We've extensively benchmarked the best Thunderbolt and USB-C docks in 2026 and have compiled a list of the best models on the market here. There used to be a time when laptops would come with a bevy of ports to satisfy most of your connectivity needs. While some larger, desktop-replacement laptops still have a relatively large number of ports, ultrabooks have mostly reduced the number of ports to the bare minimum to save space and reduce weight.

While these efforts result in laptops that are thin and light, if you want to connect a wide variety of devices, including external monitors, you’ll need a dongle or a dock. While dongles are fine for connecting a single peripheral, docks are handy for connecting a variety of devices while simultaneously charging your laptop.

The two most common connectivity options for modern docks are USB-C and Thunderbolt. Nearly every laptop on the market has at least one USB-C port available, which opens up a wealth of possibilities for connecting everything from an external monitor to an external hard drive to webcams to gaming mice. Thunderbolt ports are less common, particularly the latest Thunderbolt 5 standard, but these docks give you the option for even more ports and faster maximum transfer speeds while supporting higher-resolution monitors.

With this in mind, we’re going to take a look at some of the best Thunderbolt and USB-C docks available today.

Quick List

Best Thunderbolt and USB-C Docks for Laptops you can buy today

Best Value Thunderbolt 4 Dock

The Amazon Basics Thunderbolt 4 Pro Dock is a relatively compact dock measuring just 7.86 x 2.95 x 1.23 inches. It features a jet black finish with cooling fins along its flanks to help dissipate heat. As you can see from its name, this is a Thunderbolt 4 dock, so it doesn't offer the higher throughput speeds and loftier Power Delivery figures available to Thunderbolt 5 docks. However, you do get up to 40 Gbps bidirectional data transfer speeds and up to 96-watt charging for your laptop.

The dock supports up to two 4K monitors at 60 Hz, and even includes a 2.5 GbE Ethernet port and an SD slot for offloading images from your digital camera or drone.

With a street price of around $200, the Thunderbolt 4 Pro Dock is a good all-around solution if you need a dock that won't break the bank.

Best Value Thunderbolt 5 Dock

The WAVLINK WL-UTD58-M is a well-rounded Thunderbolt 5 dock supporting bidirectional data speeds of up to 80 Gbps (120 Gbps one way) via its three downstream ports. The dock measures 8.6 x 3.8 x 1.38 inches and includes four USB-A ports for legacy peripherals. Your media needs are also met with microSD and SD slots, while a 2.5 GbE port handles your wired networking. It can also support up to three 4K monitors at a 144 Hz refresh rate.

One of the standout features of the WL-UTD58-M is the M.2 slot on the bottom of the dock, which allows you to add a PCIe 4.0 SSD.

The WL-UTD58-M has an MSRP of $399, making it price-competitive in the Thunderbolt 5 Dock market.

Best Premium Thunderbolt 5 Dock for Windows Laptops

The CalDigit TS5 Plus puts most other Thunderbolt docks to shame with its sheer number of ports (20 in total). The TS5 Plus looks unassuming from the front, offering microSD and SD slots, a single USB-A port, two USB-C ports, and a 3.5mm combo jack. However, the floodgates open at the back, where you'll find a wealth of USB-C, Thunderbolt, and USB-A ports.

CalDigit even offers up a DisplayPort 2.1 port for your monitor, and a 10 GbE port for wired networking. About the only thing missing here is an internal M.2 SSD slot like some other Thunderbolt 5 docks. The TS5 Plus supports up to two 8K60 monitors or three 4K144 monitors.

The TS5 Plus is a premium dock, and it definitely comes with premium pricing with an MSRP of $499.

Best Premium Thunderbolt 5 Dock for Macs

If you have a high-end Mac or MacBook, look no further than the Ivanky FusionDock Ultra. This is the ultimate Thunderbolt 5 dock available, and it only supports Apple Silicon Macs.

It offers a staggering 26 ports, including seven USB-C and two USB-A on the front panel (along with a microSD and SD slot). The back panel is awash in ports, including four Thunderbolt 5 ports, DisplayPort 2.1, HDMI 2.1, S/PDIF, and even a 10 GbE port. You won’t be left wanting, as every possible data and video option is covered here.

The FusionDock Ultra has two Thunderbolt 5 chips onboard, so it requires two Thunderbolt ports on your Mac. While that might seem a bit odd, giving up those two ports opens you to the most feature-packed Thunderbolt 5 dock on the market, while also delivering 140 watts through Power Delivery. With the proper hardware, the FusionDock Ultra can support up to four 6K60 monitors simultaneously.

All of this port goodness comes at a cost; however, the FusionDock Ultra has a street price of a staggering $649.

Best USB-C Dock

The Baseus RD1 Pro is a 15-in-1 unit with dual HDMI ports that support up to 4K resolution at 60 Hz. It also supports Power Delivery to a laptop, along with Gigabit Ethernet, an SD card slot, and a gaggle of USB-A and USB-C ports.

Perhaps its most interesting addition is a Qi2.2 wireless charging dock (25 watts) mounted to the top of the unit. The dock can lie flat or pivot forward, giving you a better view of your smartphone when it's docked.

The RD1 Pro even has a display on the front that shows the status and power level of the USB ports, which is a nice touch. The dock has an MSRP of $199.99.

Specifications

Best Thunderbolt and USB-C Docks for Laptops Shopping Tips

An Asus-branded Thunderbolt 5 expansion card has appeared on the firm's product pages. The new Asus ThunderboltEX 5 expansion card fits into a spare PCIe 4.0 x4 slot on your motherboard to provide a pair of the headlining Thunderbolt 5 ports and a trio of mini DisplayPorts to the rear of your chassis. Internally, the card also provides a Thunderbolt and USB 2.0 header, and you will need to attach it to your PSU (a single 6-pin) to enable up to 130W to connected devices.

Regular Tom's Hardware readers may have noticed Gigabyte launched a similar product last week, amusingly dubbed the Thunderbolts 5. We don't know how the plural got in there, but there are minor differences between the Gigabyte and the Asus card. If you were looking for one of these expansion cards, comparing the specs is probably worth comparing – just in case any minor differences are important to you.

Like the rival offering, the Asus ThunderboltEX 5 is based upon the Intel JHL9580 Thunderbolt 5 Controller. The expansion card bracket also has the same outputs: twin USB Type-C Thunderbolt 5 ports and three mini DisplayPorts. The DisplayPorts boost system display options by three 8K 60 Hz displays with DSC.

Viewing the Asus product overview and specs pages, bandwidth and power specs diverge slightly. Asus says this card's dual USB Type-C Thunderbolt 5 ports support "up to 120 Gbps of bi-directional bandwidth" for super fast data transfers and video output. However, Gigabyte's specs say that its card delivers "up to 80 Gbps bi-directional bandwidth, or up to 120 Gbps single-direction bandwidth."

Things also look a little different regarding power delivery and charging support specs. The Asus card offers up to 130 watts of fast charging and 96W for one device. The firm says you'll need an Asus motherboard for that headlining figure. Meanwhile, Gigabyte says its card supports the PD 3.1 standard up to 100W. Interestingly, the Asus card only has one six-pin power connector, but the Gigabyte has two, so perhaps its USB-C ports can provide up to 100W power delivery.

The number and type of internal connectors differ further between these Thunderbolt 5 add-in card offerings. Asus has one Thunderbolt and one USB 2.0 header. Gigabyte's card has two Thunderbolt headers (a 5-pin and a 3-pin) and an internal USB header. It isn't clear whether the internal Thunderbolt connectors need to be attached to the system motherboard Thunderbolt headers for this card to function fully.

We don't have pricing or availability details yet for either product you might prefer. To enjoy the Thunderbolt 5 goodness provided by add-in cards like these, you will need a spare PCI Express 4.0 x4 slot (or better).

If you care to wait, MSI will also likely prepare a Thunderbolt 5 expansion card to follow up its previous-gen offerings.

Earlier today, Gigabyte unveiled its first Thunderbolt 5 add-in card, the Gigabyte Thunderbolt 5, which uses an Intel JHL9580 Thunderbolt 5 controller over the PCIe 4.0 x4 interface. It features three Mini-DisplayPort ports and two standard USB Type-C ports that are compliant with the Thunderbolt 5 specification. The add-in card also bundles three Mini DisplayPort cables and three internal header cables (two Thunderbolt header cables and one USB 2.0 header cable).

By default, Thunderbolt 5 operates at up to 80 Gigabits per second, twice the speed of Thunderbolt 4 and USB 4. However, in select scenarios, particularly when connected to external displays, Thunderbolt 5 can also boost bandwidth up to 120 gigabits per second. Gigabyte advertises support for daisy-chaining up to 10 devices (5 devices per main USB-C port) and the USB-PD (Power Delivery) 3.1 standard with up to 100 watts per port.

With the debut of Thunderbolt 5 add-in cards like this, users with at least a PCIe 4.0 motherboard can opt into the Thunderbolt 5 ecosystem, even if their default motherboard I/O doesn't support it. For particularly SFF (Small Form Factor) or thin client PCs, Thunderbolt 5 expansion alongside utilities like external GPU docking stations could be key to providing access to hardware power that would otherwise be impossible for the form factor, though typically, if you have an open PCIe slot you can install an actual graphics card.

More importantly, desktop users who want to opt into Thunderbolt 5 would likely do so for the standard's external storage capabilities. The existence of external Thunderbolt 5 drives like the previously-covered Sabrent Rocket XTRM5 and the OWC Envoy Ultra will be best utilized for many desktop users with add-in cards like this one.

Interestingly, these drives are only rated for around 48 to 50 gigabits (6 GB) read speeds, so future external Thunderbolt 5 drives should actually get even faster than these options. And as long as you have a reasonably recent motherboard supporting PCIe 4 (pretty much every motherboard made since 2019), you should also be able to enjoy these superior external storage drives.

Almost a year after Thunderbolt 5's official debut, products utilizing the ultra-high-speed connectivity standard are finally materializing. Cable Matters has unveiled the world's first Thunderbolt 5 cable, offering the spec's full 120 Gbps of raw video bandwidth in 1 ft, 1.6 ft, and 3.3 ft lengths.

The cable manufactured by Lintes Technology is now available from Cable Matter's Amazon store. Pricing starts at $22.99 for the 1ft cable, while the 1.6 ft and 3.3 ft counterparts go for $26.99 and $32.99, respectively. Because Thunderbolt 5 only has one standard, the cable supports all of Thunderbolt 5's capabilities, including up to 240W of power delivery, backward compatibility with Thunderbolt 4 and Thunderbolt 3 Type-C ports (as well as USB 4 and USB-Type-C), 120 Gbps of maximum video bandwidth in bandwidth boost mode, and up to 80 Gbps of bi-directional bandwidth.

Thunderbolt 5 is the latest iteration of the Thunderbolt standard. The new standard was unveiled last year and is currently the most performant consumer-based connectivity standard the public can access. Thunderbolt 5 is founded on the USB 4 Version 2.0 standard, taking on all the features of its USB counterpart and adding one additional Thunderbolt-exclusive perk on top.

That perk is Thunderbolt 5's "bandwidth boost mode" that goes beyond USB 4 V2.0's maximum 80 Gbps bandwidth limit, providing a whopping 120 Gbps for displays only. This attribute was achieved by switching three of the four 40 Gbps lanes to transmit mode, boosting the specifications total bandwidth from 80 Gbps to 120 Gbps in one direction but limiting the receiving connection to 40 Gbps. This isn't a problem, though, for displays since the vast majority of data (video data) only needs to be sent in one direction). 120 Gbps was tested on USB 4 Version 2.0. Still, Thunderbolt 5 is the first to bring this capability to the market as a finished product.

Bandwidth mode will only be activated when enough displays or displays with a high enough resolution/refresh rate demand more than 80Gbps to operate at full speed. With this new bandwidth feature, Thunderbolt 5 can support multiple 8K displays and up to 4K 540Hz (or 8K 120Hz) refresh rates for hardcore gamers, boasting 50% more bandwidth compared to the already speedy DisplayPort 2.1 (which is the first DP standard so far to run 4K at 240Hz without DSC).

Thunderbolt 5 also takes advantage of PCIe Gen 4 for the first time, giving the standard up to 64Gbps of PCIe-specific bandwidth. This is aimed at data-hungry PCIe devices such as SSDs and external graphics cards (eGPU docks). The jump from Gen 3 to Gen 4 with Thunderbolt 5 dramatically improves the data PCIe Gen 4, and Gen 5 devices can consume through Thunderbolt 5-equipped hardware.

Cable Matters is the first cable manufacturer to debut a Thunderbolt 5 cable. Unfortunately, you won't be able to do much with it since no products on the market today take advantage of the new connectivity standard. We didn't see any products at Computex 2024 that utilize a Thunderbolt 5 Type-C port, so there's a good chance we will be waiting until very late 2024 or 2025 before Thunderbolt 5 PCIe cards, docking stations, and other Thunderbolt 5 devices arrive on the market.

Today, Intel announced the launch of Thunderbolt Share software, which is designed to be an easy, fast, and efficient way to share screens and files across two PCs. With a growing number of people across most PC segments using multiple computers, this new software is designed to allow customers to make the most of their PCs without bogging down WiFi or ethernet networks.

Thunderbolt Share will allow PC owners to connect their two computers with a wired connection that leverages Thunderbolt’s speed, low latency, and built-in security. It allows PC-to-PC access that shares the screen, keyboard, mouse, and storage. The software also enables folder synchronization or easy drag-and-drop file transfer between the computers.

According to Jason Ziller, Intel vice president and general manager of Client Connectivity, this technology “delivers on our aspiration to bring innovative solutions to the market and deliver new experiences for users to get the most out of their PCs.” Intel said that Thunderbolt Share will work with Thunderbolt 4 or 5 PCs, docks, and monitors.

In one use case scenario, you could quickly and easily transfer your data and files from an old PC to your new computer. This reduces the steps and time needed to get that new PC up and running. Previously, you would have to transfer the files to an external drive, unplug that drive, move it over to the new computer, and then plug it into that PC and copy the files. With Thunderbolt Share, you just connect the two PCs with a Thunderbolt cable, then drag and drop the files.

Thunderbolt Share also provides uncompressed screen sharing between two PCs in the original resolution of the source computer. It also claims low latency for a smooth, responsive experience that includes the screen, keyboard, and mouse with full HD screen mirroring at up to 60 frames per second (fps). Higher resolutions could result in fewer frames per second, but Ziller said it would still be a “great experience.”

Intel assured customers that security and privacy would not be compromised when using Thunderbolt Share. The software uses Intel VT-d-based data protection, honors User Access Control through Windows password-locked screens, and only allows certain operations to have local access.

The connection is also exclusive to the Thunderbolt Network for enhanced security.

Thunderbolt Share will initially support only Windows-based PCs. However, Ziller did say that Intel could explore expanding to other operating systems in the future.

Intel announced that Thunderbolt Share will be offered to select PCs and accessories in the second half of 2024. The tech giant said to look for upcoming announcements from Acer, Belkin, Kensington, Lenovo, MSI, Plugable, Promise Technology, and Razer. The tech giant said more partners are coming soon.

Intel launched its 14th Gen "Raptor Lake Refresh" desktop processors earlier this week, including the Intel Core i9-14900K, i7-14700K and i5-14600K. Upon the announcement, Intel initially stated that 14th Core desktop chips would support Thunderbolt 5, the latest version of the specification. But Intel has now said that while some 14th gen chips will work with Thunderbolt 5, that's not the case for these desktop chips.

"While some processors in the Intel Core 14th Gen processor family will include support for Thunderbolt 5, Intel Core 14th Gen desktop processors, specifically, will not support it," an editors' note appended to Intel's initial announcement reads. "The Intel Core 14th Gen launch announcement incorrectly said, 'Intel Core 14th Gen desktop processors include support for … upcoming Thunderbolt 5 wired connectivity – supporting up to 80 Gbps of bi-directional bandwidth.' Intel will share additional details on Intel Core 14th Gen CPUs that support Thunderbolt 5 at a later date."

To some degree, this isn't a huge surprise. The Raptor Lake Refresh chips are just that — refreshes and the underlying design is the same as 13th Gen but optimized for better performance. So it's not exactly shocking that Intel didn't go in and add support for Thunderbolt 5 on desktops.

Without desktop processors supporting Thunderbolt 5, it seems that where we'll see the new connection spec is on laptops, probably on the Intel Core Ultra "Meteor Lake" chips. Thunderbolt 4 (and previous versions of Thunderbolt) have been far more prolific on mobile devices with Intel chips than on desktop. There isn't a huge variety of desktop motherboards featuring the port. (Getting into machines with AMD chips is another bag of worms.)

Intel gave the Thunderbolt specification to the USB-IF standards committee. As deputy managing editor Paul Alcorn explained when Thunderbolt 5 was announced, "Thunderbolt 5 leverages the foundational aspects of the latest USB specification, USB 4 Version 2.0 in this case, but requires that all of the optional features be enabled to earn the Thunderbolt 5 badge."

Thunderbolt 5 has an evenly distributed 80 Gbps of bandwidth to transmit and receive data at the same rate. However, when there are higher display bandwidth needs, it can boost to 120 Gbps transmitting, making it faster than DisplayPort 2.1. Thunderbolt 5 can support up to two 6K monitors and three 4K monitors at 144 Hz, along with the option for 8K HDR.

Additionally, Thunderbolt 5 cables will support up to 240W charging on laptops. You can learn the latest specs features at our rundown of the announcement from earlier this year.

Today, Intel announced the new Thunderbolt 5 specification, which is designed to deliver up to 120 Gbps of bandwidth in a new Bandwidth Boost mode, provides universal cabling support for 240W charging, and steps up to 64 Gbps of PCIe throughput, among other advances.

As we've seen with previous Thunderbolt implementations after Intel donated the spec to the USB-IF standards committee, Thunderbolt 5 leverages the foundational aspects of the latest USB specification, USB 4 Version 2.0 in this case, but requires that all of the optional features be enabled to earn the Thunderbolt 5 badge. Intel says that Thunderbolt 4 and 5 will co-exist for the next several years, or longer, with the new spec slotting in as the premium tier. 

In certain circumstances, Thunderbolt 5 can boost up to 120 Gbps, or three times the bandwidth of Thunderbolt 4 and 50% faster than the native DisplayPort 2.1 connector. The shift to Bandwidth Boost mode occurs automatically when you connect a display or multiple displays that require higher bandwidth due to high refresh rates and/or resolutions.

By default, the Thunderbolt 5 interface operates in standard mode at 80 Gbps, with four 40 Gbps pipelines operating in pairs of two for transmit and receive operations at a bi-directional 80 Gbps. As Intel has demoed with a prototype in the past, the new Bandwidth Boost mode uses three of the 40 Gbps pipelines in transmit mode to deliver up to 120 Gbps of transmit speed, albeit at the cost of stepping down to a 40 Gbps receive rate.

As a result, Thunderbolt 5 supports up to two 6K monitors and three 4K monitors at 144 Hz, along with 8K HDR monitors. It also now supports three DisplayPort screens, up from two with Thunderbolt 4.

The connection also provides twice the PCIe throughput as the previous-gen, moving from 32 Gbps (PCIe 3.0) up to 64 Gbps (PCIe 4.0), which is great for connected devices like SSDs and external graphics cards while also improving the interfaces' Thunderbolt networking bandwidth. This speed bump is nice, but it is noteworthy that most PCIe 5.0 SSDs are still faster than the PCIe 4.0 throughput available with Thunderbolt 5. Additionally, the PCIe lanes are carved up in x4 increments, regardless of lane allocations, so x8 devices (like GPUs) won't run at full x8 bandwidth.

All Thunderbolt 5 cables will now support up to 240W charging (USB-PD EPR spec), eliminating the need for the different USB power ratings we see with USB 4 cables. This will allow all high-power devices, such as laptops and workstations, to be charged with a single cable, whereas some current implementations require two cables to charge at 240W. Thunderbolt 5 does not require that a Thunderbolt 5-equipped device have a 240W charging port, though. As with Thunderbolt 4, the new spec requires the device to have at least one 100W charging port and a 15W accessory port. 

As before, Thunderbolt 5 cables and ports will have a simplified branding scheme. The cables will continue to require certification that they run at the full speed and power requirements of the spec, thus earning the Thunderbolt 5 badge.

The new interface uses PAM-3, allowing 1.5 bits to be transmitted per clock cycle (3 bits per two cycles) instead of the one bit per cycle with Thunderbolt 4's NRZ (PAM-2) implementation. This increases bandwidth via improved encoding, and the spec also increases the signaling clock rate -- but only slightly. This slight clock rate increase allows using many existing passive 1-meter cables and doesn't require fundamental changes to PCB design, thus keeping costs in check. However, all 2-meter Thunderbolt 4 cables require a redriver, which will need to be updated to newer redriver versions with Thunderbolt 5 — those could take a bit longer to come to market. 

Thunderbolt 4 is baked natively into Intel's current line of chips (they don't require a discrete external chip), but Thunderbolt 5 is not — at least not yet. Intel says that systems with Thunderbolt 5 will come to market in 2024, but not whether it will be enabled natively in its Meteor Lake chips, rumored to be the first chips with native Thunderbolt 5 support. 

For now, Thunderbolt 5 will officially come to market in computers and accessories that use Intel's discrete Barlow Ridge chip. Intel hasn't provided many details on this chip yet, like power consumption figures or the process node, but says it can be used with any host system. That means AMD and Arm systems can leverage the Thunderbolt 5 spec, if certified. As before, Intel doesn't charge licensing fees to use Thunderbolt, but external labs certify vendors' products for a fee. Those fees only cover the cost of testing and aren't given to Intel.

The Thunderbolt 5 interface is also compatible with Thunderbolt 3 and 4, USB 3 and 4, and DisplayPort 2.1. 

Intel positions Thunderbolt 5 for creators and gamers, saying they need the increased throughput for high-performance devices. Thunderbolt 4 is required for Evo and vPro-certified devices, but Thunderbolt 5 support will not be — Thunderbolt 5 will slot in as the premium tier of connectivity performance, and Intel says Thunderbolt 4 will continue to serve as the primary interface of choice for mainstream and business users for several years, if not longer. Thunderbolt 5 will arrive in 2024. 

Plugable, the Washington-based company specializing in docking stations and USB peripherals has unveiled a new USB 4 docking station that’s turning heads. The UD-4VPD supports USB 4 alongside Thunderbolt 4 with the impressive ability to provide output to two 4K monitors at 120 Hz. It’s officially been released today through numerous vendors including Newegg and Amazon which already has a coupon available for the new dock.

The output performance will vary depending on the specifications of the machine you’re using with the UD–4VPD. Under optimal conditions, you can use two 4K monitors at 120 Hz or get one 8K monitor to output at 60H z. Plugable has compatibility details available on their website which confirm you can also get two 8K screens to output at 30 Hz if your machine has Windows 10 or Windows 11 with USB4, Thunderbolt 4, and DisplayPort 1.4 HBR3 and DSC.

The docking station has 11 ports total which include two HDMI 2.1 ports, three USB 4 ports, one USB Type-C with 20W for charging devices, an SD card reader, a microSD card reader, a 3.5 mm combo audio jack, a 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet port, and a 100W charging port.

The docking station is capable of charging laptops with up to 100W. However, you can use laptops with it that require less power. The USB-C port has a 20W output that makes it possible to charge other devices simultaneously like phones, tablets, etc. The new dock is supported by a 2-year warranty from Plugable as well as a 30-day return policy from Amazon or Newegg. Visit the Plugable UD-4VPD USB4 Docking Station product page at Amazon to get the best offer using the $15 coupon. As of writing, it’s not clear for how long it will be made available.

You can never have too many screens at your desk. I have four different 27-inch 4K monitors attached to my desktop at home and sometimes I wish I had even more. Unfortunately, if you have a laptop and you're looking to go with a quad-display setup, you don't have a lot of compelling choices as most docking stations top out at two monitors.

Announced today, Plugable's new TBT4-UDZ docking station supports up to four, 4K 60 Hz displays via its two DisplayPort and two HDMI outputs. On Macs with M1 Pro and M1 Max chips, you can only use two monitors, a limitation of that platform.

The attractive, metal dock sits vertically or horizontally and connects to your laptop's Thunderbolt 3 or Thunderbolt 4 port via a single cable that can also provide up to 100W of charging. 

In addition to its video outputs, the TBT4-UDZ comes loaded with ports, including a 2.5 Gbps Ethernet connection, a single USB-C 10 Gbps port, three USB Type-A 10 Gbps ports, two USB 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps) Type-A ports, a USB 2.0 TYpe-A port, a 3.5mm audio jack, an SD card reader and a microSD card reader. There's even a power button, something most docks don't have.

A couple of years ago, I tested Plugable's TBT3-UDZ, which is a predecessor to the TBT4-UDZ, but it supports only two monitors and operates over Thunderbolt 3. I was really impressed with the attractive design, strong performance and strong build quality of this prior model. With my ThinkPad X1 Carbon (6th Gen), I had no problem connecting to two 4K monitors and playing video at 60 fps. 

The TBT4-UDZ is listed on Amazon right now and will start selling for $299 on January 17th. If you've got a laptop with Thunderbolt 3 or Thunderbolt 4 output and you want to use it with three or four displays, this could be a great choice.

Following the launch of the USB 4 version 2, Intel is further detailing its next-gen Thunderbolt port, which the company says will align with the USB Implementer Forum's spec, while offering DisplayPort 2.1as well.

At Intel's Development Center in Haifa, Israel, the company demonstrated the new Thunderbolt connector's 80 GBps connection, twice that of Thunderbolt 4. Today, Intel has a new demonstration, carefully worded as a "prototype," that allows for 120 Gbps in "video-intensive usages."  

Typically, the new Thunderbolt connection (which Intel has yet to name, although Thunderbolt, Thunderbolt 2, Thunderbolt 3 and Thunderbolt 4 are taken), equally allocates its lanes to both transmit and receive up to 80 Gbps simultaneously. But when connected to a display that requires more bandwidth (perhaps an 8K monitor), the new interface can take over some of the transmission-based connection, lowering how much you can receive and pushing more data.

Yesterday, the USB-IF announced a similar asymmetrical signal interface to deliver 120 Gbps transmission, while staying at 40 Gbps going the other way. So we'll see at some point if there are any differences in how they work. USB 4 is also getting 80 Gbps operation, similar to what is described in Thunderbolt.

While Intel mentions that Thunderbolt is "aligned" to the latest USB specification, it's also clear that the company feels Thunderbolt is more of a sure thing. Specifically, the company has a slide detailing all of the "optional" features in USB 4, including any speeds above 20 Gbps, while the next-gen Thunderbolt will require both 80 Gbps speeds and up to 120 Gbps for certain video workloads all the time. In short, Intel claims that if you get Thunderbolt, you'll get a better experience with more guaranteed results.

The new Thunderbolt connectors are also designed to work with passive cables already on the market, up to one meter in length, as well as support up to twice the PCI Express data throughput as previous specs, which could allow for better gaming.

The USB 4 Version 2 initiative has a series of new logos showing the kinds of speeds that cables and accessories can push. The question is how many manufacturers will actually use them. Meanwhile, Intel hasn't named this new version of Thunderbolt, so it's unclear how the company will market the new connection to showcase its advantages.

Thunderbolt technology has been found primarily on laptops, including Windows PCs, Linux machines, Macs and Chromebooks. But Intel licenses Thunderbolt connections, and we've seen very few devices without Intel processors using the Thunderbolt name.

Apple has removed the last remnants of Intel silicon from its Mac computers. Repair instructions and tools specialist iFixIt recently took one of the newest MacBooks to pieces (an M2 processor model) and discovered that Intel USB4 timer chips on previous generations had been swapped out for another brand.

As noted by Twitter user SkyJuice, this component change was spotted in an iFixIt Teardown last week, and it marks a sad milestone for Intel with regard to its Apple relationship. In the zoomed detail motherboard pic, you will notice two chips which carry the codename ‘U09PY3’. Apparently, previous MacBooks were using Intel's JHL8040R Retimer chips for USB4 and Thunderbolt support.

We don’t know who has made the new U09PY3 USB4 retimer chip, The source indicates it is a custom design, and we can’t get any further information from the markings in the image. Apple hasn’t said anything publicly about this change, and it isn’t expected to. It will have probably changed this chip for supply chain or cost reasons. Another reason behind a switch could be dissatisfaction with the Intel JHL8040R retimer, but again we haven’t heard any mutterings about this.

On the topic of keeping Intel outside, SkyJuice also noted that AMD’s newest Rembrandt laptops have eschewed any Intel USB4 relationship. Instead, AMD has decided to go for retimers such as the KB8001 'Matterhorn' from Swiss startup Kandou. This company claims its USB4 retimer chips are “deployed in products from five of the top six PC OEMs.” Moreover, its USB4 retimer is compatible with all SoC platforms.

Regular readers will know of Intel’s deep ties with the USB4 standard, which was built on the foundation of Thunderbolt 3. Thus USB4 supports up to 40 Gbps transfers, DP Alt mode monitor connectivity, some Thunderbolt 3 device compatibility, and up to 100W power delivery. Please note the ‘up to’ stats, and don’t mistake them for minimums. For a deeper dive into USB4 check out our USB4 explainer article, and another article we created with a simple table comparing the differences between USB4, USB 3, Thunderbolt 4, and Thunderbolt 3.

Apple has started selling a three-meter Thunderbolt 4 Pro cable, complete with an eye-watering $159 price tag. That might seem like a lot of money for a USB cable, but there's a bit more to unpack here.

Three meters is approximately 9.8 feet. Right now, this is the longest Thunderbolt 4 cable on the market. Others, like OWC, Belkin, and Plugable tend to sell up to two meters (about 6.6 feet). That's the length Intel and its partners publish for the standard.

Those, however, are a mix of active and passive cables. Teardowns on Apple's 1.8 meter Thunderbolt 4 Pro cable revealed that it's an active cable, meaning that there are chips and retimers inside to boost the signal along a greater length. These chips can add to the cost, and technically push beyond the spec. Despite the fact that it's, well, a cable, some engineering went into this thing.

This cable is also braided, which is just a nice touch. Apple's latest Magsafe cables for its MacBook Pros are braided, albeit it in white sleeving, and they feel nice and durable. This sleeving also sometimes helps prevent tangling, which can be helpful when you're stretching a 9.8-foot cable across a room.

This is all to say that — despite the initial shock from the price tag — this cable isn't necessarily overpriced. Expensive, yes, but there's some extra tech and other niceties in there. Apple is currently the only game in town, but other vendors will eventually catch up with cheaper options. We can't say the same for a $19 polishing cloth.

Despite exceeding spec in length, Apple's other claims match up with what you expect from Thunderbolt 4, including a 40Gbps bandwidth. (Like Cake, Apple is going for both distance and speed.) This cable also supports up to 100 watts of power, meaning it can charge a MacBook or iPad Pro, as well as DisplayPort video output capabilities to connect to a monitor (such as Apple's own Studio Display or Pro Display XDR).

As of this writing, the three-meter Thunderbolt 4 Pro cable is available to pick up in some stores, and is shipping between May 13 and May 20 with standard free delivery. 

For those who don't need such a lengthy cable, Apple's 1.8 meter option is $129, while other vendors typically sell for even cheaper. A two meter active cable from Belkin, for instance, is $69.99.

But if you need to snake a cable across or around a room, Apple's the only place for a cable this long. That's the price of really stretching out.

Although Apple's Mac computers are not exactly friendly to modification, this does not mean that they cannot be modded. It is not only possible, but as a new Mac Mini mod shows, it actually leads to impressive results. 

Being one of the first high-volume desktop PCs to use laptop parts, Mac Mini was among the smallest desktop machines when it was introduced in 2005. Over time, it got a little more compact, but for over ten years the design has remained largely the same. With emergence of Intel's NUC and even tinier systems, Apple's Mac Mini in its current form-factor launched in 2011 does not look that neat anymore. Yet, given a compact footprint of Mac Mini M1's motherboard, it is possible to make this PC tiny, and the Snazzy Labs team of modders has found out (via Liliputing).

Apple's M1 system-on-chip (SoC) allowed a significantly reduced footprint, complexity, and power consumption for Mac Mini compared to the previous Intel-based Mac Mini. But what the latest Mac Mini did not do was shrink the size of its cooling system, wattage and dimensions of its 150W built-in power supply, and consequently the size of its chassis. 

Enthusiasts from Snazzy Labs managed to carefully unsolder antennas and power button from the chassis, and all of that effort was rewarded with a highly-integrated motherboard with all wired and wireless input/output interfaces attached. The modders 3D printed a specially designed chassis that is 78% smaller than the original one (the guide how to do it has been published). That chassis is fanless though. 

Apparently, the biggest problem for the engineers was to find a proper power supply. A 150W PSU is obviously an overkill for a system that merely consumes over 68W under load even when all I/O ports are used. Therefore, Snazzy Labs had to design an appropriate PSU themselves using a 65W Microsoft Surface power adapter, a MacBook Pro MagSafe 2 DC-IN power board, and a MagSafe 2 cable. 

There are some catches with Snazzy Labs' mod. First up, this system is passively cooled and will inevitably throttle under high loads. Of course, it is possible to 3D print an appropriate chassis with a fan. Secondly, there are a lot of chassis (rack mounted or desk mounted) for Apple's Mac Mini, so making the system smaller may not make a lot of sense. Nonetheless, the mod demonstrates that it is possible to make the current Mac Mini considerably smaller, albeit with some compromises. 

When it comes to peripheral connectivity on modern PCs, you're likely to find at least two of these three ports: USB-A, USB-C, and Thunderbolt. Of course, some PCs will have varying combinations of all three, but today we're going to focus on Thunderbolt, which in its current iteration is marketed as Thunderbolt 4.

Thunderbolt 4 can most simply be described as the port to end all ports. It is an evolution of Thunderbolt 3 and still uses the USB Type-C connector. Like previous iterations, it supports PCIe, DisplayPort, and USB signaling via a single cable (up to 2 meters in length). In addition, Thunderbolt 4 is backward compatible with all previous versions (although you'll need adapters for the original Thunderbolt and Thunderbolt 2) and all prior USB standards.

Thunderbolt 4 was formally announced in early 2020 by Intel and began shipping in 11th generation Core-based laptops later that fall (and into early 2021). Compared to the preceding Thunderbolt 3 interface, Thunderbolt 4 increased the minimum PCIe link bandwidth requirements from 16 Gbps to 32 Gbps and added support for dual 4K displays (at 60 Hz) using the DisplayPort 1.4 protocol. Other advancements over Thunderbolt 3 include the ability to wake a PC from sleep, support for accessories with up to four Thunderbolt ports, and support for Intel VT-d DMA (Direct Memory Access) protection for virtual machines.

Thunderbolt 4 supports up to 40 Gbps of bi-directional bandwidth, making it an ideal interface for PC-to-PC data transfers, the best SSD storage solutions and external GPU docks like the Razer Core X. One other benefit for laptops is that at least one Thunderbolt 4 must be capable of charging the device. This gets to the core of the "one cable to rule them all" mantra, dispensing with the need for proprietary charging solutions from individual laptop OEMs.

This universal compatibility extends to supporting all current and previous USB standards, including USB 4. USB 4 peripherals, which also use a USB-C type connector, can be plugged directly into a Thunderbolt 4 port and operate at full speed (20 Gbps). Thunderbolt 4 can also accommodate older USB peripherals using USB Type-C or Type-A connectors (via an adapter or a dock). 

Docking solutions are particularly beneficial for laptops with a limited number of external ports. For example, the CalDigit TS4 Thunderbolt 4 Dock features a staggering 18 ports funneled through a single Thunderbolt 4 cable to a laptop. The TS4 includes 2.5 GbE, DisplayPort 1.2, USB-A 3.2, Thunderbolt 4, USB-C 3.2, and SD UHD-II ports, among many others, to serve as the ultimate docking solution. In addition, the TS4 can provide up to 98 watts of charging power to a laptop (up from 87 watts for its Thunderbolt 3-based TS3 Plus predecessor).

Thunderbolt 4 ports can currently be found on Intel-based desktops and laptops, along with Apple's latest crop of Macs and iPad Pros. Unfortunately, AMD's Ryzen 6000 processors (Zen 3+) don't include native support for Thunderbolt 4, but they do support USB 4. 

This article is part of the Tom's Hardware Glossary.

Further reading:

• DisplayPort vs. HDMI: Which Is Better For Gaming?
• Best Gaming Monitors
• Best Graphics Cards

Via Labs has introduced the VL830 device, one of the industry's first USB4 endpoint device controllers. This should enable peripheral manufacturers to build highly integrated USB4 hubs that will be able to compete against Thunderbolt 3/4 hubs, hopefully at lower price points.

The USB 4 specification takes a lot of pages from Intel's Thunderbolt 3 and was released in August 2019, almost a year before Intel introduced Thunderbolt 4. Yet, there are numerous Thunderbolt 4 hubs and docks (which are USB4 compatible) on the market and almost no 'pure' USB4 devices. That's because Intel builds TB4 controllers itself and rolls them out along with new platforms, whereas third-party makers of USB controllers are usually slow with their developments. That's why we still don't see a lot of USB4 chips on the market.

Via Labs is among the first (if not the first) developers of USB controllers to offer a USB4-compliant endpoint device controller for devices like hubs and docking stations. The VL830 supports one USB Type-C input at 40Gbps, five USB 3.2 Gen 2 downstream ports (USB Type-A or USB Type-C), and DisplayPort 1.4 Alternate Mode over USB Type-C with HBR3 support. That last one means it's capable of handling up to 8Kp60 displays. The IC is also compatible with the USB Battery Charging Specification v1.2.

Via does not disclose which process technology is used for the VL830, but only says that the chip comes in an FCCSP 10x10mm package. Pricing of the chip is unknown, but controllers from Via Labs tend to be cheaper than controllers from Intel. Actual product manufacturers don't have to pay for validation, either, so we expect VL830-based docks and hubs to be cheaper than Thunderbolt 3 or Thunderbolt 4 controllers.  

The company plans to start shipments of its VL830 to select partners in Q4 2021. If all goes well, expect availability of USB4 docking station and multi-function adapters in early to mid 2022.

Anker has quietly started selling its rather unique 12-in-1 Thunderbolt 4 dock that has both modern and outdated ports as well as a simplistic 5-in-1 TB4 mini dock for those who need more USB-C connectors and up to 100W of power delivery. 

Thunderbolt 4 has been around for about a year, but so far not many TB4 docking stations have been announced. Thunderbolt 3 and 4 are very similar, which makes users less inclined to upgrade. Another reason is the ongoing chip shortage, which makes it hard for developers to design a new product and ensure its steady supply. With Thunderbolt 4, it gets even harder since Intel has very strict requirements about capabilities of the interface. Consequently, there are not so many TB4 docks to choose from. So it may be a surprise to some to see Anker launching not one, but two Thunderbolt 4-compliant products.

The Anker Apex Thunderbolt 4 Docking Station

Anker's Apex Thunderbolt 4 Docking Station features a Thunderbolt 4 input for its host PC that can supply up to 90W of power, enough to feed a high-performance notebook like Apple's MacBook Pro. 

The unit has three connectors for displays: one Thunderbolt 4 port that can drive two 4K60 monitors (or one 4K120 LCD) or one 8K30 monitor (5K/6K60 monitor on Apple Macs) as well as two HDMI 2.0 port that can connect 4K60. The TB4 output port can naturally be used to connect any TB3/TB4 peripheral, such as a high-end storage sub-system. It can also deliver up to 15W of power, which is enough for bus-powered SSDs or HDDs.

In addition, the docking station has a Gigabit Ethernet port; one USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C connector with a 20W power delivery; two USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A ports; one 3.5-mm TRRS audio jack for headsets; as well as an SD UHS-II 4.0 slot (up to 300MB/s) for cards and two USB 2.0 Type-A connectors, which can now be considered legacy ports. The dock uses an external 120W power supply, so it can power a laptop while charging a smartphone or a tablet using its TB4 or USB-C connector. To make the unit more comfortable to use vertically, Anker will offer a special stand for it.

The Apex Thunderbolt 4 Docking Station is available now directly from the company and its resellers for $299.99.

The PowerExpand 5-in-1 Thunderbolt 4 Mini Dock

For those customers who do not need GbE or USB-A connectors as well as an SD card slot, Anker has its PowerExpand 5-in-1 Thunderbolt 4 Mini Dock, which looks more like a Thunderbolt 4 hub. This unit allows to connect multiple TB/USB-C devices to one TB4 port on a PC.

This unit has one Thunderbolt 4 upstream power that can deliver up to 85W of power to its host PC, three Thunderbolt 4 downstream ports to connect Thunderbolt or USB-C devices and/or displays (two 4K60 LCDs, or one 4K120, or one 5K/6K/8K60 monitor) as well as one USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-A connector. One thing to note is that Apple's M1 SoC only has two display pipelines, so M1-based devices cannot support more than two displays.

While capabilities of the PowerExpand 5-in-1 Thunderbolt 4 Mini Dock look modest, internal architecture of a Thunderbolt 4 hub is rather complex and expensive, so it's still priced at $199.99.

Adata has announced its new SE920 external SSD, the company's first external drive with a USB4 interface. The drive promises an up to 4000 MB/s sequential read speed (with SLC caching and when working with a USB4 host), which makes it one of the industry's fastest external storage device designed for consumers. In fact, it is even going to outperform any external SSD with USB 3.x or Thunderbolt 3/4 interface as far as a sequential read speed is concerned. 

Adata will offer its SE920-series drives in different versions featuring different capacities, yet for now the company has kept details about the family confidential. Adata also hasn't talked about the architecture of its SE920 drive (which SSD controller it uses, how high is the write speed, etc.), though it says that the SSD uses the company's proprietary Heat Conduction technology that ensures appropriate cooling and consistent performance. 

Designed to compete with the best external hard drives and SSDs, Adata's SE920 drives will be among the fastest portable storage devices with a Thunderbolt 3/4 and USB4 interface when they are available later this year. This is not particularly surprising as most of external storage devices with a TB3 interface integrate a previous-generation SSD with a PCIe Gen3 interface that cannot even theoretically saturate a TB3 bus (which supports non-video bandwidth of up to 32.4 Gbps, or 4.05 GB/s). 

Furthermore, since TB3 uses an 8b/10b encoding with a rather high overhead, its actual usable bandwidth is about 25.92 Gbps or 3.24 GBps. By contrast, even an entry-level drive with a PCIe 4.0 x4 interface can easily hit a 4 GBps throughput. Meanwhile, USB4's 128b/132b encoding ensures that the interface's usable bandwidth is considerably closer to the theoretical one as this method has a lower overhead. 

Typically, high-performance external SSDs pack an M.2 drive with a PCIe / NVMe interface as well as a PCIe-to-USB bridge. If this is the case with the SE920, then the drive integrates an NVMe M.2 SSD, a PCIe-to-USB4 bridge, and a USB4 chip responsible for power delivery support and orientation of the connector. Meanwhile, it is possible that Adata developed its SE920 from scratch and did not just repurpose a fast drive with a PCIe interface. 

Adata has not announced pricing of its SE920 external SSDs with a USB4 interface, but we can assume that these drives are going to be premium products.

On a recent trip to Intel's labs in Israel, Gregory M Bryant, the executive vice president & GM of Intel's Client Computing Group, took some photos and later shared them on Twitter. According to Anandtech, one of the tweets (which was later deleted) appears to show a poster on the office wall with information about the as-yet-unannounced Thunderbolt 5 protocol.

The poster says that Intel is targeted "80G PHY Technology," which implies that it is going for an 80 Gbps connection, which would be double the bandwidth of today's Thunderbolt 4 and USB 4 connections. This also falls in line with what Intel told us during The Tom's Hardware Show in March. 

The poster also says "USB 80G is targeted to support the existing USB-C ecosystem," which strongly implies that Thunderbolt 5, like its predecessors, will use a USB-C connector. In March, Intel told us it was "pretty confident" this would be the case. 

First released in 2011, Thunderbolt is Intel's high-speed connection standard. The standard is currently on Thunderbolt 4, though it was offering the same 40 Gbps of bandwidth and feature set in Thunderbolt 3. By doubling the bandwidth to 80 Gbps, Thunderbolt 5 could potentially offer higher refresh rates for 4K and 8K monitors, which it now supports at up to 120 and 60 Hz respectively. 

To achieve the higher bandwidth on Thunderbolt 5, it looks like the protocol will use PAM-3 modulation, which is an uncommon approach. So far, in protocols like USB, PCIe, etc., we have seen non-return-to-zero (NRZ) and PAM-4 (Pulse Amplitude Modulation) implementations. The NRZ signals are binary, meaning only 0s and 1s, while the PAM-4 signals are represented in two-bit formats, which are combinations of 0s and 1s (for example 01, 11, 11, 00). For a more detailed explanation, please check out this blog.

The novel PAM-3 uses -1, 0, and +1 states. This approach sits right between NRZ and PAM-4, but it allows the implementation of this signaling technique to be much simpler than PAM-4 while maintaining high bandwidth. With PAM-3, implementation is supposed to be easier and much more efficient, leading to Intel calling it a "novel PAM-3" approach.

The leaked slide also notes that "...N6 test-chip focusing on the new PHY technology is working in... showing promising results". While we can't see the full slide, it means that the Thunderbolt 5 PHY (physical layer) is already working in the fabs and it is producing desired results. As we know that N6 is TSMC's 6 nm manufacturing node, we can assume that Intel tapped TSMC's foundries to manufacture Thunderbolt 5 test chips.

TerraMaster has unveiled its new D16 16-bay direct-attached storage (DAS) solution that promises to combine high performance, high capacity, and relatively compact dimensions. The DAS can put up to 288TB of storage on your desk and promises read speeds up to 2.8GB/s as well as write speeds up to 2GB/s. 

Nowadays many creative professionals need high-performance and high-capacity storage solutions, and often have to choose between high-end SSDs that are fast yet come with limited capacities, and high-capacity HDDs that can store large amounts of data, but which are rather slow. Premium NAS can pack multiple HDDs and ensure good performance, but to get it one needs to use 10GbE connections, which are not optimal for many SOHO environments and which still feature lower throughput than most locally installed SSDs. There is good solution for such users: a multi-bay DAS with a 40Gb/s Thunderbolt 3/4 interface.

Typically, multi-bay DAS (just like NAS) are rather huge, but measuring 13.7 x 6.29 x 19.6 inches (348 × 160 × 498 mm), TerraMaster's D16 is relatively compact. As the name suggests, the unit can pack up to 16 2.5-inch or 3.5-inch HDDs or SSDs. The unit is equipped with a 'professional grade RAID controller,' yet the manufacturer does not mention which one. Meanwhile, the controller supports JBOD, RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, RAID10, RAID 6, and RAID 50 modes. The DAS has two Thunderbolt 3 ports, so it can daisy chain another TB3 device, one USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-A port, and one DisplayPort 1.4 output to connect a 4K monitor or two.

As far as performance is concerned TerraMaster says that its D16 DAS can offer up to 2817MB/s read speed as well as 2022MB/s write speed. While multiple high-end HDDs in RAID modes can offer such performance figures, TerraMaster still recommends using SSDs for maximum performance (perhaps because there are numerous slow and SMR-based NAS-oriented HDDs on the market that cannot guarantee truly high performance even in RAID modes). The D16 supports SSD caching, so it should be possible to combine high-capacity HDDs with high-performance SSDs to get the best of both worlds and have no performance or capacity constraints when editing uncompressed HD 10-bit and 12-bit videos in such intermediate formats as the ProRes 422 (HQ) or ProRes 4444 XQ.

As far as capacities are concerned, with 16 18TB HDDs installed, the TerraMaster D16 can store up to 288TB of data, but with arrival of newer 20TB of larger drives, its storage capabilities will increase to 320TB (assuming that these HDDs are supported). There is no word about support for hot-swappable HDDs, but usually this feature is supported on most multi-bay NAS and DAS devices.

Being aimed at demanding professionals and featuring a hardware RAID controller, the TerraMaster D16 is clearly not meant to be cheap. The box is equipped with only a 210W PSU and is priced at $3,600 at Amazon.

With fewer ports located even on the highest-end laptops, using a docking station is becoming inevitable for many people. To address the needs of those who use high-end 8K or 5K displays, Sonnet has launched its Echo 11 10-in-1 docking station that's compatible with Apple's Macs and Windows-based PCs. 

Sonnet's Echo 11 Thunderbolt 4 Dock has one TB4 input for its host PC that can supply up to 90W of power, which is enough for high-performance laptops like Apple's MacBook Air 16. In addition, the docking station is equipped with a GbE port, three Thunderbolt 4 connectors that support two displays and a high-end storage sub-system; three USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A ports; one SD UHS-II 4.0 slot (up to 300MB/s); one 3.5-mm TRRS audio jack for headsets; and one USB 2.0 charging connector.

The unit comes with a 20V/6.75A power input (135W) that simultaneously charges the notebooks and peripherals.

There are docking stations aimed at professionals (that require legacy things like S/P DIF, FireWire, etc.) from various niche markets that have many more ports than the Echo 11 Thunderbolt 4 Dock. But the key selling point of the Echo 11 Thunderbolt 4 Dock is its three Thunderbolt 4 connectors.  

These three Thunderbolt 4 (TB4) ports allow you to use two 4K monitors or one 6K/8K display without 'wasting' Thunderbolt connectors on the PC itself. This support seems pretty straightforward on paper, but in reality, it is slightly more complicated (see the table below). 

Apple's latest Macs with the M1 SoC do not seem to support a dual display output over a single Thunderbolt port (at least according to Sonnet), so for the M1, the Echo 11 Thunderbolt 4 Dock can drive one monitor with an up to 6K resolution.  

All Intel-based Macs can support up to two 4K displays (or one 5K monitor) over a Thunderbolt connection, but some older Macs do not support Apple's latest 6K Pro Display XDR. 

To use an 8K display with the Echo 11 Thunderbolt 4 Dock, you have to use a Windows PC. Meanwhile, only one 8K monitor is supported over a TB4 cable, so other displays will have to be connected using ports located on the host itself. 

Sonnet does not disclose pricing of the Echo 11 Thunderbolt 4 Dock just yet, instead advising you to sign up for notification and get a $50 discount when the unit ships. 

Sonnet has introduced its new DuoModo family of expansion boxes with Thunderbolt 3 interfaces. Three of the boxes are designed for add-in-cards that can be connected to TB3/TB4-equipped laptops or Apple's Mac Mini desktop, whereas the fourth box is designed to install Apple's Mac Mini into a rack. 

The Sonnet DuoModo Echo III Module is an expansion box that has one PCIe 3.0 x16 slot for double-wide graphics cards and two x8 PCIe 3.0 slots for other types of add-on boards, such as high-performance SSDs or video encoding accelerators. It can accommodate full-height, full-length (up to 12.28 inches long) PCIe cards and has a built-in 400W power supply. To cool down these cards, the DuoModo Echo III Module has two fans from Noctua that are rated at 17 dBA. 

For those who needs to add only a graphics card to their x86-based Macs or other systems, Sonnet offers its DuoModo eGPU module that can house a full-length, full-height, 2.5 slot-width graphics card. The DuoModo eGPU box is equipped with two fans and an 800W power supply, thus ensuring compatibility even with the most power-hungry GPUs.

Specifically for owners of Apple's Mac Mini that want to upgrade their systems with an add-on board and additional SSDs, Sonnet has the DuoModo xMac mini box. The DuoModo xMac mini can accommodate a Mac Mini itself, two M.2-2280 SSDs, and a graphics card or another AIB (depending on actual configuration). The enclosure provides access to Mac Mini's rear ports, but also has Thunderbolt 3, USB Type-C, and USB Type-A ports on the front. 

Many businesses these days use some form of remote desktops and workstations. To address these customers, Sonnet developed its DuoModo 2U Rackmount enclosure. The box can accommodate a Mac Mini, three PCIe cards, and two M.2 SSDs. Alternatively, the enclosures can be used without a Mac Mini.

Sonnet's DuoModo product line is available now directly from the company as well as its channel partners.

Sometimes small chips cause major problems. According to a report from Igor'sLab, Intel recently had to allow its partners to use previously uncertified USB Type-C and Power Delivery controllers from Texas Instruments with its latest Tiger Lake platforms, as well as previously-uncertified discrete Thunderbolt 4 JHL8440/JHL8540 'Maple Ridge' controllers.

Every personal computer nowadays uses multiple power management ICs (PMICs), and if a PC maker cannot get enough PMICs of a certain type, it cannot ship the whole system.

A handful of companies make USB Type-C and PD controllers, with the main suppliers being Texas Instruments and Cypress. Intel usually demands that its partners use very specific USB Type-C and PD controllers with its TB3 and TB4 controllers to ensure compatibility and a consistent user experience, but chip shortages have reportedly forced the company to reconsider those requirements. 

Typically, Thunderbolt 3 (TB3), Thunderbolt 4 (TB4) and USB 4 implementations include two or three key chips: a controller, a retimer or a redriver (always for TB4, sometimes for other interfaces), and a USB Type-C and Power Delivery (PD) controller that detects cable orientation, assigns USB PD, and arranges alternate mode settings for internal and external multiplexers. 

For Tiger Lake-based systems with Thunderbolt 4 ports, Intel wants its partners to use Texas Instruments' TPS65994AD USB Type-C and Power Delivery controller. However, because the chips aren't currently available, Intel will temporarily certify Thunderbolt 4 implementations that use TPS65993AC and TPS65994AC controllers.

These controllers are not formally USB 4 compliant, but they are USB 4 compatible. As such, Intel wants its OEM partners to communicate the benefits of Thunderbolt 4 and USB 4 'compatibility,' or "exclude mention of USB4," according to documents reviewed by Igor'sLab.

It is unclear when Texas Instruments will resolve the supply issue with its controllers. Given that Intel is taking a rather unusual action, we are probably talking about weeks, if not months. In any case, this might be an unpleasant but solvable problem. 

Apparently, Intel has another problem at hand. The company has been unable to produce enterprise SSDs due to a shortage of power management ICs (PMICs), reports TrendForce. Since enterprise-grade SSDs have always been the company's top priority as far as its storage business is concerned, if Intel cannot supply enterprise drives, it means that the company cannot get enough PMICs in general for its SSD businesses. We're following up with the company to see if the shortage includes its consumer SSD lineup.  

Intel hasn't commented on reports about the shortages of USB Type-C and PD controllers and SSD PMICs, but it has admitted in the past that the supply of power controllers affects its business. 

"We are supply-constrained," said Pat Gelsinger, CEO of Intel, at an investor conference recently (via SeekingAlpha). "We have substrate constraints; also, our customers are supply-constrained. We are now wrestling through the issues that they say boy, hey, I don't have enough power controllers, right, to have a mix, a matched set."

We've reached out to Intel about the reports and will update as necessary. 

Icy Dock has developed the industry's only U.2 to USB 3.2 Gen 2 adapter, which lets you connect an enterprise-grade U.2 SSD to any desktop or laptop with a USB Type-A or Type-C port. The EZ-Adapter Ex MB931U-1VB targets people who need to transfer data from an enterprise-grade SSD to a PC or those who use U.2 drives as recording medium and need to transfer videos to a computer. But PC builders may be attracted to the adapter too. 

The U.2 form-factor (SFF-8639) was developed primarily for business and mission-critical server and workstation applications that have very strict requirements for connectivity, thermals, reliability and hot-plug capability. Today, U.2 drives used in servers and workstations and more. For example, select Blackmagic cameras with the Ursa Mini Recorder attached can use U.2 SSDs as storage medium. 

A big market for the EZ-Adapter Ex MB931U-1VB are content creators who have to transfer loads of data from one PC to another (or from a camera to a PC). 10GbE networks used in studios are fast, yet a PCIe 3.0 x4 interface of U.2 SSDs is a lot faster, so it makes sense to use U.2 SSDs as flash drives. There are also people  who might prefer to use enterprise-grade SSDs as their direct attached storage (DAS), due to their higher endurance and reliability. 

But another potential market comes from PC DIYers. U.2 SSDs tend to be very expensive when bought from the IT channel, but they can also be found on sites like eBay for considerably cheaper. Depending on the model, U.2 drives are designed for read-intensive, write-intensive or mixed workloads. Even after some time in service, most U.2 SSDs will have plenty of resource left. Furthermore, such drives are tailored for sustained, rather than burst, performance. As a result, even used U.2 SSDs may be faster and more durable than cheap consumer-grade drives rated for 0.2 DWPD over a three-year period. Hence, it makes sense to consider U.2 SSDs for DIY DAS applications. 

Yet, connecting such drives to PCs is complicated, as only select desktop workstations have U.2 ports (or M.2 to U.2 adapters), and not all of them have adapters that can house a U.2 drive. Furthermore, there are no laptops with U.2 slots. 

Icy Dock's EZ-Adapter Ex MB931U-1VB is based on the ASMedia ASM2362 controller. It can house any U.2 SSD and connect it to a PC with a USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A or Type-C connector.

The EZ-Adapter Ex MB931U-1VB adapter is available now for $150 from Amazon. A power adapter and USB-A and USB-C cables are included.

Apple on Tuesday quietly added a 10GbE upgrade option to its M1-powered Mac Mini desktop computers originally introduced in November last year. Small form-factor systems featuring a 10Gb Ethernet port cost $100 more than PCs with a regular GbE connector.

When Apple introduced the Mac Mini powered by its own M1 system-on-chip last November, it only offered its customers upgrades for RAM and storage. The desktop came equipped with with Broadcom's BCM5701 GbE controller and Apple did not offer any upgrade options, which probably disappointed those owners of Intel-based Mac Mini PCs that use 10GbE networks.  

Along with the launch of its new iMac 24-inch (which does not have a 10GbE option) and iPad Pro on April 20, Apple quietly started to offer its Mac Mini with an unknown optional 10GbE controller that can be installed for $100. But at press time Apple did not list the upgrade option on its support page. 

What remains a mystery is how Apple connects the 10GbE controller to its M1 SoC that that is not supposed to have many spare PCIe lanes. 

Those who use Apple's latest Mac Mini at home or in an office equipped with fast 10GbE network will now be able to take advantage of fast connections with Apple's latest systems. 

Thunderbolt 4 is just starting to make noise in the consumer space, but, of course, the folks behind the technology are already looking toward the next generation. This week, executives from Intel stopped by The Tom’s Hardware Show to discuss Thunderbolt and what its next form could look like. 

While celebrating Thunderbolt’s 10th birthday, Ben Hacker, Intel’s director of I/O strategy in the Client Connectivity Division, explained that the development of Thunderbolt 4’s successor is already in place with sights set on higher speed.

“What I think we’re pretty confident of is for at least another speed bump somewhere, and who knows exactly what that is, but call it roughly a doubling,” Hacker said on The Tom’s Hardware Show. 

Thunderbolt 4’s max bandwidth is 40 Gbps, allowing it to support up to two 4K resolution displays at 60 Hz refresh rates or even an 8K one at 60 Hz. Increasing the bandwidth would bring support for even higher resolutions and refresh rates. 

Hacker also pointed toward the need for more bandwidth for concurrent workflows, like editing data on a high-resolution screen, and SSDs as drivers for more bandwidth. 

“Today our data path bandwidth within Thunderbolt 4 is kind of aligned to like a PCIe Gen 3x4 performance, and for some of our storage applications, you're seeing storage in that kind of form factor already doubling in speed,” Hacker said. 

“There's already a need for kind of high-performance storage for, maybe, NVMe SSDs or desktop raid arrays that are going to be able to consume more than the 40 gigabits of bandwidth or just under 40 that we can provide today.” 

Backward compatibility is also important for the next generation of Thunderbolt. Intel notably shared the Thunderbolt protocol for what is now known as USB4. 

“We started first with that connector and cable convergence, and then we have the architectural convergence [with USB4],” Jason Ziller, Intel’s general manager of the Client Connectivity Division, said. “As we move forward, as USB4 evolves, we’ll continue to be converged on those elements of it. But we’ll continue to provide features and capabilities above that or just the optional features in the USB spec that we make required because we know computer users want them.”

The next version of Thunderbolt will presumably be called Thunderbolt 5, but Ziller said they don’t know what the branding moving forward will be yet. Whatever it’s called, Intel expects next-gen Thunderbolt to continue working over USB-C. 

“I think we can definitely stay within the electrical kind of communication path and on the same connector so it’s truly a familiar, backward compatible … solution,” Hacker said.  “ … At least kind of for the next step, whenever that comes, I think we're pretty confident that we can keep that on a kind of same mechanical interface, same connector, roughly the same topology.”

Of course, we’re still years away from Thunderbolt 5 (or whatever it ends up being called) striking. In the more immediate future, development is in the works for more Thunderbolt 4 accessories, including docks in different sizes and shapes and docks that don’t require their own power adapter and instead uses a laptop’s USB-C charger. 

And for those with the need, Thunderbolt 4 cables up to 50m (164 feet) long should be available around next year.

“We had in [the] previous generation optical cables up to 50m, and so we’re working on delivering that as well now,” Ziller said. 

The Tom’s Hardware Show is live every Thursday at 3 p.m. ET. You can enjoy this week's episode via the video above, on YouTube, Facebook, Twitch or wherever you get your podcasts. 

Razer is adding its Chroma RGB to a new part of your setup: a Thunderbolt 4 dock. It's the latest office-style accessory to get a touch of the company's gaming aesthetic, and its selection of ports is clearly meant for those looking to future-proof their setups.

The dock, dubbed Razer Thunderbolt 4 Dock Chroma, costs $329.99 and is up for pre-order at Razer's website and retail stores. It has ten ports in total and is compatible with any Windows 10 laptop with Thunderbolt 3 or 4 and Macs with Thunderbolt 3, as long as they run macOS Big Sur (including both Intel-based laptops and those with Apple's own M1 processors).

Of the four Thunderbolt 4 ports, you'll use one to connect your laptop to the anodized  aluminum dock. The other three can be used for power delivery, data or a display. Razer claims the dock supports up to 40Gbps data transfer speeds.

The dock supports up to two monitors at 4K60 or a single 8K monitor at 30 Hz, but it doesn't use traditional HDMI or DisplayPort outputs. You'll either need to use this dock with a USB-C or Thunderbolt monitor or get Thunderbolt-to-DisplayPort cables.

On the front, besides a TB4 port, there's also an SD card reader and a 3.5mm headphone jack. The back features the other three TB4 ports, RJ-45 Ethernet, and three USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-A ports. It comes with a 135W power brick and offers 90W power delivery to charge your laptop without other cables.

One thing that's unclear is if this dock will work with regular USB 4, given that Thunderbolt 4 is largely USB 4 with some optional features.

The dock is 7.48 inches wide, 2.93 inches deep and 1.06 inches tall. That will take up a bit more space than some docks that have vertical stands, and it allows for more room for its RGB showcase.

And what would a Razer device be without Chroma RGB? The Thunderbolt 4 dock works with Razer's Synapse software for lighting customizations, at least if you're on Windows 10. The company says Synapse isn't supported on macOS, so it's likely Mac users will have to opt for a generic rainbow pattern.

But Razer isn't the first to an RGB dock. WD added the D50 Game Dock NVMe to its Black line last year, which is $320 or more if you add up to 2TB of internal storage. It, however, is more about the storage and has fewer ports.

It's not a huge surprise to see Razer, known primarily as a gaming-focused company, continue its dive into the office. It made its first productivity-focused notebook, the Razer Book 13, last year. It has also made office-bound peripherals in a partnership with Humanscale.

Razer is also updating its laptop stand, the Laptop Stand Chroma V2, with more ports (USB 3.2 Gen 1 both Type-A and Type-C, HDMI 2.0 and USB-C for power delivery) and an 18-degree angle which is meant to improve ergonomics. It, too, features Chroma RGB. The $150 laptop stand is also up for pre-order.
 

OWC has introduced its new external SSD designed to offer high performance, rugged design, and broad compatibility. Offering up to 2800 MB/s sequential read speeds, the Envoy Pro FX can handle virtually all kinds of bumps while providing compatibility with Thunderbolt 3/4, USB 3.2, and USB 4 hosts.

OWC's Envoy Pro FX packs a standard Aura P12 Pro SSD module (PS5012-E12S, 3D TLC NAND) behind Intel's JHL7740 (Titan Ridge) as well as Realtek's RTL9210 controllers to guarantee compatibility both with Thunderbolt 3/4 as well as USB 3.2 Gen 2 hosts at full speed. OWC says that Thunderbolt 3/4 or USB4 host the drive will provide up to 2800 MBps of read throughput, whereas with a USB 3.2 Gen 2 host, the SSD will offer speeds of around 1000 MBps. 

The OWC Envoy Pro FX comes in a strong-featured charcoal grey aluminum chassis that acts as a heatsink for the SSD inside, is MIL-STD810G-certified for ruggedness (no details about drop heights) as well as IP67-certified for protection dust and humidity (i.e., completely protected against dust, can survive one meter of immersion for up to 30 minutes).

While Thunderbolt 3 accessories/peripherals are officially compatible with USB-C hosts, not all TB3 devices can work with all USB-C hosts. By using a dual-drive architecture with two controllers, OWC can guarantee that the Envoy Pro FX will work both with a shiny new Apple Mac with an Apple-designed TB4 controller as well as a mature machine with a USB 3.x Gen 2 port. Such compatibility is required by those who need to physically share data between different systems. 

"The OWC Envoy Pro FX is a giant leap For All Computerkind," said Larry O'Connor, CEO and Founder of OWC. "It's the first portable SSD with out-of-this-world performance and compatibility. With the OWC Envoy Pro FX, you plug into past, current Thunderbolt and USB equipped Macs and PCs, or future Thunderbolt 4 and USB4 machines."

OWC plans to offer its Envoy Pro FX if four different versions with 240GB, 480GB, 1.0TB, and 2.0TB of 3D NAND. The cheapest 240GB flavor will be available for $169 shortly, whereas the most advanced 2.0TB model is already available for $479. All drives come backed by a three-year warranty and you might be able to find an OWC promo code to bring down the cost.

This CES, LG is doing more than just introducing an OLED desktop monitor and updating its gaming lineup -- word has been on the street for a while that LG is also making a 40-inch ultrawide, just like Dell, but there's a key difference with this unit: it features Thunderbolt 4, as the first monitor to do so (spotted by ComputerBase).

Of course, being a 40-inch Ultrawide, LG's 40WP95C is bigger than most other ultrawides currently on the market, with only the 49-inch ultrawides besting it, albeit at a totally different aspect ratio. LG's 40-inch panel has a rather unusual resolution of 5120 x 2160 -- which is the equivalent of a 4K monitor, but as wide as two QHD panels.

The panel is based on LG's Nano-IPS technology, has a light curve of 2500R, and is said to refresh at an equally unusual 72 Hz. Color space coverage is generous with 98 percent of DCI-P3 and 135% of the sRGB space, and the inclusion of HDR10 makes this panel ideal for video editors. 

Why is Thunderbolt 4 a Big Deal?

So the 40WP95C has Thunderbolt 4; what makes that such a big deal on this big monitor?

The long and short of it is: Thunderbolt 4 is the connectivity of the future. Eventually, USB 4 will land, full and complete with all the protocols and specifications. Still, until that time, the only equivalent available is Intel's Thunderbolt 4 -- packing up to 40 Gb/s of data throughput spanned across DisplayPort, USB, PCIe protocols, packed together with up to 100 W of power delivery (and a minimum of 15 W) -- all over a single cable.

Of course, we all know that USB Type-C was meant to do all those things, and while the port itself is appearing on more and more devices, the protocol situation is a mess, as it has been for a long time. 

For a huge, high-resolution monitor like this, this kind of interface is important to maintain effective single-cable docking. (Video) editors using this display may want to connect their laptop to it, use the full resolution, and have all their (up to 20 Gb/s) peripherals connected to the monitor, including their storage subsystem. That's all possible through a single Thunderbolt 4 cable, all while also charging the laptop.

LG didn't announce pricing or availability for the 40WP95C, but considering Dell's 40-incher costs a mighty $2100, chances are LG's panel will cost at least as much, if not a bit more, because of its Thunderbolt 4 interface, as this gives it a higher refresh rate and more bandwidth available to connected peripherals.

Sonnet has unveiled one of the industry's first Thunderbolt 3 expansion chassis that supports up to three full-length add-in-boards with a PCIe 3.0 interface. The three-slot Echo III Desktop is designed for professionals from different areas, so it can house a graphics card, a high-end SSD, an accelerator for audio or video workloads, or a 10GbE network card. 

Modern laptops and all-in-one PCs can pack general-purpose CPU power sufficient not only for productivity and entertainment tasks but also for professional applications, too. What these PCs do not offer are expansion slots for cards required for professional workloads. Meanwhile, they do have Thunderbolt 3 ports and therefore can work with an external expansion chassis. The vast majority of these types of chassis have been designed for one or two cards that may be good enough for gamers, but might not be sufficient for DCC (digital content creation) professionals.

Sonnet's Echo III Desktop chassis largely changes the game here: it can house up to three full-height full-length (FHFL) add-in-cards that consume no more than 400W of power together. The box has one mechanical PCIe 3.0 x16 (x8 electrical) slot, one mechanical x8 (x8 electrical) slot, and one mechanical x8 (x4 electrical) slot. 

To ensure that the cards operate with consistent performance and do not overheat, the chassis is equipped with two Noctua NF-R8 redux-1800 fans producing up to 17.1 dbA of noise. The box has two Thunderbolt 3 ports, one for input and another for daisy-chaining an extra TB3 device or a display.

Based on one of the manufacturer's images, the Sonnet Echo III Desktop uses a single Thunderbolt 3 controller. By contrast, some other eGFX TB3 chassis equipped with multiple additional controllers (e.g., SATA, Ethernet, USB) that sit on a PCIe bus use two TB3 controllers, with one acting as a router for the traffic generated by the GPU and other ASICs.

Being aimed at professionals, Sonnet tested the Echo III Desktop with a host of professional-grade AIBs, including audio cards, 10GbE adapters, Fibre Channel cards, FireWire cards, graphics boards (up to AMD Radeon Pro WX7100 or Nvidia Quadro Pro RTX 4000), SAS/SATA adapters, SSDs, signal acquisition cards, video capture & processing cards, and even PCIe extenders. Obviously, all these cards will have to sit on a 40 Gbps (up to 2750 MB/s) connection, which may be a constraint for some workloads.

Sonnet's Echo III Desktop will be available shortly. Since this is a solution for professionals, it is priced at $799.99 (according to Hermitage Akihabara), which is well out of reach for most consumers and gamers.

As we note in our USB 4 FAQ, very few companies have announced USB 4 products of any kind so, when someone announces an officially-certified USB 4 cable, it's newsworthy. Club 3D has introduced one of the industry's first USB 4 certified cables and it supports all the features that were announced for the standard, including data transfer rates of up to 40 Gbps, alternate modes as well as a 100W power delivery. 

Modern interconnection standards promise high performance and a host of additional features like power delivery, but in many cases actual cables do not support announced speed and/or capabilities as manufacturers are eager to cut down their costs by reducing the number of wires inside their cables (or by other means) yet continue using advertised brands. To tackle this problem in case of the latest USB 4 standard, the USB Implementers Forum has introduced two certification programs that verify capabilities of a particular cable: USB 20 Gbps and USB 40 Gbps. 

The Club 3D USB4 Type-C Gen3x2 bi-directional cable CAC-1571 is one of the first cables to carry USB IF's 'Certified USB 40 Gbps' logo, which means that the product supports the maximum speed and all of USB 4's advertised capabilities. The list includes the following:

• Bandwidth up to 40 Gbps
• Power Delivery up to 100W
• DisplayPort Alt Mode 2.0 (DisplayPort 2.0 over USB 4)
• PCI Express support
• Backwards compatibility with USB 3.2, USB 2.0, and Thunderbolt 3

The CAC-1571 comes with an E-mark IC that disclose features and capabilities of the cable to various devices, including hosts, chargers, and hubs.  

The cable is 0.8 meters/2.62 feet long, which is typical for many Thunderbolt 3 cables supplied with devices today.

While Club 3D lists the USB 4 CAC-1571 cable at its website, the company yet has to start its shipments. Pricing of the cable is still unknown. 

UPDATE:  Since this story was first published, OWC reached out to l et us know that the OWC Thunderbolt Hub comes with a 110-Watt power adapter.

OWC has announced what seems to be the world's first Thunderbolt 4 docking hub. The OWC Thunderbolt Hub isn't meant to add a variety of ports to a Thunderbolt 4-enabled PC, instead adding more Thunderbolt ports that you can use to connect various high-performance peripherals.  

Intel's latest Thunderbolt 4 interface provides a similar 40 Gb/s bandwidth and general feature set as Titan Ridge-based Thunderbolt 3. Still, the implementation requirements for Thunderbolt 4 are much stricter, so users buying a PC with a TB4 connector are guaranteed to get everything advertised. The current implementation of Thunderbolt 4 in Intel's Tiger Lake processors enables PC makers to offer only one such port per system, which is not enough for those who use Thunderbolt devices. To get more Thunderbolt ports, owners of the latest laptops will need a hub, and OWC is the first well-known maker to announce one.

The OWC Thunderbolt Hub has one Thunderbolt 4 port to connect to its host (at 40 Gb/s), three Thunderbolt USB-C ports to connect three other Thunderbolt devices or even three independent chains of Thunderbolt devices, a USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A connector, and a 20V/5.5A DC-IN port. The hub can deliver up to 60W of power to its host, 15W of power to each of the Thunderbolt 4 ports, and up to 5W to its USB-A connector.

OWC does not disclose which controller it uses for its Thunderbolt Hub, but since Intel has only one Thunderbolt 4 controller for accessories — the JHL8440 — it is reasonable to assume that OWC uses this very chip. In this case, the Intel JHL8440 mainly acts like a switch that splits one Thunderbolt 4 interface into three independent Thunderbolt USB-C branches that can daisy-chain multiple devices. For example, you can connect an external graphics card to one port and a chain of external high-performance storage devices to another to ensure that graphics and storage do not interrupt each other (assuming that the JHL8440 switches everything properly). Meanwhile, you can plug things like a keyboard into the USB Type-A port.

OWC’s Thunderbolt Hub is currently available for pre-order at $149 and ships in late October, you might be able to find an OWC promo code. The company includes a 0.7-meter Thunderbolt cable in the box, but there is no word about the charger.

Gigabyte has updated its lineup of the BRIX Pro series with Intel's latest 11th Gen Tiger Lake CPUs including new Xe integrated graphics. Gigabyte has three Tiger Lake units available, with different CPUs for each SKU, you can grab a Core i7-1165G7 Quad-Core, Core i5-1135G7 Quad-Core, or Core Core i3-1115G4 Dual-Core model.

As found by FanlessTech, connectivity is extensive on the BRIX Pro, rivaling that of entry-level PCs. Each BRIX comes with four HDMI 2.0a ports, one Thunderbolt 4/USB 4.0, two USB 3.2 Gen 2 and two Gigabit Ethernet LAN ports in the rear I/O. Wireless connectivity comes in the form of Intel AX201 WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.1. But that's not all, the front I/O includes four more USB 3.2 ports, plus headphone and microphone jacks.

For storage, you can kit each unit out with two M.2 SSDs, and one SATA 3 laptop hard drive or SSD. One of the two M.2 slots can run either NVMe or SATA protocols which is great as SATA M.2 SSDs are usually cheaper than their NVMe counterparts. For system memory, you get two SODIMMs slots supporting a max of 64GB (32GB per slot) at a frequency of 3200MHz.

The size of the Tiger Lake BRIX Pros are excellent given the amount of connectivity they offer, measuring just 7.7 x 1.7 x 5.5 inches (1‎96.2 x 44.4 x 140 mm). They are compact and useful for when space is at a premium. They can also be attached onto the rear of your monitor with the built-in VESA mount that supports 75 x 75mm and 100 x 100mm mounts.

Gigabyte have yet to announce availability and pricing.

If you hadn't noticed yet, Apple's stuff is expensive. Really expensive. The latest item in their fruity arsenal is the braided Thunderbolt 3 Pro cable, which costs a mighty $129, as spotted by The Verge.

It goes without saying that that's a pretty steep figure for a cable. I certainly haven't ever spent that much on any cable. Yet, it's actually not that bad of a price if you look at the materials and what exactly this cable can do. 

The Thunderbolt 3 Pro cable is rated for overall data transfer speeds of up to 40 Gbps and USB 3.1 Gen 2 at up to 10 Gbps. It also supports DisplayPort video output and can handle up to 100 watts of power delivery. That's some serious stuff for just a single cable, and although there are some others that can do those figures, none of them are as long as Apple's 2m (6.6 feet) cable.

Of course, it's an active cable in order to be able to pull that off, so there's more going into the cable than meets the eye. Comparatively, passive Thunderbolt cables typically max out at 40 Gbps and 50cm (1.6 feet) in length.

Plus, Apple's promise that the Thunderbolt 3 Pro won't get tangled when it's coiled should bring some peace to those of us living in a home overrun with cables.

At the end of the day though, most of us don't need this. And those of us who do are probably used to paying a lot for equipment. 

Apple’s new Arm-powered Macs will still support the Thunderbolt USB-C connectivity standard the company worked to develop alongside Intel, according to a new quote from an Apple spokesperson published in The Verge.

“Over a decade ago, Apple partnered with Intel to design and develop Thunderbolt,” the spokesperson told The Verge. “We remain committed to the future of Thunderbolt and will support it in Macs with Apple silicon.”

On the surface, this isn’t too surprising. Apple’s MacBook Pro was among the first machines to have Thunderbolt ports, and Thunderbolt 3 currently remains the world’s fastest port with 40 Gbps of bandwidth. 

But as The Verge notes, Apple also has yet to debut Thunderbolt on any of its products aside from its Intel-powered Macs, even those featuring other USB-C style connections, like the iPad Pro. And like Apple Silicon-based Mac will, those devices already use Apple’s own in-house chips.

It would be easy, then, to be nervous about Apple silicon’s support for the standard, especially since Intel released a preview of Thunderbolt 4’s features yesterday, meaning that the Thunderbolt space is already due for some big changes coming soon. But Apple has already pledged to continue support for its Intel-based Macs for “years to come,” even as it works to transition completely to Apple silicon within the next two years. 

This is a positive for professionals who have already invested in the Thunderbolt ecosystem, including the recently released Apple Pro XDR Display, which only uses Thunderbolt 3. Those people also won't need to get rid of docks or other accessories should they use devices with Apple's Arm chips.

Apple CEO Tim Cook also stated during the Apple silicon reveal that “We have some new Intel-based Macs in the pipeline that we’re really excited about.” So it’s probably too soon to worry about Apple ditching helpful features just to further set itself apart from Intel. Even if the company does love its proprietary connections- looking at you, Lightning.

Czech manufacturer Unibos built an external M.2 SSD enclosure that uses the Thunderbolt 3 interface, as spotted by ComputerBase. The Unibos Portable SSD X4 Storage Box (SKU BR-TB3-X4) is quite a rarity, as most external Thunderbolt 3 enclosures are notably bigger, offering space for either multiple NVMe SSDs or RAID arrays with 3.5-inch hard drives.

This makes this enclosure a bit of a unicorn, though it's a welcome addition to the market. The Thunderbolt 3 interface gives the system direct access to the four PCIe 3.0 lanes that M.2 NVMe SSDs need, allowing up to 32 Gbps of transfer speed. It uses the Intel JH6340 as its internal controller.

• The best external hard drives and SSDs of 2020
• How to build an external SSD on your own
• AMD Ryzen 4000 laptops listed with March 16 release date. 

For comparison, the next best option that uses a USB interface is the WD Black P50, which uses a USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 interface for up to 20 Gbps of bandwidth. But we've seen reports that that the portable drive doesn't play nicely with the existing USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 controllers, (but we haven't had the chance to test this ourselves). All other USB-based external SSDs have access to half that bandwidth at best, which is a shame considering that NVMe SSDs are capable of far higher speeds.

The enclosure of the Unibos Portable SSD X4 Storage Box is made from a CNC-machined block of aluminium. Cooling is handled passively.

MSRP pricing is €149, which isn't cheap, but that's the price you'll have to pay if you want one of the fastest external SSDs money can buy. Alternatively, you can wait for USB 4 to come out, which will come with Thunderbolt 3 support as standard. No word on U.S. availability. 

Update 2/6/2020 7pm PT: Clarified that Intel did not previously charge royalties for Thunderbolt. Instead, vendors weren't allowed to produce Thunderbolt controller silicon, which is now freely allowed.

Original Article:

There are plenty of AMD motherboards out there with Thunderbolt 3, but none of them have been certified by Intel until today. Today will go down as a special day in ASRock history, because now it's able to say that it's the first to have an Intel-certified Thunderbolt AMD board.

The motherboard in question is the X570 Phantom Gaming ITX/TB3, which is a small-form-factor Mini-ITX motherboard based on AMD's latest enthusiast X570 chipset. In our ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming-ITX/TB3 review in August, we gave the mobo our Editor's Choice award, meaning it was already a great motherboard. Now, it just has a new certification to boast about. 

What makes this worth celebrating is that it took three generations of AMD Ryzen for Thunderbolt to finally reach AMD boards, and it took the better part of a year for one of those products to earn Intel certification. 

In the past, Intel didn't allow vendors to produce Thunderbolt-compatible silicon. But in an effort to boost adoption, Intel abolished this practice in 2019 and handed the Thunderbolt 3 specifications over to the USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF). However, getting Intel certification still requires a one-time fee, the details of which remain undisclosed. It's unclear whether Thunderbolt certification will continue to be a thing after USB 4 is standardized in the market.

Thunderbolt was a proprietary Intel technology, and though it operates over a USB Type-C port, it is capable of far more than just carrying a USB signal. It can also handle power delivery, DisplayPort and PCIe. Thunderbolt 3, therefore, can carry a bandwidth of up to 40 Gbps, which is twice that of USB 3.2 and four times as fast as USB 3.1 connections. Since USB 4 uses the Thunderbolt 3 protocol, it basically is Thunderbolt 3, so USB 4 will be able to reach that speed too once it's implemented in devices.

Thunderbolt's biggest party trick is its ability to daisy-chain, with Thunderbolt 3 specifically able to chain up to six devices together. Paired with this ability comes the benefit of one-cable docking, which is why we've seen more and more monitors (for recommendations, see our Best Gaming Monitors page) embed USB hubs and Ethernet, connecting to a laptop over a single cable and skipping the need for a power cable altogether.

With this much information and power being transferred over a single cable, it's helpful to know that ASRock's motherboard will work up to the standard that Intel expects it to.

A sequel to the crowd-sourced Eve V 2-in-1 is making progress. Today, Eve published an announcement of a next-gen Eve V and began taking feedback. In addition, Eve provided Tom's Hardware with an exclusive teaser image of a potential design, which we have published above.

The picture, which is largely dark, definitively shows four ports. Eve CEO Konstantinos Karatsevidis said two of those are Thunderbolt 4 ports, while the others are regular USB Type-C.

Those Thunderbolt 4 ports are powered by an Intel 11th Generation 15W CPU, Tiger Lake UP4. Additionally, Karatsevidis said the device will have Wi-Fi 6.

In the introduction to the project, Eve refers to the device as a "a tablet-first 2-in-1 tablet and laptop computer with a kickstand and a folio keyboard. It uses an x86 processor and has a good selection of ports." There are some design choices that haven't yet been made yet, like choosing between an aluminum or magnesium alloy chassis.

This design, however, is just one of a few potential concepts that the next-gen Eve V designers will choose from, so it's unclear how much this will represent the final product. Additionally, the 2-in-1 doesn't have a final name (at the moment, Eve is referring to it as Version 2.0.) 

The launch of the original Eve V was rocky, with complaints about reliability, shipping and payment. Eve has since stopped dealing with the distributor for the original 2-in-1 and says that it has "carefully collected all feedback about the device’s features" going into the next generation.

Lenovo said that USB-C issues affecting some of its ThinkPad notebooks were caused by problems with Thunderbolt firmware, according to Notebookcheck, which reported Saturday that Lenovo first identified the problem in August 2019.

The report was part of Notebookcheck's recent investigation into Thunderbolt controller failures in recent ThinkPad models. The outlet said that some models, such as the ThinkPad T470 or T480, experienced these problems after they "ran fine for years." Now it seems that's because of Thunderbolt firmware released in 2019.

Other members of the ThinkPad lineup--Notebookcheck called out the X1 Extreme and ThinkPad P1--didn't experience these Thunderbolt controller failures because they relied on different firmware. (Which is good news for people who purchased those models, but is probably a mite frustrating to other ThinkPad customers.)

Notebookcheck said Lenovo provided the following statement:

"Lenovo identified and provided a fix for this issue in August 2019, since when the patch has been pushed through Lenovo Vantage to affected users. While we believe that the impact of this will be minimal, should customers experience difficulties, they should contact Lenovo Technical Support who will be glad to help."

It's not clear if that offer of assistance was also extended to ThinkPad owners whose notebooks are out-of-warranty. Anyone whose ThinkPad recently started to have problems with Thunderbolt and USB-C connectivity should check Lenovo Vantage for the new firmware and reach out to Lenovo for more information about its response.

UPDATE: Intel confirmed it referenced USB 3.1 in the presentation, meaning Thunderbolt 4 is in fact not faster than Thunderbolt 3. We updated the text accordingly. 

Original Article:

Intel's press conference at CES 2020 last night was underwhelming given its lack of hardware announcements, but the company did partially pull the covers off of its new Tiger Lake processors and included vague slides that touted a "new" integrated Thunderbolt 4 connection. Given this is the first mention of the new interface, it has generated quite a bit of interest.

However, we followed up with a well-placed industry source who claims Thunderbolt 4 isn't new at all: It is largely an Intel re-branding campaign that signifies both the USB 4 and Thunderbolt 3 connections have been fully certified by Intel. That means this connection is not faster than the existing interface. 

We followed up with Intel, which initially provided this response: 

"Thunderbolt 4 continues Intel leadership in providing exceptional performance, ease of use and quality for USB-C connector-based products. It standardizes PC platform requirements and adds the latest Thunderbolt innovations. Thunderbolt 4 is based on open standards and is backwards compatible with Thunderbolt 3. We will have more details to share about Thunderbolt 4 at a later date."

The statement does reference "the latest Thunderbolt enhancements," but doesn't clarify if the interface is faster than Thunderbolt 3, which means there could be some new manageability features that Intel deems are worthy of a new badge. The protocol will also now ride on the new PCIe 4.0 interface, and although that doesn't mean it will be faster, it may serve as the impetus to update the branding. We asked Intel if Thunderbolt 4 is faster than Thunderbolt 3, to which the company responded "more details to come at a later date."

However, in response to a clarifying question on which USB protocol Intel referenced in its presentation, the company confirmed the it referenced USB 3.1, which means Thunderbolt 4 is in fact not faster than Thunderbolt 3. 

At the end of the day, the implication is very simple: Thunderbolt 4 is not faster than Thunderbolt 3 but comes with a new name and a new badge and perhaps a few new features. 

Intel donated the Thunderbolt 3 protocol to the USB standards committee last year to further the adoption of the spec, and the committee summarily rolled it into the new USB 4 spec.

The USB-IF committee has received plenty of criticism for its confusing naming schemes, and decoding Intel's reference to the USB3 standard was difficult because it didn't specify the version referenced. After further clarification, Intel referenced USB 3.1, which you can see reaches up to 10 Gbps, making Thunderbolt 4 throughput the same as Thunderbolt 3. You can see further details of the specification here. 

While Intel donated the Thunderbolt 3 specification to the USB-IF committee, which allows anyone to produce Thunderbolt 3-supporting silicon without a fee, the chips still require certification if they want to earn the Thunderbolt badge, and that's where Intel steps in to generate some revenue. 

Manufacturers of end devices pay a one-time fee for the certification, which is the only payment required to obtain the Thunderbolt 3 badge, but cable makers also have to pay a fee for the badge and are subject to ongoing rigorous inspections that include spot checks and factory audits to ensure that quality remains acceptable on an ongoing basis. Intel also hosts plugfests, during which interoperability with numerous new devices is tested, and workshops. 

Now Intel allegedly also wants to make sure that the USB 4 side of the equation is also certified, which will naturally require a fee for the process, and manufacturers that earn Intel's certification for both USB 4 and Thunderbolt 3 will purportedly step up to the new branding tier: Thunderbolt 4. 

With no bandwidth improvements and perhaps few new features, it seems like Thunderbolt 4 is largely Intel slapping on a branding badge and adding certification fees on the industry-standard USB4 interface and its newly-donated Thunderbolt 3 specification. 

The slide also touts the "new integrated Thunderbolt 4," which might reference some new level of Thunderbolt 3 integration inside the chip. Intel already introduced this type of arrangement with the Ice Lake chips, but we'll have to wait to see if there are substantive changes to the implementation. 

Intel originally certainly didn't provide much clarity on the development, as the only mention of Thunderbolt 4 came during the closing lines of the press conference, in which Gregory Bryant said:

"We're doubling the graphics performance generation on generation, industry-leading AI performance, integrated Wi-Fi 6, integrated Thunderbolt 4 for the first time, that's just about it."

Without any more details from Intel on the matter coming any time soon, it's hard to determine just what new features Intel deems as worthy of a new badge.

Sapphire GearBox Thunderbolt 3 Review

Sapphire’s Gearbox promises to keep high-end graphics, USB 3.0, and gigabit Ethernet connectivity readily available, even if your Ultrabook or small form factor PC doesn’t have room for a discrete GPU or RJ-45 jack. It leverages a dual-port Intel Thunderbolt 3 controller to deliver transfer rates of up to 40 Gb/s, compatibility with the DisplayPort 1.2 standard, and Power Delivery Charging for laptops needing up to 60W.

That’s a lot of convenience in a compact, attractive enclosure. But is the performance hit you take after dropping a modern graphics card onto a x4 PCIe 3.0 link acceptable to gamers who know what their hardware should be capable of? We ran plenty of benchmarks to help answer that question.

Meet the Gearbox Thunderbolt 3 External Graphics Enclosure

The design of Sapphire’s GearBox is simple enough, yet still elegant. Up front, a black, aluminum panel is broken up by a horizontal bar that lights up blue when you press the large power button underneath. It’d be nice to have some control over this behavior, as the bar remains illuminated as long as the enclosure has power, whether you want to see it or not. The top and sides are a single sheet of aluminum that swings up to reveal the internals. Eight hex screws bolt the sides into place, though you only need to remove the two bottom-back screws to free the hinge.

You’ll also need to remove two hex screws on the back panel, which keep the top from swinging open. The black, aluminum rear has holes cut in it for ventilation, an opening for the power supply, two slots for display outputs, a pair of USB 3.0 ports, an RJ-45 jack, and one Thunderbolt 3 port.

Measuring 11.8” long, 5.43” wide, and 8.03” tall, the GearBox’s dimensions aren’t obtrusive sitting on a desk. Still, the enclosure is large enough to accommodate a wide range of dual-slot cards based on AMD and Nvidia GPUs. We ran our benchmarks with the company’s own Nitro+ Radeon RX 590. However, we also installed a variety of alternatives right up to a GeForce RTX 2080 Ti Founders Edition, just to see how they’d fit.

While we certainly wouldn’t recommend spending $1,200 on a 2080 Ti and then bottlenecking it over a Thunderbolt 3 port, the TU102-based card is technically compatible. Not only does it fit physically, but Nvidia’s 260W power rating dips in under the GearBox’s 300W limit. And that’s a conservative ceiling, we’d say, given the 500W Enhance PSU found inside. 

An open cover makes it easy to see how Sapphire keeps this enclosure cool. Rigid mesh across the left side facilitates intake for axial or centrifugal fans. Warm air that accumulates inside is exhausted out the top by two 120mm fans. Flow is directed out the front and back by openings under the aluminum panel. Fan, power, and lighting cables are routed somewhat haphazardly; it’d be nice to see those handled more stealthily.

Much of the inside is monopolized by the 500W PSU, which plugs in to the motherboard through a 24-pin ATX and 8-pin EPS connector. What space remains next to the power supply is reserved for your graphics card of choice. Very little room is left between them. This may become problematic if you need to pop the card out of its PCIe interface. We were able to reach under to release the latch, but only after bending our Nitro+ Radeon RX 590 away from us in its slot.

The motherboard on which that slot resides is a relatively straightforward affair. Thunderbolt 3 connectivity is provided by an Intel JHL6540 dual-port controller. It’s an Alpine Ridge model, launched back in 2016 and limited to DisplayPort 1.2 compatibility. Newer Titan Ridge controllers add DisplayPort 1.4 support.

A Texas Instruments TPS65983 USB-C controller sits between Intel’s chip and the Thunderbolt 3 connector, enabling the GearBox’s Power Delivery Charging capability. There’s also an ASMedia ASM1074 hub, which provides up to four USB 3.0 downstream ports, though only two are exposed on the GearBox’s rear panel. Realtek’s RTL8153 delivers gigabit Ethernet networking through USB to the controller. This could be useful on a laptop that’s too thin for an Ethernet jack.

How We Tested Sapphire’s GearBox

The most common use case for an external graphics enclosure like the GearBox is going to be enabling high-end graphics on a device with an integrated or low-end GPU. That means you’ll probably keep it at home, on a desk, and hook up to it with your laptop when you return from work. Or, it’ll be a permanent installation next to your small form factor HTPC. But in a standalone environment like that, meaningful comparison data is difficult to generate.

So, we started by taking Sapphire’s Nitro+ Radeon RX 590 8G and testing it on a full-sized workstation. Then, we dropped it into the GearBox, connected to the same desktop over Thunderbolt 3, and tested again. Along the way, we rolled in some data from a GeForce GTX 1060-equipped laptop, cut our test system’s link speed to Gen 1 transfer rates to measure the effect of PCIe bandwidth, and even tested a second firmware version to try pulling more performance from the Thunderbolt interface.

Since the MSI Z170 Gaming M7 we usually use doesn’t offer Thunderbolt connectivity, we switched over to an Aorus Z270X-Gaming 7 with our Core i7-7700K installed. The processor is complemented by G.Skill’s F4-3000C15Q-16GRR memory kit. Crucial’s MX200 SSD is included, joined by a 1.6TB Intel DC P3700 loaded down with games.

The focus of today’s review is Sapphire’s GearBox, along with Sapphire’s Nitro+ Radeon RX 590 running natively in our Z270-based motherboard. To those data points, we add Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 1660 Ti, GeForce GTX 1070 Ti, GeForce GTX 1070, GeForce GTX 1660, GeForce GTX 1650, GeForce GTX 1060 6GB, and GeForce GTX 1050 Ti. AMD is represented by the reference Radeon RX Vega 64 and 56 cards, plus the PowerColor Radeon RX 590 and Asus Radeon RX 570.

Our benchmark selection includes Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation, Battlefield V, Destiny 2, Far Cry 5, Grand Theft Auto V, Metro: Last Light Redux, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Tom Clancy’s The Division 2, Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands, The Witcher 3 and Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus.

The testing methodology we're using comes from PresentMon: Performance In DirectX, OpenGL, And Vulkan. In short, these games are evaluated using a combination of OCAT and our own in-house GUI for PresentMon, with logging via GPU-Z.

We’re using Adrenalin 2019 Edition 19.6.1 drivers to test Sapphire’s Nitro+ Radeon RX 590 8G and Crimson Adrenalin 2019 Edition 18.12.3 for the other AMD cards. We use driver version 430.39 to test Gigabyte’s GeForce GTX cards and build 417.54 for everything else.

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Performance Results: 1920 x 1080

While larger and faster graphics cards technically fit in Sapphire’s GearBox, the Thunderbolt 3 interface’s four-lane PCIe 3.0 link kept our ambitions humble. A Radeon RX 590 is ample for smooth gaming at 1920 x 1080, so that’s where we ran our benchmarks.

And it’s a good thing, too. In certain cases, the external graphics box took a pretty serious performance hit. In fact, the slow-down was severe enough to cut the Radeon RX 590’s average frame rate down to somewhere between a GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4GB and a GeForce GTX 1650 in many workloads.

That’s going to be a hard pill to swallow for gamers eyeing specific GPUs with an expectation of performance gleaned from benchmarks run on desktop platforms.

Eager for a bit more insight, we ran some additional tests…

Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation (DX12)

Battlefield V (DX12)

Destiny 2 (DX11)

Far Cry 5 (DX11)

Grand Theft Auto V (DX11)

Metro: Last Light Redux (DX11)

Shadow of the Tomb Raider (DX12)

Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 (DX12)

Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon (DX11)

The Witcher 3 (DX11)

Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus (Vulkan)

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More Performance Results: Vs. A Laptop, PCIe Scaling, and New Firmware

It’s all well and good to generate a wealth of test data using a desktop platform and add-in graphics cards for comparison purposes. After all, an available PCIe slot makes it easier to discern the performance loss attributable to Thunderbolt 3.

But we’re also sure that enthusiasts want to know how our desktop-class Radeon fares against a laptop built for mobile gaming. We had an Asus ROG Strix SCAR II on-hand with a Core i7-8750H and GeForce GTX 1060, so we added it to our charts. While the match-up isn’t apples to apples, it does provide a bit of context:

The Nitro+ Radeon RX 590 8G is notably faster than the mobile GeForce when it’s plugged into a 16-lane PCI Express 3.0 slot. Switching over to the GearBox really slows Sapphire’s card down, though. Is the issue related to a lack of PCIe bandwidth?

We dropped our Aorus motherboard to a Gen 1 link rate, emulating the throughput of a four-lane PCIe 3.0 connection.

The GearBox originally lost 12.6% of its average frame rate under Metro: Last Light. But only a fraction of that would be attributable to the narrower PCIe link if Sapphire truly makes all of its bandwidth available to the graphics card.

Using a 16-lane PCIe 1.0a link rate on our desktop motherboard, performance fell just 2%. That’s more along the lines of what we would have expected.

Just to be sure that this wasn’t an AMD-specific issue, we popped in a GeForce GTX 1060 6GB and observed a 14.4% performance decrease in Metro, which was more than the Radeon.

Our next call was to Sapphire for confirmation that what we were seeing was correct. According to the company, a -20% slow-down compared to a motherboard’s PCIe slot would be normal. So, we’re at least in the ballpark.

There was, however, a new firmware Sapphire was able to share. We got that installed and re-ran our tests:

In every benchmark, the new firmware either helped or didn’t hurt. But it didn’t change the overall story. We were still looking at a significant performance hit after dropping our Nitro+ Radeon RX 590 into the GearBox.

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Fan Speeds, Temperatures, Clock Rates, and GPU Load

A quick comparison between Sapphire’s Nitro+ Radeon RX 590 running on our Aorus Z270X-Gaming 7 and in the GearBox should illustrate any issues attributable to the external enclosure.

Both configurations ramp up similarly, though the GearBox-based setup remains in its semi-passive mode a little longer.

Along the way, temperatures remain close. If anything, the Radeon card in Sapphire’s enclosure actually runs a little cooler thanks to those two 120mm fans drawing warm air away.

There don’t seem to be any clock rate issues, either.

AMD’s Polaris GPU spends most of its time under 100% load, regardless of whether it communicates over a motherboard’s 16-lane link or Thunderbolt 3’s narrower bus.

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Conclusion

Today’s external graphics enclosures are liberating to the legions of gamers who travel around by day but want to buckle down for a frag fest at night. They impose nothing on your choice of laptop, other than it must include Thunderbolt 3 functionality. Go thin. Go light. It doesn’t matter. Then, when you get home, hook right up to USB-C and enjoy supercharged performance that would have necessitated hauling around a larger, heavier notebook.   

Sapphire’s GearBox Thunderbolt 3 enclosure gives mobile gamers the option of working on their productivity-oriented systems all day, and then bolting on the muscle at night. It even goes multiple steps further, exposing gigabit Ethernet and a pair of USB 3.0 ports to platforms that might not have room for those interfaces along their edges. It can charge laptops that use up to 60W. And it’s compatible with AMD or Nvidia graphics cards rated for 300W or less. For all intents and purposes, the GearBox is a utilitarian piece of hardware that utilizes a useful technology to do some things that wouldn’t have been possible a few years ago.

But there’s that little issue of frame rates. We think it’s pretty reasonable to buy an add-in graphics card and expect benchmark numbers from it commensurate with the reviews you read online. You shouldn’t have to spend Radeon RX 590 money to get Radeon RX 570 frame rates. Sapphire’s engineers say a ~20% performance hit is to be expected, and in some games, we saw less slow-down. But in others, we saw more. Some of this may be attributable to the Intel Thunderbolt controller attached to our test system’s Platform Controller Hub versus running the same GPU in a CPU-attached PCIe slot. Or maybe it’s the 4C/8T desktop Core i7 we used for benchmarking. A lower-power mobile chip would have likely masked the performance delta by bottlenecking both graphics configurations. Either way, the potential delta is painfully apparent under the right conditions, and you shouldn't have to count on it being diminished by an artificial bottleneck.

Now, you may have noticed that we snuck a few results into our benchmark charts from Intel’s HD Graphics 630 engine. In Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands, it doesn’t even average 7 FPS. The performance under Grand Theft Auto V is even worse. We know there are ways to coax better frame rates from integrated graphics. But we’re not interested in compromising quality for a barely-playable experience. We want compelling gaming from that svelte little Ultrabook. Is that too much to ask?

If you have to choose between gaming on integrated graphics or a hobbled add-in card via Thunderbolt 3, the GearBox looks like an all-star. Just be aware that the reality of its implementation means you’re going to leave a lot of rendering horsepower on the table in exchange for a convenient external connection. And at $259, you’re paying a premium on top of the cost of your add-in board. The alternatives don’t look much better, though. Enthusiasts willing to accept the frame rate hit can expect their best value from an external graphics enclosure like Sapphire’s GearBox.

Image Credits: Sapphire

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Features & Specifications

Thunderbolt 3 provides the fattest data pipe for direct-attached storage devices. The 40Gb/s connection is just as economical as it is fast, but adoption in commodity PCs has been slow. That will change in 2018 as prices drop. Today, we look at the Areca ARC-8050T3 series, which is the fastest Thunderbolt 3 storage device to date.

Areca's products are enterprise and professional-focused, but unlike others in this market, the company doesn't shy away from performance enthusiasts. For the last decade, the company has been known as the go-to source for high-speed storage technology that enthusiasts often use to set competitive benchmark records. Areca's customizable RAID controller programming and the potential for massive chunks of onboard memory are the secret brew. You can test an older LSI hardware RAID card against the same LSI ROC (RAID-On-Chip) found on the Areca equivalent, and the latter will give you more throughput and lower latency every time. To spell it out, the third-party company has outperformed the in-house brand repeatedly, but at a lower price point. That's what this company is about, and today we'll see it play out again.

We recently published a review of the LaCie 12big. In our review, we talked about the limited competition in the Thunderbolt storage space. The 12big and the smaller 6big target professional users, but they use chip technology borrowed from consumer storage. LaCie has invested a lot in Thunderbolt 3 products, but we could only find older LaCie Thunderbolt 2 storage systems for comparison. That's when we found the Areca ARC-8050T3 series that comes with a varying number of drive bays, including a 12-bay model that is a direct competitor to the LaCie 12big. Unlike its competitors, the Areca model uses enterprise-class RAID controller technology. 

Specifications

Areca released the ARC-8050T3 series with five models that offer varying size and capacity options. The 4-bay model is the only system to use a single-core ROC that supports 6Gb/s SATA and SAS. Areca backs the 800MHz processor with a 1GB DDR3-800 cache. This system is also the only one in the group without a display, but it's also the most economical.

Areca also offers two six-bay models with nearly identical specifications. The ARC-8050T3-6M has a handle, which makes it travel-worthy. We assume the "M" stands for mobile. This is the only system we were not able to find for sale in the US. The non-M version has a different case design. The six-bay models also have expansion capabilities via an SFF-8644 two-lane connection on the back. These devices use the same 1.2GHz dual-core processor that comes in all models but the four-bay unit. Electrically, the ROC supports 12Gbps SAS, but it is also backward compatible with 6Gbps SAS and SATA. Areca backs the ROC with 2GB of DDR3-1866 memory.

The ARC-8050T3-8 is essentially a spruced up -6. The system is a little taller, but the two lanes used for external expansion on the -6 model instead route inside the unit to the eight-drive backplane. This system also adds a second HDD cooling fan running at a lazy 2,700-RPM.

We're testing the flagship model with twelve drive bays, a dual-core 1.2GHz ROC, and 2GB of DDR3-1866. The specifications read like a RAID controller because that's the technology in the box. Areca uses a powerful LSI (now part of Avago) hardware RAID processor to deliver very high performance. The processor can address sixteen channels. Twelve are internal, and four connect to expansion devices via an SFF-8644 cable.

Areca doesn't list performance claims for these products because it depends on the storage devices. This series is sold diskless, but B&H Photo and PC Pit Stop have preloaded systems available, so you don't have to piece a system together.

Features

Except for the four-bay model, all the ARC-8050T3 systems support RAID 0, 1, 1E, 3, 5, 6, 10, 30, 50, 60, single disk and JBOD. The smallest system in this lineup doesn't support RAID 30, 50, or 60 because it doesn't have enough drive bays to support the advanced arrays.

The larger systems support hardware-level encryption without impacting performance. You can use self-encrypting drives (SED) with all of the ARC-8050T3 systems.

Pricing & Warranty

The ARC-8050T3 systems sell as standalone components. Some companies will bundle drives and others will even configure the system with the drive installed. The reseller handles those value-add configurations. The enclosures are normally sold diskless. Prices range from $999 for the four-bay and scale to $2,299 for the 12-bay model we're testing. Areca backs the ARC-8050T3 series with a standard three-year warranty.

Accessories

Areca keeps it all very simple. Inside the package, we found an easy to follow paper installation guide to walk us through the installation process. The system ships with screws for installing drives into the sleds, a long active Thunderbolt cable with Type-C connectors on each end, a power cable, and an Ethernet cable.

Areca makes, but does not include, a battery backup module. This is an optional purchase and allows the DRAM cache to retain data in the event of a power failure. The -4 and -6M models do not support this feature.

Software

You need to load the custom Thunderbolt 3 driver before you use the software or even plug in the ARC-8050T3. We made the mistake of plugging the system in first and then spending an hour trying to set up the device. The installation process takes less than three minutes if you install the driver first.

The management software is nearly identical to Areca's RAID controller software. The settings will seem overwhelming at first if you are not accustomed to this level of control. There are two ways to approach the software. You can dive into every setting and build a custom array, or you can simply use the Quick Create button and select from the eight options. The default setting is already configured and will get you up and running. The default settings will change when you select a different RAID level, so there is already some optimization built in.

The full custom experience is one reason why Areca's RAID controllers spent time at the top of the world record rankings for storage-based benchmarks. Enthusiasts can spend hours in the software to get the maximum performance. I've spent several late nights experimenting in the interface to squeeze out a few extra PCMark points.

Packaging

Areca keeps the packaging simple. All of these devices will sell online, so there is very little concern for shelf appeal. The system ships in a dense cardboard box with a full-color box inside. The inner box does have a picture and some specifications, but I would be surprised to see these in a brick and mortar store.

A Closer Look

We have the flagship model in the lab for testing. Areca calls this a desktop form-factor. The drives install in two rows, so the system is half the height of the LaCie 12big, but it only takes up a little more desk space. You can control the array with the buttons and display. You can use it to set the system up without even installing the software. A password keeps others from tampering with your array.

The system supports 12Gb/s SAS HDDs, which you won’t find on the LaCie Thunderbolt products. The sleds support 2.5" and 3.5" drives in both SAS and SATA flavors, so you have several options. It's possible to split the system into several arrays, too.

The business end of the system is on the back side. There are two large fans that cool the drives. A small fan cools the power supply, and a midsize fan keeps the electronics happy. We ran this system on a desk and didn't have any issues with noise. The system dynamically adjusts the fan speed based on internal temperatures.

The two Thunderbolt 3 Type-C ports are the primary connectors. You can daisy chain Thunderbolt 3 devices together. The interface also carries a video signal. 

If twelve bays are not enough, you can also expand the system by connecting a JBOD box. The Areca software allows you to build a separate array or integrate the drives into your internal RAID. You can also daisy-chain more Areca ARC-8050T3 systems through Thunderbolt 3 and use one interface to control everything.

The systems have an advanced auto-power feature that is based on the host system's power status. This allows you to build one large RAID array that spans your other ARC-8050T3 systems.

The Ethernet port may be confusing for inexperienced users. This port allows you to run the Areca software remotely from another system (out-of-band management).

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Performance Testing & Final Thoughts

Comparison Products

Today we're testing the LaCie 12big, 8big, and 5big Thunderbolt direct-attached storage systems against the 12-bay Areca ARC-8050T3.

Testing Notes

To keep the tests fair, we pulled the Seagate Enterprise Capacity 3.5 v5 8GB drives from the 12big and used them in the Areca ARC-8050T3-12. We ran the 8050T3-12 in RAID 0, 10, 5 and 6. We also carried over the RAID 5 and 6 results from the 12big. We tested the 5big in RAID 5 and the 8big in RAID 6.

Sequential Read Performance

The internal RAID algorithms for the Areca and the LaCie systems are completely different. That becomes clear in the first test with a QD1 128KB read across the addressable user space. The LSI controller in the Areca comes from the enterprise side of the market. It's older technology, but the ROC is much quicker than LaCie's consumer technology that it brought up to serve the prosumer market.

The 128KB sequential read test shows us why the Areca is so much faster. At QD1, the Areca is 1,000 MB/s faster than the nearest LaCie. The Areca reaches full speed at QD2, but the 12big doesn't start to level off until QD8.

Sequential Write Performance

The ARC-8050T3-12's large 2GB DRAM cache and high clock speed fuels higher sequential write performance. We see a steep performance decline in RAID 10 as we write across the full LBA range, but 0, 5, and 6 hold steady.

The Areca offers twice as much performance with 64KB blocks than the LaCie. The 12big starts to come alive with 512KB blocks and performs better as we scale to larger data. The Areca muscles its way through all block sizes.

Random Read Performance

The ARC-8050T3-12 takes the lead in the random read test as we scale from 4KB to 32KB at QD1. The 12big in RAID 5 and 6 is competitive with the Areca in the 4KB and 8KB read tests. This will become more important later in the review when we move to real-world applications and directory transfers.

Random Write Performance

The Areca delivers the best performance in RAID 0. RAID 10 performance drops drastically, but RAID 5 and RAID 6 are even lower. All of the ARC-8050T3's RAID modes outperform the three LaCie products running RAID 5 and 6.

Sequential Mixed Workload Performance

For professional users, the 100% read and write tests are nice, but most work happens in mixed workloads where the data flows both ways. 70% sequential reads have long been considered the ideal test for audio, video, and photo production work. Areca's enterprise technology allows it to excel in these workloads.

Random Mixed Workload Performance

None of these systems were designed specifically for heavy workloads. Some users do run these systems attached to powerful host systems that with multiple virtual machines. Microsoft's Hyper-V is 4KB heavy, but VMware's technology favors 8KB blocks. We run both 4KB and 8KB tests with a focus on 70% reads for virtual machine users.

Real-World File Transfer Performance

This series of tests originates with our portable storage product reviews, but it's an excellent way to test moving real data from a host PC to an external device. The data comes from a high-performance NVMe SSD (Intel SSD 750 800GB) that is fast enough to saturate the device under test in sequential, random, and mixed workloads.

We tested with the Avatar (2D + 3D Edition) Blu-ray for the ISO transfer. We used rFactor from the post-installation directory (C:/Program Files) for the Game directory transfer. The Directory Test is a 15.2GB block of data that comes from a daily-use notebook. It contains a mix of images, software installations, ISO files, and multimedia that yields a nice real-world workload.

The Areca handles large sequential transfers much better than the 12big. That changes when we move to smaller blocks in the game directory test. We can tune the Areca for increased small-block performance, but we could also tune the LaCie systems to perform better as well.

The LaCie 12big outperforms the Areca in RAID 0 and 10 when we mix large and small blocks in the directory test. The 12big takes a much larger performance hit when we focus on the RAID 5 and 6 results. The Areca doesn't suffer as much of a performance penalty in arrays with redundant data. 

PCMark 8 Storage Benchmark

In this series of tests, we run applications workloads on the external storage devices. These are real-world mixed workloads with professional applications in the PCMark 8 storage suite including Photoshop, After Effects, InDesign, and Illustrator.

The Areca ARC-8050T3-12 has the strongest performance in the professional applications. There is very little deviation between the time to completion between the different arrays. The LaCie systems are also fast, but there is a clear gap between the systems in redundant arrays.

Total Storage Bandwidth

The ARC-8050T3-12 is the clear performance leader, but not all of the results are what we expected. RAID 5 and 6 delivered higher throughput than RAID 10. We expected RAID 10 to fall just below RAID 0.

Final Thoughts

Areca is known to deliver high-performance products at a low price, but "low price" is a relative term when we're talking about enterprise and prosumer computer hardware. The company's products are more value-focused than many of its competitors. Areca doesn't do a lot of advertising, but it has a strong enthusiast following that stems from delivering some of the highest-performing RAID products on the market. Serious prosumer users are not enthusiasts, though. To professionals, these products are tools rather than fun technology to fiddle with for fun and benchmark glory.

The Areca ARC-8050T3-12 is a clear performance leader. I would expect similar performance from the 6- and 8-bay models. They share the same RAID-On-Chip technology from LSI but have a reduced number of internal drive bays. The systems have features we don't see in competing products, such as a front-facing display screen and expansion capabilities that flow data back to the internal RAID controller.

The ARC-8050T3's large cache helps accelerate write performance in redundant arrays. In our testing, we only observed a small performance penalty in RAID 5 and 6. Other products have more trouble sustaining write speeds with parity arrays. LSI, now part of Avago, spent several years at the forefront of RAID technology. While LSI was widely considered the leader, only a few knew that Areca was doing it better with the same silicon.

The ARC-8050T3-12 sells for $2,299 and the LaCie 12big sells for $7,899. LaCie ships the 12big with twelve 8TB drives for a total of 96TB. Our system included Seagate Enterprise Capacity 3.5 v5 drives that sell for $254 on Amazon. Adding the same drives to the Areca raises the cost to $5,347, or $2,552 less than the LaCie 12big.

After looking at the performance results in our tests, it's easy to figure out which system delivers the better value and performance.

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Features & Specifications

LaCie's new 12big Thunderbolt 3 breaks the direct attached storage mold. The 12big houses up to 12 drives, making it the largest storage tower we've ever tested. The Thunderbolt 3 interface provides twice the raw performance of Thunderbolt 2, and combined with the 12-drive capacity, this tower gives professional users the capacity and throughput to work with 4K, 5K, and even 6K video in real time. 

The LaCie 12big is 17.6 inches tall, but it looks much larger in pictures. You can tell this new pedestal tower is big, but its size becomes more apparent when you place it next to a computer monitor. LaCie also claims the tower can deliver 2,600 MB/s of throughput, so it might bring big performance to match the large footprint.

Intel developed Thunderbolt technology, but Apple brought it to market first. The broader PC market adopted the interface later. Apple brought Thunderbolt 3 (TB3), the latest and fastest iteration of the technology, to market in three MacBook Pro models. The laptops feature TB3 ports and not a single USB port (although TB3 also merged with USB 3.1 with the Type-C interface). Apple also built a $30 bi-directional TB3-to-TB2 adapter that allows older devices or host systems to communicate with the newer interface.

Thunderbolt technology is not new or particularly rare on the PC. Most motherboard manufacturers already have add-in cards or integrated onboard connectivity. The interface lets you run large storage systems at high speeds, but it originated with Intel-proprietary chips. Intel recently announced that it is giving away the IP so third parties can build less-expensive device-side controllers that are more power efficient. Intel will also bring Thunderbolt technology to the CPU die in future desktop processors. That will make Thunderbolt as common as the USB interface.

Until then, high component costs will limit TB3 technology to creative professionals. In recent years, systems like the HP Z800 workstation have pried market share away from Apple in the prosumer/creative space. HP systems are usually more powerful than Apple's, and cross-platform software allows you to run the same applications on both operating systems.

Creative professionals, such as YouTubers, filmmakers, and post-production specialists, are among LaCie's target audience. These groups are a growing demographic. For instance, YouTube viewership is through the roof as the number of so-called "cord cutters" just hit an all-time high last quarter.

Specifications

The 12big currently ships pre-loaded with drives at four capacity points. LaCie may increase the capacity range now that Seagate has new 12TB drives available. Many of LaCie's 12big systems shipped with Seagate Enterprise NAS HDDs, but those drives were retired and replaced by the IronWolf Pro from the Guardian Series HDDs. Our 72TB system shipped with twelve 6TB Seagate Enterprise Capacity 3.5 HDD V5 drives (review here).

The 12big's performance appears to be limited by processing power rather than disk performance. All four capacities come with the same specifications; up to 2,600/1,700 MB/s of sequential read/write throughput with Thunderbolt 3 and a RAID 0 array configuration. LaCie lists the RAID 5 specifications at 2,400/1,200 MB/s read/write. The system also supports USB 3.x, but the interface reduces performance to 400 MB/s of sequential read/write performance with RAID 0. That drops further to 350 MB/s of sequential read/write throughput over the USB interface with a RAID 5 array.

Features

The LaCie 12big comes packing many features that transform it into a smart storage device. An onboard RAID controller powers the system and provides several user-adjustable settings and modes. That allows you to dial in the best performance for your workload.

Nested RAID options like RAID 50 and RAID 60 aren't possible unless you have a large number of drives. The 12big supports powerful nested arrays, but most of us will use traditional RAID levels to maximize performance and capacity. The most popular options will be RAID 0, 5, 6, or 10. You don't have to use all twelve bays in a single array, either. It's possible to build a RAID 0 array to access data at very high speeds and then an additional RAID 5 or RAID 6 array for long-term storage. The 12big is also the only shipping Thunderbolt 3 system with USB capabilities and RAID 5.

Thunderbolt 3 is one of the best data interfaces ever released. The PCI Express 3.0 x4 control chips support 32Gbps of bandwidth and can carry both the display output and other traffic through the same cable. Combined, Thunderbolt 3 delivers 40Gbps bandwidth. The 12big features two Thunderbolt 3 ports for easy daisy chaining with other devices. It also features a USB 3.1 Gen 2 port that you can daisy chain with the Thunderbolt string. You can also use it to connect to a host system, but it is slower than Thunderbolt.

Pricing & Warranty

High capacity HDDs are not cheap, especially when you magnify the expense by twelve. The LaCie 12big starts out at $4,999 for 48TB (12x 4TB). That leaps to 72TB (12x 6TB) and moves the needle to $6,699, which one of the biggest price increases in the series. There is also a $1,700 increase to the $8,399 96TB (12x 8TB) model. Spending $10,000 nets you 120TB (12x 10TB) capacity.

All 12big systems carry a standard five-year warranty.

Accessories

The system ships with six different power cords so your ready no matter where you are in the world. It's a large system, but I've seen videographers boast about taking their 12big and 6big Thunderbolt 3 systems to every shoot. Now I understand why LaCie and third-party companies sell Pelican cases with custom form-fitting cushion inserts.

LaCie includes a single Thunderbolt 3 active cable with two Type-C connectors. The company also includes a USB passive cable with two Type-C connectors. The third cable is USB Type-C to Type-A so you can connect to legacy host systems.

Software

LaCie includes four applications plus a Thunderbolt driver. You will have to download the software from the LaCie 12big support page, but that ensures you get the latest revision. The suite includes two Backup Manager Pro applications (Genie and Intego). For the security conscious, LaCie's Public Private software supports AES 256-bit encryption.

The company also recently updated the RAID Manager software. This is the interface you use to configure your array (it ships in RAID 5), change the settings, set up notifications, and more. It's a comprehensive interface with powerful features. 

Packaging

Given its size and cost, LaCie will sell most 12big systems through online retailers. The company put together an attractive package for brick-and-mortar stores anyway. The front of the package has a drawing of the system and a list of specifications.

LaCie pre-installs the drives and wraps the 12big in a plastic bag. LaCie packaged the system very well. The design is like the packaging used with many large flat-panel TVs. The carton is built around an inner structure designed to keep the system secure.

A Closer Look

The system looks great on your desk. You can tell it's a quality build and the system has a nice texture. We thought it was made entirely of aluminum, but we found plastic under the textured covering on the drive bays.

The famous signature LaCie blue orb also returns. The orb is smaller than we've seen on most of the previous models, but it still serves the same function. When it is blue, the system is on and operating correctly. If it turns red, you have a problem and should consult the LaCie RAID Manager application. The orb is also a button. Pressing it sends the system into a suspended mode to reduce power consumption. 

All of the connectors are on the back of the system. This is where you plug in the power, the two Thunderbolt 3 ports, and the single USB 3.1 port. There is also a reset button on the rear of the unit. LaCie also outfitted the 12big with a Kensington lock port near the reset button.

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Performance Testing & Conclusion

Comparison Products

We're using the LaCie 5big (5-bay) and 8big Rack (8-bay rackmount) Thunderbolt 2 systems as comparison models. Not to downplay the previous generation, but the new 6big and 12big with Thunderbolt 3 provide twice the maximum theoretical performance of the Thunderbolt 2 models. We tested the 5big in RAID 5 and the 8big in RAID 6. We also include the Western Digital VelociRaptor Duo in the comparison charts. As the name suggests, the VelociRaptor Duo uses two Western Digital VelociRaptor 1TB drives in RAID 0. The drives spin at 10,000 RPM but still use a standard SATA connection.

We tested the LaCie 12big with all twelve drives in RAID 0, 5, 6, and 10. We did run across an unexpected issue. Most of the large RAID arrays we've tested over the last few years support SSDs or at least offer an option for an SSD cache. When you combine hard disk drives into an array, you multiply the throughput performance. Sadly, it can also multiply latency outliers as well. The increased potential for latency outliers can amplify inconsistent performance.

You can tame the issue by building more than one array and leveraging the additional volumes to gain a performance advantage. You will have to be mindful of where your project data comes from or goes to. One way to do this is to read from one array and write to another. This tactic reduces your performance loss from mixed workloads but also complicates your workflow. Luckily, LaCie's RAID Manager software allows you to customize your storage volumes. This isn't a one-size-its-all system.

Sequential Read Performance

All three LaCie systems and their various RAID levels provided similar performance during the sequential read test. The new 12big is slightly faster than the older systems, but the increased odds for latency outliers from so many drives introduces more performance variability.

The 12big system targets video professionals, so the default 128KB stripe size is appropriate. You should use a 64KB stripe size if you plan to use the system to run applications or manipulate smaller files.

It's possible to reach very high levels of performance with the right workloads. Large-block data, like we find in video files, wakes the 12big up. We found that even relatively small 128KB blocks at high queue depths can tease out more performance. 

There is very little difference between RAID 0 and RAID 5 during many of the read tests; they provide less performance and consistency than RAID 10.

Sequential Write Performance

RAID 0 and 10 didn't provide the best sequential write performance. The 12big's RAID 5 and 6 levels were much faster.

We can attribute the inconsistent results during the sequential write workload to the large drive count. This is where compounded latency can bite you. The drives have a small integrated cache, but the caching algorithms ignore large chunks of data. Unfortunately, the 12big doesn't have a sizable DRAM cache to help ingest incoming data like a dedicated high-end RAID controller does.

Random Read Performance

The 12big's different RAID levels delivered similar performance throughout many of the random read tests. There were a few outliers as we cycled through the various block sizes, but performance improves as we intensify the workload.

Random Write Performance

The 12big exhibits more write inconsistency, but that isn't entirely surprising with random data. The cache on the drives should absorb this data, but the platter takes the brunt of the load after the workload saturates the buffer.

Mixed Sequential Workload Performance

The increased number of disks in the arrays doesn't do much for performance in mixed sequential workloads. The same can be said for the extra bandwidth between the 12big and the host system. The 12big has an underpowered RAID controller, so it can't fully utilize the combined performance of the disks inside the tower.

Mixed Random Workload Performance

We see high, yet inconsistent, performance once again. The performance is high enough for you to run the intended workloads, but the 12big doesn't look like a significant improvement over the previous generation when we test with synthetic workloads.

Real-World File Transfer Performance

This series of tests is an excellent way to test real data transfers from a host PC to the 12big. The data originates from a high-performance NVMe SSD (Intel SSD 750 800GB) that is fast enough to saturate the device under test with sequential, random, and mixed workloads.

We often see performance measured in throughput, but time-based results are easier to interpret because the sense of time is universal. We tested with the Avatar (2D + 3D Edition) Blu-ray. For the Game test, we used rFactor to transfer data from the post-installation directory (C:/Program Files). The Directory Test consists of a 15.2GB data transfer. It contains a mix of images, software installations, ISO files, and multimedia that yields a nice real-world workload.

All of the products perform very well in these basic transfer tests, but the 12big configured in RAID 0, 5, and 6 wins many of the tests. The Blu-Ray test, which consists primarily of sequential data, is the closest to the 12big's intended use-case. We see a big performance increase over the previous generation systems, including the older Western Digital VelociRaptor loaded with 10,000 RPM drives.

PCMark 8 Storage Benchmark

There are many ways to utilize the LaCie systems. The system presents the storage pool as a drive volume (or several depending on your configuration), so you can install software to it like a local disk. We often discuss using iSCSI over a network, and the same concept is true here. You can host the operating system on a local SSD and then install other software on a secondary drive. This keeps your SSD running well by reducing the amount of clutter on the drive. It also keeps your secondary HDD storage running at high speed by reducing data fragmentation. Most of the random writes will go to the boot drive that hosts your operating system.

Again, we see strong performance from the 12big, but you could optimize and also adjust the number of disks to improve the performance.

Total Storage Bandwidth

We average the PCMark 8 results into a throughput metric to highlight the toll data redundancy takes on performance. The benefit is that you can weather a hard drive failure (RAID 5) or two (RAID 6) and your data is still secure. RAID 10 performance was slightly higher than RAID 0 and also offers data redundancy. It also cuts your usable storage space in half. We almost always recommend some form of data redundancy unless you plan to use the storage for scratch use and keep a permanent copy of the data on another storage device. 

Conclusion

We like to give you the laser focus on performance, but we also use some of the diffused light to pan around the outside edges. The LaCie 12big is a versatile product. The number of drives allows you to fine tune the array so that you can find the best performance for your use-case. Twelve-disk arrays are not always the best way to utilize the space, so you can also split the drives into several arrays.

The 6big pictured above is the 12big's half-height, half-capacity, and half-priced relative. It also features the same internals. It gives you a lower entry price point while still providing excellent features and redundant storage--just with fewer disks.

The 6big is relevant because the 12big's price is just as massive as the system. The 120TB model weighed in at $13,999 when it debuted on the market. Thankfully, LaCie lowered the price to $9,999. The LaCie 12big doesn't have a lot of pound-for-pound competition in the market. QNAP has attacked the Thunderbolt 3 market with NAS/DAS combination products, but they can also be expensive. They also require more experience to configure. Areca, a favorite among PC power users and enthusiasts (but an obscure company to everyone else), also has a 12-bay Thunderbolt 3 system. It also requires some storage knowledge to set up.

We really like the 12big's easy setup and overall design. Drive bay locks would be nice to ensure your disks never walk off unexpectedly. LaCie does offer a secure travel case with form-fitted foam to protect the system during travel. For some professionals, that's a big selling point. In an ideal world your 12big will sit in a comfortable studio, but when you need to go, LaCie makes it easy to take your big gun to the wild.

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Features & Specifications

Thunderbolt 3 debuted nearly a year ago, but Thunderbolt 2 still has a massive user base. The technology wiped Fibre Channel DAS off the map and provided professionals an easy path to high-speed, high-capacity storage. At the same time, many professionals have migrated from the Mac Pro to powerful Windows-based systems like the HP Z Workstation platform. Companies like LaCie have catered to Apple users while keeping a toe in the Wintel waters. That experience positions the company to support Windows users, in contrast to companies that treated Windows users like second-class citizens.

Regardless of your current platform, Thunderbolt offers superior features compared to USB and isn't as expensive as 10Gb Ethernet. Thunderbolt connectivity first appeared on a limited number of PC motherboards designed for audio-video professionals, but over time the high-bandwidth technology trickled down to some mainstream and enthusiast motherboards.

The second version of the technology offers a full-duplex 20Gb/s connection. For the most part, Thunderbolt has been used exclusively for storage devices and monitors (thanks to DisplayPort Passthrough).

LaCie, a Seagate company, is the market leader in Thunderbolt storage. No other company offers as many different models with the technology. We tested the LaCie Rugged RAID, a truly portable Thunderbolt-enabled device, in early 2016. The new 12big pedestal storage system (review coming soon) is at the other end of the scale with twelve hard drives. Seven distinct products, separated by capacity, populate the middle range.

Today we're testing the two flagship Thunderbolt 2 models that pack a large amount of storage capacity in a small package. The LaCie 5big uses a traditional pedestal form factor that fits nicely on or under a desk. The LaCie 8big is only 1.75-inches tall. The 1U 8big was designed for larger installations where using a rackmount system to take advantage of Thunderbolt's pass-thru makes for a tidier installation. The system is based loosely on Seagate's Business NAS, but was given a makeover by Neil Poulton, LaCie's award-winning designer. 

Specifications

*Ships with Seagate enterprise-class HDDs.

The LaCie 5big and 8big Rack Thunderbolt 2 storage systems use Marvell hardware RAID technology. You can align the disks in RAID 0, 1, 5, 6, 10 arrays or chose a simple JBOD configuration. You can also configure more than one array in the system.

Connectivity comes from dual 20Gb/s Thunderbolt 2 ports on the back of each system. Thunderbolt supports daisy-chaining up to six devices. Most host systems feature two Thunderbolt ports for up to 12 devices. This has added meaning for the 8big where users can build a large system in a rack for up to 1.7 petabytes of storage. The Thunderbolt specification supports cables up to 100 meters so you don't have to hear all of those spinning disks in your studio.

The performance varies for each specific product SKU and the type of array you build. The 5big comes in 10TB, 20TB, 30TB and 40TB capacities. The largest come outfitted with enterprise-grade disks. The 8big with eight drive bays ships in five capacities that range from 12TB to a massive 64TB. There are two stops at 48TB, one with, and one without, enterprise disks. The non-enterprise model uses Seagate's 8TB Desktop HDDs and the higher-spec unit uses Seagate's 8TB Enterprise NAS HDDs. The performance is close enough for LaCie to only list the performance by overall capacity. The real difference is in the build quality between the two drives. Enterprise HDDs are designed for environments with increased vibration, like a server rack. They also employ sturdier components and more robust firmware.

Pricing And Warranty

*Ships with Seagate enterprise-class HDDs.

High capacity hard disk drives are expensive, and when you need several to fill a device the cost amplifies quickly. The bare LaCie 5big starts at $1,199, but with five 8TB Seagate Enterprise NAS HDDs the final bill comes to nearly $4,000. The 8big Rack with eight drive bays has an even higher ceiling, but it starts at just $1,599. With the sale 8TB Enterprise NAS HDDs the price elevates to $6,899. We used MSRP pricing direct from LaCie for the chart, but there is some retail pricing drift. We found the 8big Rack 48TB for as low as $3,999 at Newegg. That is nearly $300 off the MSRP.

Both systems include a standard five-year warranty.

5big Packaging

The LaCie 5big ships with solid support and protection. The 5big features a full retail print allowing users to shop in retail stores with confidence. LaCie provided specification and features lists. Users also get a great look at the system thanks to the images on the front and back.

5big Accessories

The 5big comes ready for international travel with a five different power cables that accompany paper manuals and other assorted hardware. the system also ships with a Thunderbolt 2 cable. That will save users the added expense because these cables are not cheap.

The LaCie 5big

The system is identical to the now discontinued 5big NAS other than the two Thunderbolt ports that replace the Ethernet ports. The large blue orb on the front lights up when the system is turned on. You can press the button for a moment to put the drives to sleep or press it longer to shut the system down. There is a red LED inside for more complex operations like resetting the system to factory defaults.

8big Rack Packaging

The LaCie 8big Rack isn't the type of product you buy at a local Best Buy or Fry's Electronics store. The system has to ship double boxed due to the size and weight. The system ships exactly like the Seagate Business NAS, a 1U 8-bay NAS that shares the same basic case structure. The drives ship in a closed-cell form fitting foam to reduce vibration during shipping. Under the foam is another layer of protection via form fitting plastic that supports the 8big Rack NAS.

8big Rack Accessories

The 8big Rack ships with more accessories. LaCie includes rack rails and mounting hardware. There is also a cable management arm that actuates with the sliding action. The Seagate / LaCie slides are some of the best I've used if you have a square hole rack. The screws and washers fit inside the square holes to hold the rails center. You don't use rack nuts and the tapered screws fit flush allowing the 8big to fit perfectly flush with the rack.

The system also ships with two power cords and a Thunderbolt 2 cable. the cable is the same as what ships with the 5big and is right around three feet in length. This may not be long enough for most installations unless your host system is also in the rack.

The LaCie 8big Rack

Neil Poulton designed an attractive rackmount system but the recessed status and button system could use some work. If your 8big is in the top of the rack the recessed area is difficult to view with another system mounted under. Things get worse if your 8big is at the bottom of the rack. The 8big itself obstructs the view and access to the buttons. The perfect mounting point is chest to eye level. Here you see the status LEDs and can easily work the buttons.

The system features a power, silence and ID buttons. The power button is obvious. The silence button mutes the alarm should there be a problem with a drive or power. The ID button flashes an LED on the front and back of the system. This makes it easy to identify the correct system in a rack with several installed.

The drives slide into space in the forward half of the 8big. There is a removable tool-free cover that users access with two pull tabs on the side. You simple use the thumb screws that allow the rack slides to pull the system out. From there you remove the cover with the pull tabs that unlock the metal top.

The system also features four user replaceable fans should one fail. All of the hardware is hot-swappable so you don't even need to turn the 8big off to replace a disk or fan.

The LaCie 8big we received to test features redundant power and two Thunderbolt 2 ports on the back. Smaller capacity systems that ship with only 4 HDDs come with a single power supply. LaCie offers a redundant power supply kit should you want a dual PSU system.

Software

There are three key software packages included with both the 5big and 8big.

• Intego Backup Manager Pro
• LaCie Private-Public (AES 256-bit Encryption)
• LaCie RAID Manager (Administrator Console)

You can use LaCie's administration tool or Marvell's. The Marvell software gives you a little more control with additional features to fine tune the array but the LaCie software is easier to manage. The LaCie management software gives users easy access to 95 percent of the options but it does seem to have a slight delay after issuing a command and that makes it feel clunky.

LaCie also includes system backup software via Intego Backup Manager Pro. LaCie Public-Private includes an AES 256-bit encryption engine to keep your data secure.ivity first appeared on a limited number of PC motherboards designed for audio-video professionals, but over time the high-bandwidth technology trickled down to some mainstream and enthusiast motherboards.

The second version of the technology offers a full-duplex 20Gb/s connection. For the most part

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Performance Testing & Conclusion

Comparison Products

We've tested portable Thunderbolt devices in the past, but the LaCie 5big and 8big Rack are the first permanent-placement products we've tested. I tested the Western Digital VelociRaptor Duo Thunderbolt device years ago, and we've included it in the results. The VelociRaptor Duo features two 1TB 10K prosumer HDDs in a small dual-drive enclosure.

The two LaCie systems support several RAID configurations but use similar underlying hardware (despite the different form factor). We present performance data with redundant arrays. The 5big is the perfect system to utilize RAID 5 spread across five disks, while the 8big Rack gives you enough capacity to run a RAID 6 array comfortably.

Our systems shipped with different drives. The 5big features five Seagate Enterprise NAS HDDs with 8TB of capacity each. The 8big Rack features eight Seagate Desktop HDDs with 6TB each.

The larger DAS systems undergo a test regimen derived from our portable storage and NAS storage workloads. The tests allow us to sample a wide range of workloads that represent typical use cases.

Full LBA Span Sequential Read

We start with a basic read across the entire LBA range of the array. The Western Digital Thunderbolt system delivers consistent performance, but performance decreases as we move to slower inner portion of the drives. This is a natural result of having only two drives. The two LaCie Thunderbolt products don't suffer the same performance loss as the drives fill with data, but the performance is less consistent due to redundancy and the high drive count.

Full LBA Span Sequential Write

We conduct a simple write workload across the entire array before we dive into more complicated workloads. This is another QD1 test that examines performance consistency and HDD performance degradation. The two LaCie systems don't suffer from degraded performance because the onboard cache allows them to maintain a steady level of performance.

Sequential Read Performance

Synthetic testing allows us to examine read performance and the all-important 128KB transfer size at different queue depths. The 5big and 8big scale very well. Both can surpass 1,000 MB/s in RAID 0. We approached that mark in RAID 6, and even surpassed it in RAID 5.

Sequential Write Performance

The sequential write test also reveals excellent scaling as we increase workload intensity by manipulating the block size and queue depths. Most of these systems run sequential workloads for most of their lives because they are designed for audio-video professionals. The tests reveal that you need heavy workloads to reach peak performance. Even at low queue depths, we achieve very good performance that far surpasses what a single hard drive can provide.

Random Read Performance

Compared to flash-based devices, the two LaCie Thunderbolt 2 systems fall short on random read performance. They improve with heavier workloads, but both systems could benefit from flash-based acceleration with a cache drive. It's a missing feature that's not even available on the latest 12big system.

Random Write Performance

We expected to see some system-level DRAM cache on the two LaCie systems, but it doesn't appear they employ any cache to absorb the incoming random data. However, each drive has a small DRAM cache that accelerates random write performance. As mentioned, these systems are most commonly used for sequential workloads.

Sequential Mixed Workload Performance

Mixing sequential reads and writes can severely decrease system performance. Performance drops to low levels even with a reasonably moderate workload. For example, this will happen if you're manipulating files on the LaCie 5big or 8big Rack with Sony Vegas or Adobe Premier while simultaneously writing a finished project back to the system. This is a common workload for most professionals.

Random Mixed Workload Performance

The DRAM cache on the HDDs helps to remedy the extreme bathtub curve we observed with sequential data.

File Transfer Tests

This series of tests originates with our portable storage product reviews, but it's an excellent way to test moving real data from a host PC to an external device. The data comes from a high-performance NVMe SSD (Intel SSD 750 800GB) that is fast enough to saturate the device under test in sequential, random, and mixed workloads.

We often see performance measured in throughput, but time-based results are easier to interpret because the sense of time is universal.

We tested with the Avatar (2D + 3D Edition) Blu-ray. We used rFactor from the post-installation directory (C:/Program Files) for the Game directory. The Directory Test is a 15.2GB block of data I modeled for another project several years ago. It comes from a daily-use notebook and contains a mix of images, software installations, ISO files, and multimedia that yields a nice real-world workload.

The two LaCie Thunderbolt DAS systems cruise through the sequential workload (Blu-Ray ISO transfer) without any issue. The RAID 6 array struggles a bit when we add data with smaller blocks. During the Backup Directory test, the RAID 6 array in the 8big Rack takes nearly twice as long to write the same data compared to the 5big operating in RAID 5.

PCMark 8 Storage Test

There are many ways to utilize the LaCie systems. The system presents the storage pool as a drive volume (or several depending on your configuration), so you can install software to it like a local disk. We often discuss using iSCSI over a network, and the same is true here. You can host the operating system on a local SSD and then install other software on a secondary drive. This keeps your SSD running well by reducing the amount of clutter on the drive. It also keeps your secondary HDD storage running at high speed by reducing data fragmentation. Most of the random writes will go to the boot drive that hosts your operating system.

Application Bandwidth

We average the results into a throughput metric to highlight the toll data redundancy takes on performance. The benefit is you can weather a hard drive failure (RAID 5) or two (RAID 6), and your data is still secure. Both LaCie Thunderbolt DAS systems support RAID 0 for the best performance, but you have to weigh the throughput increase against what the value of the data. As someone that's lost data due to a failed drive in RAID 0, I always recommend data redundancy over a striped array.

Final Thoughts

Thunderbolt's popularity is on the rise. Intel continues to improve the power consumption of the PCIe-to-Thunderbolt bridge chips, and the shift to USB 3.1 Type-C cables for the latest revision has decreased overall costs. The technology has even trickled down a level or two on the motherboard side. Now most $1000+ notebooks feature the technology.

All of that does little for Thunderbolt 2 products like the LaCie 5big and 8big Rack. These are powerful systems but come from a generation where Thunderbolt was primarily an Apple feature even though PC motherboards had the required hardware and connectors. For a time, it looked like Thunderbolt would follow Firewire into oblivion as another failed innovation that worked better in spirit than it did in the real world.

Like the technology, you have to go through baby steps in the review process. We asked for the 5big and 8big Rack to get a set of performance results ready knowing the 12big would come to market in the coming months. The LaCie 6big and 12big with the new Thunderbolt 3 40Gbps connection are now shipping.

If you need a direct attached storage device for your PC, you shouldn’t leave the Thunderbolt 2 5big and 8big off your consideration list. Even though Thunderbolt 3 offers double the bandwidth between devices, hard disks drives are still the limiting technology. You can best leverage the performance benefits of RAID if you have a heavy workload, but the 5big and 8big still deliver excellent performance at low queue depths. Both systems ship with cables, so all you need is a motherboard with built-in support or a PCI Express add-in card.

We hope both systems experience a price drop as more users transition to new Thunderbolt 3 systems. The hard drives make up a large portion of the cost, so keep an eye out for stale inventory sales that can provide an excellent bargain. Both systems require a sizable investment, but most users fall into specific professional categories that can write the purchase off as a business expense.

The 5big has the broadest appeal for small offices with a limited number of users. I would consider this model the best option for photo, smaller video, and prosumer audio use. The system is quiet, but it's not the type of hardware you want in a post-production mixing booth or studio control room surrounded by expensive hardware.

The 8big Rack fits the bill for post-production work. Money is truly not a concern in this environment because reliability and fast access to data equate to reduced production time. Thunderbolt's daisy chain feature comes in handy and allows for up to 1.7 petabytes to fit in just a handful of rack units. The 8big is an excellent product with an attractive design, but it's not for everyone.

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The announcement reads, "Intel Announces Plans to Integrate Thunderbolt 3 into Future Intel CPUs and to Release the Thunderbolt Protocol Specification to the Industry."

Intel already integrated many functions into the CPU and has plans to bring more to the processor in the future. The entire memory controller function was integrated several years ago, but since then, most of the combined IO fell to the chipset. For years, we've read little bits about network integration and then found Omni-Path, a next-generation network fabric used to communicate between CPUs in different physical servers, on the processor die of newly released Xeon parts. Newer processor types like those found in the Atom family have eliminated the chipset altogether. The low-power system-on-chip (SoC) designs don't power gaming or high-performance systems, so they receive less attention, but they're no less remarkable.

Thunderbolt 3 Shortcomings

Intel developed USB in the 1990s, and the connection is now ubiquitous on devices ranging from our smartphones to PCs to low-cost TVs that are sitting in big box stores. USB has truly become universal. By contrast, Thunderbolt technology was highly adapted by Apple product users and feathered into high-end PC systems by motherboard manufacturers. In the Z170 (and later, Z270) chipset motherboards, users saw a higher uptick in integration as some mid-tier systems shipped with Thunderbolt 3. Even now it's considered a premium option among mainstream systems. 

Intel took steps in the third-coming of Thunderbolt to reduce costs for users. Expensive active cables are no longer required for short distances, and the physical connector is shared with USB Type-C. The technology delivers a 4x bandwidth increase over USB 3.1 with combined data and video (only 32Gb/s for data alone).

The largest costs for device manufacturers comes from two sources. The first is the physical Thunderbolt 3 chip called Alpine Ridge (DSL6540). The add-on chip costs just $8.55 from Intel per Intel's ARK resource, but we suspect motherboard manufacturers pay less. We don't know the extent of the licensing costs per device, but we think that both the motherboard and the connected device face a fee for using the Thunderbolt logo and other associated materials. The Alpine Ridge chip consumes four PCI Express 3.0 lanes, and that's a considerable amount on platforms that have only 24 to start with. The chip also consumes up to 2.2W of power, making it a burden for notebooks.

The new Thunderbolt 3 scheme will overcome many of these shortcomings. With the technology on the processor, companies and users won't need to pay for an add-on chip in either dollars or additional power consumption. It will also allow system builders to make thinner and lighter systems. All of the ports will be the same Type-C connector that can even support charging from a power adapter. Dual-use ports with both USB 3.1 and Thunderbolt 3 on both sides of a notebook would be extremely attractive while at the same time moving the technology from high-end devices to mainstream products.

Sweet, Sweet Storage

There are many reasons to expand Thunderbolt 3 connectivity. Single-cable docking stations, external enclosures with user upgradeable graphics cards for virtual reality and gaming come to mind, but Thunderbolt's best case for expansion comes from storage. The transition to NVMe is in full swing, and USB is compatible with the lightweight protocol. Thunderbolt 3, essentially an external PCI Express technology, fully supports NVMe. This allows for external storage devices to operate at the same speed as internal storage devices.

In a blog post, Chris Walker, Intel Vice President, Client Computing Group General Manager, Mobility Client Platform, said:

In addition to Intel’s Thunderbolt silicon, next year Intel plans to make the Thunderbolt protocol specification available to the industry under a nonexclusive, royalty-free license. Releasing the Thunderbolt protocol specification in this manner is expected to greatly increase Thunderbolt adoption by encouraging third-party chip makers to build Thunderbolt-compatible chips. We expect industry chip development to accelerate a wide range of new devices and user experiences.

The second shortfall of Thunderbolt comes from licensing from Intel. The document didn't give us too many details about what "royalty-free licensing" actually means for device manufacturers or third-party silicon. In any case, though, more components supporting Thunderbolt will aid in reducing costs and help grow the ecosystem.

The winners of the new program are Western Digital and Seagate. Both companies have subsidiaries heavily involved in Thunderbolt devices like LaCie and G-Technology. At this time, both companies amass the majority of Thunderbolt 3 connected devices, but that may change as soon as next year when the technology becomes more user friendly and cost effective.

Intel debuted its new lineup of NUC small form factor (SFF) PCs at CES, which now sport new 7^th generation (Kaby Lake) processors, some of which will also come with Thunderbolt 3 support.

The five new SKUs offer three different CPUs and two varying sizes and storage configuration options. The NUCs can feature an Intel Core i3-7100U, i5-7260U, or i7-7567U processor. All of the devices sport a Type-C interface, but only NUCs with Core i5 and i7 CPUs support Thunderbolt 3 (40 Gbps) data rates via the USB Type-C port, with Core i3 models supporting USB 3.1 speeds up to 10 Gbps. Additionally, only Core i5 and i7 versions of the new NUCs feature Intel Iris Plus Graphics, with the i3 offering only HD 620 graphics.

The I/O between the new NUCs is the same, with two USB 3.0 ports on the front and back (for a total of four, with one front port offering charging power) and the aforementioned Type-C interface. You can also connect to a display via the Type-C port on all of the NUCs, or by using the HDMI 2.0 interface. The DisplayPort that adorned previous versions of the Intel mini PCs has been removed in the new models.

There are two versions of the Core i3 and i5 offerings, one short (BNK) and one tall (BNH). However, the Core i7 is offered in only the larger chassis. The taller NUCs support 2.5-inch drives (and, therefore, Intel Optane) and an M.2 SATA or PCIe x4 SSD, whereas the shorter models can only accommodate an M.2 slot (Optane-free). Networking for all of the new Intel NUCs includes the company's I219V Gigabit Ethernet and its Wireless-AC 8260 NIC, which sports internal antennas to keep the overall footprint of the device low. The bigger NUCs measure in at 115 x 111 x 51 mm, and the shorter ones shrink the height down to 35mm with the same length and width.

The chassis also got a refreshed look in the form of a dark gray metal case. The previous versions were light gray, and the new look adds a cool factor to the lineup of Kaby Lake-equipped NUCs. Exact pricing and availability of the NUCs is not yet available, but they are set to launch in Q1 2017, so we shouldn’t have to wait long to find out.

Even for people outside of the technology field, DJI's Phantom is what we think of when someone mentions drones or drone technology. DJI has pioneered and innovated, and a new product can't come to market without competing with a similar model from the company. Now that the technology has been sorted, it's time to find practical uses for drones that go beyond toys and the cool factor. The first real professional leap is a moving, sometimes autonomous, recording platform that can follow a target while shooting professional video. That data has to be stored on light, yet robust media. At CES 2017, Seagate and DJI announced a partnership without announcing a product.

At CES, we actually saw a product build by Seagate but branded with a DJI logo. Seagate didn’t allow us to photograph the gray plastic box with a rubber bumper, but the company recorded a video with less detail than we would like.

DJI has a need for a storage technology partner. Many, if not all of its drones come with some sort of video recording device, or you can add one. Drone technology lives and dies by the weight of the vehicle, so working with a company like Seagate could easily extend the battery life for each flight. For instance, the Phantom series averages 20 minutes per flight, which would decrease if you packed the drone with a hard disk drive.

Some of DJi's professional products, like the Inspire 2, already use high-performance M.2 NVMe SSDs with the PCI Express 3.0 protocol. If you follow our SSD reviews, then you already know that different devices consume power at different rates and there is a large divide between the best and worst products.

Once the video comes from the drone, it has to rest somewhere before and during manipulation. There isn't an interface loved more by professional videographers than Thunderbolt. Thunderbolt is the new FireWire, but it's backed by Intel and used on both Apple and Wintel PCs. The technology is now on its third revision, and Seagate and LaCie have been through each revision every step of the way. As a whole, Seagate has the broadest Thunderbolt product lineup available. At the show, we saw the current Thunderbolt products that range from portable, to not so portable, to downright massive (see below). We even found a LaCie Rugged clone at another booth. This tells us the competition for rugged devices will tumble around in 2017.

The 12big from LaCie stands unphased by competitors. This product doesn't have any competition outside of re-purposed enterprise systems. We've seen the 12big on display at other shows, like Intel Developers Forum in a Thunderbolt 3 display, but never captured its presence on film (or 0s and 1s on a memory card). The 12big is the design inspiration behind other recently announced products, like the 6big. The blue orb is smaller, but it's still present as a throwback to previous designs from the company. Performance wise, the 12big can transfer one hour of 4K ProRes 444 QX video (764GB) in 5 minutes or less using hard disk drives. LaCie just released a new 120TB version outfitted with enterprise-class hard disk drives.

It goes without saying that you will need several drone batteries to fill this system with flight video.

LaCie, which serves as the premium consumer arm of Seagate's product line, debuted two new products designed by Neil Poulton.

d2 Thunderbolt 3

The d2 Thunderbolt 3 makes the step up to a dual Thunderbolt 3 connection and also features a USB-C port. Like its Thunderbolt 2-equipped predecessor, the unit supports a dual connection that allows you to daisy chain two 4K displays, one 5K display, or up to six d2 enclosures.

The d2 also brings up to 10TB of capacity to bear, which eclipses the previous limitation of 8TB, and it also comes in 6TB and 8TB options. The enclosure packs the enterprise-class 7,200-RPM Seagate Barracuda Pro HDDs. The single drive provides up to 240MBps of throughput, which is a slight increase over the previous-generation drives. Of course, the HDD isn't suitable for random access. The previous generation offered an SSD upgrade path, but there is no mention of that option with the new model.

The svelte aluminum unibody can be a bit misleading, because the enclosure uses an external power supply, which isn't pictured. The unit features a Kensington lock, which would be helpful in an office environment.

LaCie includes a 40Gbps Thunderbolt 3 USB-C cable, along with a USB 3.0 USB-C to USB-A adapter cable. All capacities come with a 5-year warranty and start at $430. The drives will be available worldwide this quarter.

LaCie Rugged Thunderbolt USB-C

LaCie's Rugged Thunderbolt USB-C drives are designed to stand up to not only rough-and-tough use but also the elements. LaCie claims the drives can withstand the force of being run over by a 1-ton car, a 6.6-foot drop, and dust and water (IP54-rating). The drives also support AES 256-bit software encryption.

The Rugged series features a USB-C connector and supports up to Thunderbolt 2 speeds.

The rugged drives come in both SSD and HDD flavors. The SSD models come in 1TB and 500GB capacities and offer transfer speeds up to 510MBps. The HDD models top out at 130MBps and use the Seagate BarraCuda drives. They come with 2TB, 4TB, and 5TB options, and prices start at $250. The drives will be available worldwide this quarter and carry a three-year warranty. 

Drobo has released five new products in the past year and shows no signs of slowing down. The newest entry to the list is a direct-attached storage system that features five 3.5-inch drive bays and a special mSATA slot for SSD cache. The real performance increase comes from the available bandwidth back to the host system.

The Drobo 5Dt increases performance with two Thunderbolt 2 (20 Gbps) connections. Thunderbolt allows products to be daisy chained using cables connected from one device to the next. The interface is capable of delivering high storage throughput performance and still carry a 4K video signal to a monitor.

The system also features a single USB 3.0 (5 Gbps) connection for legacy devices, as many home computers still don't have support for Thunderbolt technology. The high speed interface allows the system to increase burst and large sequential file performance that's available from Drobo's BeyondRAID architecture.

The Drobo 5D series has been the go-to-product for users who need to travel with large capacity, high-bandwidth storage. Giving users the ability to connect the system over two interfaces increases the number of systems with which the 5Dt is compatible.

The Drobo 5Dt is available today at the Drobo Store for $899.99 (diskless). Drobo also offers the system fully configured with hard disk drives for an additional fee. Options range from 15TB ($1,549) to 30TB ($2,999). All of the configurations include a 128GB mSATA SSD for improved performance. Drobo claimed the SSD delivers up to a 3x performance increase. The systems ships with three years of DroboCare warranty coverage standard.

As mentioned, Drobo has released several new product in the past year. The company has also increased the software capabilities of the network-attached storage products like 5N and B810n. We expect to see even more products released in the coming months as Drobo continues to update the entire product line. Some big announcements should arrive later this year.

Chris Ramseyer is a Contributing Editor for Tom's Hardware, covering Storage. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook.

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Specifications, Pricing And Warranty

Most enthusiasts would question the usefulness of a portable storage drive designed to survive abuse, until they actually need one. But by the time you realize you need rugged storage, it's already too late. Some would argue that the best devices to build for harsh treatment are thumb drives and SSDs. The problem with flash, though, is that it gets expensive when you start looking a big capacities. Sure, there are very large SSDs out there. I can buy a Ferrari, too, if I plan to live in it.

The LaCie Rugged RAID is designed for working professionals whose offices aren't lit with incandescent light or surrounded by isolation walls. Its 4TB capacity begs for multimedia files that zip to and from your system at higher than hard drive speeds thanks to an on-board RAID controller. If you move mission-critical data, the Rugged RAID also supports RAID 1, keeping the same data on two disks for extra security.

Security comes in many forms. It's one thing to have your data on redundant repositories, but encryption is required to truly keep sensitive information safe from unauthorized viewers. The Rugged RAID adds a software component that applies AES-256 to your data. The software package also ensures you can access protected files on host systems using different file systems. Many of LaCie's products take extra steps to fully support Apple devices. Not all products on the market are designed to balance both popular operating systems.

There are very few external storage devices on the market that combine portability with the resilience of RAID. When you add in its ruggedness, only the LaCie Rugged RAID 4TB stands out. That's not to say a competitor doesn't exist; we just didn't find one. The Rugged RAID supports several unique features, combining them to make a unique product. In RAID 0, you get 4TB of capacity. That's cut in half if you switch to RAID 1, trading you the resilience of data mirroring instead. The closest competitor is WD's My Passport Pro, but it only connects via Thunderbolt and is limited to Macs.

Meanwhile, the Rugged RAID supports both NTFS and FAT32 file systems with LaCie's bundled software tools. This gives Windows and Mac users access to the data volumes (NTFS is read-only on Apple products). The data is also stored behind 256-bit encryption, so it's safe if you physically lose the hardware.

LaCie connects its Rugged RAID through 10 Gb/s Thunderbolt or USB 3.0 at 5 Gb/s. The drive isn't fast enough to saturate either interface, but easily pushes data faster than USB 2.0. The 2.5-inch HDDs use 5V power, unlike 3.5-inch drives that still rely on a 12V rail. USB 3.0 does feed 5V to the to the device, though two mechanical disks need more current than some systems provide. Because of that, you have to use the included external power supply. Thunderbolt doesn't suffer the same shortcoming; you can leave the extra cable in the box if you plan to use Thunderbolt exclusively.

According to LaCie, the system is shock-resistant and can survive falls from up to five feet when it isn't turned on. It can supposedly take up to one ton of weight on it. While we didn't have that exact mass to test with, the drive did survive being run over with a 5545-pound Mercedes GL450 (curb weight) with both the front and back tires. The car doesn't have perfect front-to-back weight distribution, so we exceeded LaCie's claims for a brief moment in the driveway at roughly 3 mph.

The first number in the IP54 Dust and Water rating system relates to solids, and the second number relates to liquids, summarized by this information:

Dust Protected - Ingress of dust is not entirely prevented, but it must not enter in sufficient quantity to interfere with the satisfactory operation of the equipment; complete protection against contact.

Splashing Water - Water splashing against the enclosure from any direction shall have no harmful effect.

The Dust Protected rating is the second highest on the scale, and the Splashing Water is right in the middle.

Pricing & Warranty

LaCie sells the Rugged RAID 4TB on its official product page for $420, though it's currently on back order. We found a handful of reputable online e-tailers that had the drive in stock, selling it for $400. LaCie covers the Rugged RAID with a three-year limited warranty that can be extended through an optional purchase.

A Closer Look

This is the drive with its cover removed. The indented orange area at the top-left glows bright orange when the drive is connected or powered on. Again, USB 3.0 operation requires external power. It's a clumsy way of hooking up to your machine, with the USB cable going one way and power going the other. However, it does bestow more flexibility than a Thunderbolt-only device. If you have a Mac at work and a PC at home, you can use the drive both places.

Perhaps you were wondering where the Thunderbolt connector is located, since we haven't mentioned it yet. The cable is connected directly to the metal case, and it wraps around the center groove for storage. The head of the Thunderbolt cable tucks into the opening in both the body and the cover. Thunderbolt cables are expensive since they have active electronics inside. With the cable permanently connected, you won't have to worry about misplacing and having to replace it. Just be careful not to mistreat it.

A fixed cable isn't without drawbacks. To test the drive, I had to reach around my PC and poke around to find the Thunderbolt port. Owners of cylindrical Mac Pros can spin the system around enough to make a direct connection. You may also have a chain of Thunderbolt devices that the drive can plug into. I would personally like to have a longer cable, but not at the expense of it being detachable.

Inside, we found a pair of 2TB Samsung 2.5-inch hard disks. Samsung and LaCie were both acquired by Seagate in recent years. A PCB underneath contains the RAID-oriented logic.

The inner design is just as impressive as the outside, demonstrating nice build quality and attention to detail.

Software Interface

When you attach the Rugged RAID to a PC, you're asked for permission to connect to the device.

You still can't use the drive quite yet, though. Within a few seconds after connecting, a software prompt walks you through the setup process, the most important part of which is defining how the device should be formatted. You'll need to adjust the slider to dictate how space on the drive should be allocated. This will be determined by how you intend to use the Rugged RAID (in Windows-only environments, on a mix of operating systems or as a tool for sharing information between different machines).

LaCie's software tools include scheduled backup software, encryption management and formatting tools. LaCie also gives customers access to backup software for Mac products.

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Performance Testing And Conclusion

We built a new system for testing external devices. Gigabyte was kind enough to supply a GA-Z97X-UD7 TH with USB 3.0 and Thunderbolt 2 support. We also purchased a PCIe add-in card for future USB 3.1 testing. At the heart of the system is an Intel Core i7-4790K running at stock clock rates and paired with two Corsair Vengeance DDR3 modules running at 1866 MT/s. This system will serve as our external storage platform until we need to add Thunderbolt 3 technology.

Sequential Scaling Block Sizes

Most data sent to external storage products moves sequentially. The files are made up of different block sizes, and some interfaces and products perform better or worse depending on that variable.

We chose a couple of different devices to compare to LaCie's Rugged RAID 4TB. We'll post a review of the Seagate Backup Plus 8TB in the coming weeks, and WD's My Passport 1TB is a drive I use around the office. This is the first external storage review on Tom's Hardware in quite some time, but we plan to expand our coverage (and by extension, the data in these charts) to include more of these products.

LaCie's Rugged RAID 4TB was tested over Thunderbolt 2 and USB 3.0. In many of our tests, both interfaces perform identically, though under real-world conditions Thunderbolt is slightly faster due to less interface latency.

The Rugged RAID performs well in our block size tests. Its RAID 0 array easily outpaces the other products in the chart, faring best with sequential file transfers just as we expected.

Full LBA Span Performance

Both mechanical and solid-state drives slow down as you put more data on them. The reason why is different, though. For hard disks, the physical location of information matters. Access times vary depending on whether bits reside on the inner or outer parts of the platter.

LaCie's Rugged RAID with 2.5-inch drives does not have a density advantage—the amount of data held in a unit of area—over Seagate's Backup Plus 8TB, but the RAID 0 configuration does confer a performance advantage.

File Transfers

I love testing storage products and representing their results over time. We often see performance measured in throughput, but nobody ever says, "Wow, that transfer was really fast—I bet it was doing at least 150 MB/s." Time-based results are easier to interpret. Time is universal.

The Blu-ray we tested with is Avatar (2D + 3D Edition). The Game directory is rFactor from the post-installation directory (C:/Program Files), and the Directory Test is a 15.2GB block of data I modeled several years ago for another project. It's a mix of images, software installations, ISO files, multimedia and so on, yielding a nice real-world workload pulled from a notebook that gets used every day.

This is where Thunderbolt's latency advantage affects file transfer performance. The benefit of RAID 0 is also apparent from these tests; LaCie's Rugged RAID quickly swallows incoming data at a higher rate than comparison products.

Conclusion

The Rugged RAID isn't for everyone. Its price alone will dissuade most folks. But, at the same time, photography and multimedia professionals won't hesitate to drop $400 if it means getting their valuable work from here to their safely. Under the right conditions, this model represents a reasonable value. That condition is fairly binary; if you drop most external hard drives with mechanical internals, there is a good chance you'll lose your data. Really, it doesn't take much to crater a disk. In fact, I recently dropped an internal drive on a concrete floor from around eight inches and now is has the famous click of death. Oops! Good thing I didn't lose anything important...this time.

However, if I had just finished a photo shoot, loaded my pictures onto the drive and then dropped it, I'd be much more upset. Nobody tries to break their hard drives, but gravity happens. LaCie claims the Rugged RAID can absorb a drop from five feet and continue to work. It's plausible that most drops happen from that distance or less, so you're getting a fair amount of protection against physical abuse.

The big rebuttal we expect from the audience involves flash. It was right here at Tom's Hardware that editors played baseball with a solid-state drive, and it continued to work even after taking a Louisville Slugger shot. Flash is much more impact-resistant. But it's also very expensive. In a few years, cost may be less of an issue. After all, we could argue that a 1TB SSD in a low-cost enclosure could do the same job as LaCie's Rugged RAID at a similar price.

However, there's still a problem with flash in that scenario. To keep SSDs writing data quickly, the drives need to be told when memory cells are freed. USB and Thunderbolt don't pass along the proper commands to do this. Once all of the cells are "dirty", new write commands overlap where the drive thinks data already exists. The drive is "surprised," and it leaps into action to first clean the cell and then write to it. Suddenly, your 500 MB/s-capable SSD is writing data slower than all three of the mechanical disks in today's charts. The chart above perfect illustrates this steady state performance degradation.

My biggest complaint about LaCie's Rugged RAID is its external power supply for USB 3.0. The length of the attached Thunderbolt cable is another critique. Given that the Rugged RAID doesn't have any competition matching its feature set, these issues are diminished, though. In a future version, Thunderbolt 3 and USB 3.1 should take care of the power issue. But we're still a year or more away from a high enough adoption rate for LaCie to release such a product.

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Chris Ramseyer is a Contributing Editor for Tom's Hardware, covering Storage. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook.

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StarTech specializes in making hard to find cables and adapters for all sorts of unique computing needs. To help transition to USB 3.1 Type-C connectors and the Thunderbolt 3 specification, StarTech created a line of USB Type-C products to meet almost any need.

The company's new products all make use of Type-C connectors in one way or another. There are display adapters available that convert USB Type-C to VGA or DVI outputs, a USB hub that splits a single Type-C port to one Type-C and three USB 3.0 ports, and the company is offering four different network adapters, one of which offers an extra USB 3.0 port.

StarTech is also well known for making cables, many of them otherwise hard to find. The company has continued that trend with Type-C connectors, stating that it wishes to aid the transition to the new format by making it easy to use legacy devices on Type-C ports. StarTech offers USB Type-C to USB-A and USB-B cables in both USB 2.0 and USB 3.1 speeds, among others.

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