OtherWorld Computing has announced a new upgraded model of its Thunderbolt 3 dock. The new dock features 14 ports of connectivity, including max 85 watt charging over Thunderbolt 3, which means it can fully charge a MacBook Pro — and provide various I/O ports — using a single cable.
In addition to high wattage charging, the 14-port dock includes a new USB-C 3.1 Gen 2 port on the front alongside the rectangular USB-A.
This means that you can plug in a USB-C product on the front without wasting the two Thunderbolt 3 ports on the back with an accessory that doesn’t need 40 Gb/s bandwidth.
USB-C 3.1 Gen 2 provides up to 10 Gb/s, so it’s no slouch, but it’s perfect for most accessories that don’t require the fastest IO. The port can also deliver up to 15 W of power thanks to USB-C Power Delivery, so you could charge your iPhone or iPad through it.
The 85W Thunderbolt 3 port is on the back of the unit, next to a second Thunderbolt 3 port — but only the one marked with the ‘laptop’ icon pushes through 85W.
For people that rely on SD card media in their workflows, the OWC dock is the first dock to include both an SD Card and microSD card slot. These slots are fully compatible with the new SD Express cards, perfect for photographers to move images off their cameras at maximum speed.
In addition to what’s new, the OWC Dock continues to take advantage of the Thunderbolt 3 bandwidth to enable users to drive two 4K or one 5K display using just one port on their MacBooks. There’s a DisplayPort out, an audio in/out 3.5mm jack, two Thunderbolt 3 ports with the ability to daisychain even more Thunderbolt peripherals, five USB-A ports, Gigabit ethernet, and a digital audio output.
The new dock is available now to preorder on MacSales for $299, with a launch in the next couple of weeks. The dock is available in Space Grey and Silver finishes.
