Plugable’s new 16-in-1 Thunderbolt 4 Quad Dock (TBT4-UDZ) doesn’t help the upcoming next-gen Thunderbolt 5 spec. However at CES 2023, the corporate may be very clearly signaling that it’ll with its new specs.
The options of the TBT4-UDZ embrace help for 4 4K shows, which is each ludicrous and fairly doubtless not even attainable with the present 40Gbps Thunderbolt 4 specification. In any case, simply two 4K shows can devour about thirty gigabits per second, plus just a little extra relying on the refresh charge and complexity of the picture. So it’s unlikely that this dock can energy 4 4K shows concurrently, particularly because it’s constructed upon the Intel “Goshen Ridge” chipset, which permits simply 40Gbps per second.
Clarification: In response to Plugable, sure PCs will have the ability to help 4 4K shows. “As a consequence of developments with DisplayPort video applied sciences resembling DisplayPort 1.4 HBR3 (Excessive Bit Price 3) with DSC (Show Stream Compression) there’s sufficient bandwidth when utilizing the TBT4-UDZ to realize 4x 4K 60Hz prolonged shows by way of 40Gbps Thunderbolt 4 and USB4 on Home windows methods,” Plugable mentioned in an announcement.
The next-gen Thunderbolt specification, nevertheless (more likely to be known as Thunderbolt 5) will help as much as 80Gbps. That may simply enable 4 4K shows, or (gulp) a 4K show working at 240Hz, or some extra mixture of excessive decision and excessive refresh charges. It’s simply not right here but, although we’ll doubtless see it in 2023.
In any other case, the TBT4-UDZ (Plugable’s first official Thunderbolt 4 dock) consists of a number of the options we’ve come to anticipate in our listing of the best Thunderbolt docks: a selection between HDMI and DisplayPort connections — or the flexibility to make use of each — together with 100W charging energy. The TBT4-UDZ is a cousin of the TBT3-UDZ, one of our Editors’ Choice-winning docks. Plugable is among the many producers formally supporting 2.5Gbps Ethernet too, though the extra bandwidth coming down the cable, the extra congested that cable might be. You’ll discover 4 USB-A ports (two 5Gbps, two 10Gbps) and a UHS-II microSD/SD card slot.
The TBT4-UDZ shall be launched on Jan. 17 on Amazon for $299.
This story has been up to date at 4:50 PM with an announcement from Plugable.
