard and some 3D-printed parts.
We love it when computer setup users show their work as they trudge toward home-office nirvana. Today’s featured MacBook Pro and iPad Pro setup does it in a subtle way, providing “before” and “after” photos showing incremental changes that improved the workstation.
You can see the before photograph below and the after shot above.