Best dock for MacBook Pro 16" M1 Max?

[fredrain]

I did quite a bit of research and decided that the OWC Thunderbolt 4 dock would be best for my needs with 3 thunderbolt ports plus USB-A and 96W charging. I have it on order but it seems high in demand as estimated 20 days until it ships.

The CalDigit element hub looks really sleek and simple, but I didn't like the idea of cables coming out from the front and the back. Plus, it's only 60W charging.

I also have the OWC TB4 dock, superb device, powers my 2019 16" and everything I need with ease. Eyeing an upgrade however, to the latest 16", requiring 140watts. Seems there is no product yet that handle this?

 

[fredrain]

Thanks for all the replies. Surely CalDigit and OWC are going to release a new dock sometime soon, any news on this front?

watching this daily. Please reply here if you learn of something. Agreed with other posters, OWC isn't likely to come out with a 140watt dock anytime soon, but would love to be proved wrong

 

[fredrain]

Is 96W gonna be enoughfor the new 16" MBP's ?

absolutely not, I wouldn't risk it either. Apple took down their associated KB, in explicit terms they don't recommend an underpowered power supply.

 

[coolguy4747]

absolutely not, I wouldn't risk it either. Apple took down their associated KB, in explicit terms they don't recommend an underpowered power supply.

Risk what? What is the risk in providing less than the maximum power? The 140W is only required for fast charging, and MAYBE for maintaining charge while absolutely, fully, completely, maxing out every modicum of power the computer can offer.

 

[wonderbread57]

Risk what? What is the risk in providing less than the maximum power? The 140W is only required for fast charging, and MAYBE for maintaining charge while absolutely, fully, completely, maxing out every modicum of power the computer can offer.

Zero risk of damage. Some risk of throttling if you run scorched earth benchmarks all day.

Still, it would be nice for a M1 Max fully supported dock to drop.

 

[jyyz]

The M1 Max etc are designed to be charged by Magsafe or TB4. The max power delivery of TB4 is 100 watts, so I don't see an issue. I use my M1 Max with an LG Ultrafine 5K which delivers 96 watts via the TB3 connection, no issues.

 

[Eddie8]

Has there been any trend in which docks are preferred or work well for the M1 Max/Pro's recently?

I haven't really noticed any solid recommended options for docks that havent got some sort of nuance to it.

 

[discofuel]

Has there been any trend in which docks are preferred or work well for the M1 Max/Pro's recently?

I haven't really noticed any solid recommended options for docks that havent got some sort of nuance to it.

I got the OWC TB4 dock and for my needs it's perfect with no nuances!

 

[Eddie8]

I got the OWC TB4 dock and for my needs it's perfect with no nuances!

That was one of the docks i was looking at, but I had seen people reporting monitor resume issues when waking from sleep/clamshell. They're needing to replug the dock to get the monitors properly resuming.

Not sure how widespread the issue is, but on a local forum people are still having issues with it

 

[jjahshik32]

The CalDigit TS3-Plus looks like it needs to be updated to handle 140W charging. What is the most fully featured docks for the new MBP 16" ?

Their thunderbolt-4-element-hub, only charges up to 60W, so well under also

I have the CalDigit TS3 Plus and got the 16" M1 Pro MacBook Pro. I noticed even with a 96w charging built in from the TS3, it still charges it fairly quick. I was at 65% battery life and I plugged in my 16" to the TS3 to use in desktop mode for a couple of hours and it was 100% by the time I wanted to go mobile. I havn't measured how long it took to charge from 65% to 100% but it was more than good enough. Especially if you dock to the desktop for a couple of hours, it should be more than fine to charge to 100%.

My favorite part is that it really allows you to connect everything you've got to the CalDigit and from the CalDigit just a single TB cable to your 16". So nice.

 

[astorre]

absolutely not, I wouldn't risk it either. Apple took down their associated KB, in explicit terms they don't recommend an underpowered power supply.

please dont spread things like this, because you obviously have no idea how things work

 

[steffi]

Caldigit has since released TS4

 

[DennisdeWit]

I have been using a Razer Thunderbolt 4 Dock (Chroma version in my case), and it has been working perfectly fine on my MacBook Pro 16” M1 Max.

 

[Eddie8]

Caldigit has since released TS4

There’s a thread here. Apparently mixed opinions since there are reports of issues and strange behavior from the dock.

Caldigit TS4 Dock

2 x 6K Apple Pro Display XDR is working as intended.

forums.macrumors.com

 

[DogHouseDub]

Regarding a 140W dock, the 16" MBP cannot fast charge via TB4. Only via Magsafe. So if you have the 16" MBP and want to only connect a single cable, then 100W is the max you'll get.

 

[Diablo360]

I've been running the Caldigit Element dock on my 16" Macbook Pro, and everything has been working great. Using the laptop as a desktop, so charging wattage shouldn't matter as much, correct?

 

[jmgag03]

I have 2 4K Monitors that take HDMI and Display Port. Does anyone know of a Dock solution that works with that? I also have a wireless mouse and keyboard, each with their own USB receivers. Anyone have any ideas of docks that are currently working with this set up?

 

[spiderman0616]

I dock and charge both the 14" and 16" models through my LG UltraFine 4K, which according to LG's website, charges at 85w. It's been enough for both so far.

 

[seadragon]

I’m using the Caldigit TS3+ with my 16” Max. The dock has 3 x 2 TB Samsung T7 SSDs (for sample libraries), a 43” Dell monitor (U4320Q), and a Focusrite Scarlett 18i8 connected. One cable connects to the MBP. Everything works perfectly.

 

[Eddie8]

I've been out of the loop. But has been been any general consensus about a reliable dock for the M1 Max, mostly with the purpose of connecting multiple screens, ethernet (optional) and charging?