Kensington SD5500T Thunderbolt 3 Dock assessment: Cloning greatness

At a look

Skilled’s Ranking

Professionals

• Nice mixture of options
• Price range value
• 60W of passthrough charging energy

Cons

• Two DisplayPort ports restrict show I/O choices
• Charging energy wasn’t fairly as much as ranking

Our Verdict

This clone of the IOGear Quantum Twin Mode Thunderbolt 3 Dock Professional (GTD737) is a centered, funds Thunderbolt dock that will get the job performed effectively.

Worth When Reviewed

$259.99

Greatest Costs Immediately: Kensington SD5500T Thunderbolt 3 and USB-C Docking Station

$247.00

Free

Should you’ve learn our assessment of the IOGear Quantum Twin Mode Thunderbolt 3 Dock Professional, you’ve learn our assessment of the Kensington SD5500T Thunderbolt Dock as effectively. They’re equivalent in look and performance, although the Kensington dock is just barely costlier for some cause.

Each are excellent for what they’re: a compact Thunderbolt 3 dock that gives a really centered variety of ports, in a configuration that received’t take up a lot of your desk. There are actually solely two issues which may flip off a purchaser: the considerably restricted 60W of energy the dock offers, and its use of a pair of DisplayPort connections, an no HDMI ports.

There’s additionally no possibility to face the dock vertically, for space-saving. However Kensington does promote a $20 mounting bracket, which may connect the dock to the again of a monitor. We haven’t tried out that possibility, however it actually appears like a novel and helpful resolution.

The dock is compact (6.6 x 3.1 x 1.1 inches, 2.7 kilos) with small rubber toes to maintain it stably planted in your desk. The included Thunderbolt 3 cable measures over two toes, supplying you with loads of room to connect the cable to your laptop computer. It connects to the entrance of the dock, subsequent to a 10Gbps USB-A port and a headphone jack.

Observe: This assessment is a part of our roundup of finest Thunderbolt docks. Go there for extra details about competing merchandise and our purchasing suggestions.

Mark Hachman / IDG

On the rear of the dock is a gigabit ethernet port, a pair of 5Gbps USB-A ports for a keyboard and mouse, and two 10Gbps USB-C ports. (Kudos to Kensington, by the best way, for utilizing the devoted 10Gbps USB brand to establish the sooner ports.) There are additionally a pair of older DisplayPort 1.2 ports for a pair of shows; be aware that the dock powers a pair of 4K shows at 60Hz if linked through Thunderbolt. In any other case, the dock will energy two 1080p shows at 30Hz, based on the handbook, in case your laptop computer simply has USB-C. (Should you do exactly have a USB-C connection, don’t purchase this dock and buy a USB-C dongle as an alternative.)

Another docks, just like the pricier Plugable TBT-UDZ, supply the choice of utilizing both DisplayPort or HDMI cables to connect with your show. Kensington’s method is okay, provided that many 4K shows ship with with each HDMI and DisplayPort choices. Simply be sure you personal the fitting cables. The dock carried out as anticipated, enjoying again protected content material on Netflix and never dropping a single body whereas streaming 4K video whereas linked to ethernet.

Whereas the built-in USB-C and USB-A ports are rated to supply 5V/1.5A per port (for 7.5W charging of smartphones), they equipped 4.8V/1.37A to our USB energy tester, for a complete of 6.61W. That was sufficient to cost, however not quick cost, a Samsung Galaxy S20 smartphone. The dock by no means will get too scorching, even below load.

This dock comes with a three-year guarantee.

Between IOGear’s dock and this one, we’d select IOGear: It’s slightly cheaper proper now at present costs. In any other case, they’re each strong choices for a Thunderbolt dock.