Gaming peripheral expert Corsair has released a new Thunderbolt 3 docking station that boasts a number of useful ports, paired with aesthetics that should fit in perfectly with any of Apple’s Space Gray hardware kit. The TBT100 dock offers plenty of expandability for making your Mac the center of a temporary work-from-home office, or can provide great convenience and connection options even for more powerful desktop computer setups.
The basics
The Corsair TBT100 offers a full complement of ports powered via a single Thunderbolt 3 cable from your computer, along with a dedicated power adapter. For display, there are 2 HDMI 2.0 ports capable of 4K 60Hz output, with HDR color rendering. There are two USB 3.2 Type-C ports, one in front and one in back, as well as two USB 3.1 Type-A ports (both in back) that can all connect to both charge devices and provide data connections. A Gigabit Ethernet port provides networking, while a 3.5mm jack offers both headphone out and microphone in. There’s also an SDXC card reader that supports UHS-II speeds.
The TBT100 offers 85W power delivery via its lone Thunderbolt 3 cable for connected host notebooks, and can smart charge devices at up to 15W via the USB-C ports, or up to 7.5W via the USB-A connections.
Design and features
This is definitely one of the better-looking Thunderbolt 3 docks out there. It’s a category where it’s hard for design to stand out, since these generally all look roughly the same – metallic and plastic rectangles with a combinations of ports located front and back. Corsair’s dock doesn’t venture too far from this standard look, but the touches it adds like the gray aluminum finish and the way the aluminum continues around the rounded corners makes it a more attractive desktop addition than most.
The port arrangement is also well-conceived. Up front, there’s one USB-C port (handy for quickly plugging in a mobile device for a charge), the SD card reader (really useful for frequent use) and the 3.5 mm jack (ditto for commonly relocated items like headsets). Everything else is around back, letting you put more regularly connected cables in prime location for routing them to make them a more invisible part of your desktop setup.
Corsair’s choice to go with HDMI ports is also probably the best option on balance for most users. Many alternatives have gone with DisplayPort, but your average consumer these days is much more likely to have HDMI cables and HDMI-capable displays, and the spec still supports 4K resolution as well as HDR to get the most image quality out of any modern connected TV or monitor.
Bottom line
There are many flavors of Thunderbolt 3 docks, but the Corsair TBT100 offers a pretty perfect blend of connectivity, design and convenience relative to the pack. At $259.99, the price of the dock is also not too expensive, though it’s not cheap either. But if you’re looking for a reliable, permanent solution to a lack of connections for your home setup, this is the one to get.
