Belkin is the latest company to get on the Thunderbolt 4 dock train with its new $399 Connect Pro Thunderbolt 4 Dock, which replaces the company’s previous Thunderbolt 3 Dock Pro, adding more ports and power than the old model.
The Connect Pro Thunderbolt 4 Dock has a pretty similar design to the Thunderbolt 3 Dock Pro, with a curved aluminum enclosure and glossy plastic. The idea is the same as any Thunderbolt dock: just connect all your screens and accessories to the dock, and then plug the dock into your laptop to use your whole desk setup.
Most of the ports face backward to connect to your various devices, although the SD card slot, 3.5mm combo jack, USB-C 3.1 port, and the upstream Thunderbolt 4 port to connect to your computer all face forward for ease of use. (Notably, the new model doesn’t feature a front-facing USB-A port anymore.) Passthrough charging has also been bumped up slightly, from 85W of power to 90W.
In total, the Connect Pro Thunderbolt 4 Dock has 12 ports — here’s what you’ll get:
Two Thunderbolt 4 ports (one upstream to connect to your laptop, one downstream for a monitor or accessory)
One USB-C 3.1 Gen 2 (with support for the USB-C PD 3.0 charging standard)
Two HDMI 2.0 ports
Two USB-A 3.1 ports
Two USB-A 2.0 port
One SD card 4.0 slot
One Gigabit Ethernet port
One 3.5mm combo audio port
It’s a nice selection of ports, especially if you’re looking to connect multiple displays: the Connect Pro Thunderbolt 4 Dock can support a single display at 8K at up to 30hz, dual 4K displays at 60Hz, or even three displays at once (assuming your laptop supports it). The company also throws in a 0.8m (about 2.6 feet) long Thunderbolt 4 cable to connect your laptop to the dock, too.
Still, you’re paying a lot for the design here. Compare the $399 Belkin dock to CalDigit’s new TS4 Thunderbolt dock, for example, which costs $40 less at $359.95 and offers more ports and more powerful passthrough charging at the same time. Belkin’s dock does win out with better display support, though, thanks to its dual HDMI ports and theoretical triple display setup, so it’ll likely depend on what it is you need for your desk setup.
Additionally, Belkin is also launching new Thunderbolt 4 cables alongside the new dock: a one-meter cable for $44.99 and a longer two-meter cable for $69.99, each of which supports the full 40Gbps data transfer speed, 100W USB-C PD specification, and is backward compatible with USB4, Thunderbolt 3, USB 3.2, and USB 2.0.
Both the Connect Pro Thunderbolt 4 Dock and Belkin’s new cables are available to order today from Amazon or Belkin’s website.