Elgato Thunderbolt 3 Dock
Up Close
Minimalism is the watchword for both the packaging and the Thunderbolt 3 Dock itself. The point of it is to reduce your clutter, so keeping things simple is in keeping with the design brief.
If you think that the box is simple it is nothing when compared to the top view of the Dock itself. Given that one of the key elements of the Dock is the ability for it to charge your MacBook Pro with a single cable thanks to its 85W output, and we know how design focussed Apple are, it makes perfect sense for the Elgato Thunderbolt 3 Dock to adhere to the smoothness required by such aficionados.
The business end of the Elgato Dock. From left to right we have a Gigabyte Ethernet port, two of the three available USB 3.0 ports, the key two Thunderbolt 3 ports that give the Dock its name, a DisplayPort connector and the power input. If you are unfamiliar with the Thunderbolt 3 specifications it has 40 Gb/s bandwidth with up to 85W when charging computers and 15W when powering devices, whilst also being able to output 4K to your DisplayPort monitor. A wholly impressive set of credentials.
If you want a good example of the smooth design aesthetic of the Elgato Deck then here next to the MacBook Pro you can see how clean it can keep your work area and how relatively small it is. This is especially obvious in the second photograph where it would easily fit on one of the stands of a monitor and isn’t much bigger than the Beats headphones.
Speaking of headphones the front face of the Elgato Thunderbolt 3 Dock has another USB 3.0 port as well as two jacks for your headphones and microphone. A perfect all-round solution for your audio needs.
The simplicity of having all your device needs handled by a single box makes the Elgato Thunderbolt 3 Dock an extremely attractive item, and as the Thunderbolt 3 technology finds even greater acceptance in modern devices it will only improve in usefulness. The ability to power two 4K displays or charge your laptop – your freaking laptop! – from it will greatly reduce how much clutter you have to lug around with you.
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