The Best Thunderbolt 3 Dock

If you have a computer with a Thunderbolt 3 port and want to connect several peripherals—displays, drives, printers, and such—a Thunderbolt dock lets you attach them all with a single cable. If you use a laptop as your main computer and regularly move that laptop to and from a desk with multiple peripherals, you can leave all of those accessories plugged into the dock so that when you sit down at your desk, you can simply plug your Thunderbolt cable into the laptop to connect everything instantly. A Thunderbolt dock is also useful if your Thunderbolt-equipped computer doesn’t have enough ports and connections, or if those connections are inconveniently located. You can run a single Thunderbolt cable from the computer to the dock and put the dock somewhere more accessible. Thunderbolt docks are ideal for creative professionals and other people who demand a lot from their computers, including the fastest possible transfer speeds and the widest port selection. Most people, however, are just as well served by a much less expensive USB-C dock. These docks use the same connector and can do almost all the same things, but they don’t support Thunderbolt 3 transfer speeds and don’t usually include the same quantity or variety of ports.