Sure, a Thunderbolt 4 dock is going to give you the best speeds, display connectivity, and compatibility, but what if a cheaper USB 4 dock could also throw you 100W power delivery, dual 4K displays, and a 40Gbps connection? That’s the question Razer is posing with its USB 4 Dock, a cheaper alternative to the brand’s $329.99 Thunderbolt option. At $229.99 / £229.99 it’s still more expensive than most non-powered hubs, but compared to the Ugreen, Dell, and CalDigit, it’s actually impressive value. You can easily spend far more than this and pick up a Thunderbolt or similar hub with fewer ports, more dropouts, and a greedier footprint.
As the best gaming laptops get slimmer, their ports are running dry. Unless you opt for an 18-inch behemoth, you’ll likely be sacrificing DisplayPort, extra USB-A connections, and even Ethernet support. If you’re running an AMD machine, or you simply don’t need to pay for the extra performance security of Thunderbolt, Razer’s oblong could well solve a lot of your problems.
