Kensington SD5800T Thunderbolt 4 Dock review: Premium in all ways

Value When Reviewed

379.99

Finest Costs At present: Kensington Thunderbolt 4/USB 4 Quad Video Docking Station (SD5800T)

The Kensington Thunderbolt 4 and USB Quad Docking Station (SD5800T) feels a bit like one different verse in a well-recognized tune: A model new dock arrives, loaded to the gills with ports; however, all of that flexibility arrives with a steep worth premium, too.

Kensington and Plugable appear on the excessive of our current guidelines of the simplest Thunderbolt docks. That is our first different to analysis Kensington’s ultra-premium 16-in-1 SD5800T Thunderbolt 4 dock, which seems to be like almost an an identical to the Plugable TBT4-UDZ — which we’ve written about nevertheless haven’t however formally reviewed. Given the potential for an eventual head-to-head shootout, it’s worth noting that the SD5800T’s MSRP is technically $379, nevertheless that Amazon lists it as $299, the an identical as Plugable’s dock. (And at press time, Amazon has the value of the SD5800T decrease to easily $229.)

In any event, that’s Kensington’s dock to buy should you’d like the whole thing: 4 4K exhibits (two DisplayPort 1.4, two HDMI 2.1), plus a boatload of USB-A and USB-C ports. In fact, you’re not obligated to connect 4 exhibits; you probably can choose two exhibits as an alternative, content material materials within the data that you’d be capable of favor regardless of cable (HDMI or DisplayPort) you need.

A few of the fundamentals need explaining. Nearly all Thunderbolt 4 docks will hook up with USB4 ports and never utilizing a hitch. Kensington’s extended, formal product title spells this out. As a result of Intel refuses to certify non-Intel (be taught: AMD Ryzen) laptops for Thunderbolt, Ryzen notebooks use USB4 ports as an alternative. They’re primarily an an identical.

Mark Hachman / IDG

Kensington accomplishes a quad-display orientation by means of a mix of the 40Gbps Thunderbolt 4 port plus a experience known as Show Stream Compression (DSC), which makes use of an industry-standard compression experience to eke out additional bandwidth. DSC is very like DisplayLink, a compression experience designed by Synaptics, and the inspiration of a complete class of excellent DisplayLink docks, which we embody in our biggest Thunderbolt dock roundup. DSC doesn’t require the software program program driver that DisplayLink does, nevertheless DSC could possibly be a bit of iffy on any laptop computer laptop that makes use of a Twelfth-gen Core processor or older.

Kensington’s SD5800T sits atop the premium Thunderbolt dock market with secure stability, a boatload of ports, and the ability to hook up with 4 exhibits immediately. It’s a superb dock, nevertheless feels a bit overpriced at its default worth.

The bottom line is {{that a}} Thunderbolt dock was designed for a pair of 4K, 60Hz exhibits, and DSC or DisplayLink will enhance that to 4 4K exhibits as an alternative. Should you’re eager on numerous shows, that’s really cool.

Kensington Thunderbolt 4 and USB Quad Docking Station (SD5800T): The ports

On the doorway of the SD5800T there’s a microSD and SD card slot for photographers (SD 4.0, UHS-II) alongside a 10Gbps USB-A port and a 480Mbps USB-A port, clearly marked for charging a smartphone at a rated 1.5A. There’s moreover an affect button, a headphone jack, and a 3.25-foot Thunderbolt 4 wire that gives a rated 98W to your laptop computer laptop. On the rear, Kensington includes a Kensington nano- and full-sized security slot (natch), the ability port, the 4 present ports, 2.5Gbps Ethernet, a 10Gbps USB-C charging port rated at 1.5A, plus 4 USB-A ports evenly break up between 10Gbps and 5Gbps.

Mark Hachman / IDG

That’s moderately so much, and the design hides numerous execs and cons. For one, did I level out that the dock might be mounted vertically? Kensington’s SD5800T measures 7.68 x 4.09 x 1.42 inches (and 1.34 kilos, if it points) nevertheless might be propped vertically on a stand to save lots of plenty of space. (The dock has rubber ft for mounting flat, however.) Even with cords sprouting from numerous ports, it sat fully steadily on my desk. The ports are well-spaced, as properly.

What I don’t like in regards to the design is the way in which it locations the USB-C charging port on the once more; must you’re a stickler for group, you’ll want it on the doorway, nearer to you. I don’t just like the scarcity of an LED-lit vitality button, each.

Mark Hachman / IDG

Kensington Thunderbolt 4 and USB Quad Docking Station (SD5800T): Efficiency

The question I always ask of a quad-display dock similar to the Kensington SD5800T: Does it ship what it ensures? The reply is: Nicely, it depends upon. Due to the vagaries of varied {{hardware}}, you probably can probably anticipate completely completely different capabilities counting on how new your laptop computer laptop is. As always, the newer the {{hardware}}, the upper.

Right here’s a synopsis of how the Kensington SD5800T carried out on quite a few laptops, merely as an example the variations. It’s very important to note, however, that though the exhibits took numerous seconds to connect, I certainly not expert any glitches or disconnects. It’s moreover very important to note that the information states that the dock can ship “as a lot as 4K @ 60Hz” effectivity all through 4 exhibits. (Emphasis mine.) Kensington moreover ensures that the dock can vitality a single 8K present at 60Hz, nevertheless we lack the {{hardware}} to examine that.

The dock’s USB-C charging port delivered 7.45W, ample to fast-charge a smartphone. However the front-mounted USB-A charging port delivered merely 0.5A (or 2.4W), which doesn’t come close to the promised 1.5A. The 2 front-mounted ports ship the an identical amount of vitality, although one claims to be a charging port! The SD800T delivered a peak output of 94W to the laptop computer laptop, which is shut ample to the rated output to be acceptable.

Streaming and data swap effectivity was acceptable. Thunderbolt docks always ship a bit a lot much less data throughput than DisplayLink; the 130.74MBps was about on par with completely different Thunderbolt 4 docks that I’ve examined, such as a result of the Anker 777. The dock dropped 7 out of 10,000 frames whereas streaming. A check out by which I copy a folder containing gigabytes of data from an SSD down by way of to the dock to the desktop achieved in 1 minute, 8 seconds, which is among the many many slower performers. The SD card slots labored as anticipated, and there have been no pops or dropouts from the headphone jack.

Thunderbolt 3 and Thunderbolt 4 docks tend to provide associated effectivity; Thunderbolt 4 docks are a bit additional regular, which is why you see a mix of Thunderbolt 3 and 4 docks amongst our biggest picks.

Must you buy the Kensington SD5800T?

At $299, the SD5800T is a tough promote. At $379, I’d skip it altogether. At $229, your ears must perk up. I just like the pliability of the SD5800T higher than our present biggest resolve, the Kensington SD5780T, which is why the bountiful Plugable TBT3-UDZ continues to be amongst our hottest Thunderbolt docks. I don’t similar to the SD5800T’s mislabeled charging port, however, and our analysis is muddied by the way in which it interacts with quite a few {{hardware}}.

However, the Kensington Thunderbolt 4 and USB Quad Docking Station (SD5800T) continues to be a well-designed Thunderbolt 4 dock with some slight blemishes. Use the accessible worth to data your searching for decision.