Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Satechi Launches Thunderbolt 4 Multi-Display Docking Station

MacRumors

MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
67,482
37,742


Satechi today announced the launch of its latest Mac accessory, the Thunderbolt 4 Multi-Display Docking Station. The Docking Station uses DisplayLink software technology to allow a Mac to connect to up to four external monitors, plus it offers 96W power delivery and Thunderbolt 4 transfer speeds.

satechi-thunderbolt-dock.jpg

Made from a space gray aluminum that is meant to match Apple devices, the hub supports up to four extended monitors at 4K/60Hz resolution, or one display at 8K/60Hz. With four displays, two can be connected through Thunderbolt 4 and two through HDMI. Satechi says that this feature is designed to address the single display limit of M1, M2, and M3 chips. M1, M2, and M3 MacBook Pro models support up to three displays with Satechi's dock, while the M3 MacBook Air supports four when in clamshell mode. Machines with Pro and Max chips support up to four displays through the hub.

The hub provides 96W power delivery to the host machine, which is enough to charge even the 16-inch MacBook Pro. Each of the three Thunderbolt 4 downstream ports also offer 15W for charging iPhones, Apple Watches, and other accessories, with two ports able to be used at one time for charging purposes. The Thunderbolt 4 ports facilitate data transfers at speeds up to 40Gb/s, and there are two USB-A ports that support transfer speeds up to 10Gb/s. a UHS-II SD card reader is available as well, and it is capable of transferring up to 312MB/s.

Satechi says the dock supports daisy-chaining up to six devices, providing 32Gb/s native PCIe support for external GPUs and Thunderbolt-based storage devices.

The Thunderbolt 4 Multi-Display Docking Station can be purchased from the Satechi website for $300.

Article Link: Satechi Launches Thunderbolt 4 Multi-Display Docking Station
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2024/05/30/satechi-multi-display-docking-station/
So if you used an Apple TV with AirPlay extending too, you could get 5 displays with an M3 MacBook Air? Woah.
 
brofkand said:
I've been liking the Dell Thunderbolt 4 docks, they're universal and work with everything - for less money than the Apple specific ones like this.
Click to expand...
The WD22TB4 model? Last time I checked, not all the ports on the dock work when connected to a Mac device.
 
minik said:
The WD22TB4 model? Last time I checked, not all the ports on the dock work when connected to a Mac device.
Click to expand...

You just have to connect one external monitor via Thunderbolt (or a USB-C adapter), the other monitor can be connected directly to the dock via HDMI/DP/etc.
 
The link isn’t working yet. I’m interested to know what the Ethernet speed is.

Edit: It's working now. "1 Gigabit Ethernet Port". That makes it a pass for me unless it hits $200 or less. I could use an external dongle and get faster speeds, but I'm interested in something with 2.5 or faster built-in.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: iwillfollow, corradokid_ and bernuli
nt5672 said:
I have no experience with Satechi, but bad experience with OWC. In general is Satechi any better?
Click to expand...

I haven't used Satechi Thunderbolt stuff - the USB-C adapters have been good. Have had good experiences with CalDigit WRT Thunderbolt.
 
  • Like
Reactions: nt5672
Slix said:
So if you used an Apple TV with AirPlay extending too, you could get 5 displays with an M3 MacBook Air? Woah.
Click to expand...
I want to see some real person real-world driving all those displays that are alleged to be possible using an MBA. Real ongoing work, not just managing to light them up. I have been driving multiple displays with laptops for years now, and I doubt that it will ever happen.
 
  • Like
Reactions: bernuli
brofkand said:
Doubtful. Sounds like this dock is using DisplayLink (a software graphics solution) to get around the limitations of Apple's fairly weak GPUs.
Click to expand...
It's less an issue of the GPUs being weak as it's an issue that the base M-series SoCs have a limited number of display controllers. The M1 MacBook Air/Pro and iMac all have two display controllers but one is hard-wired to the internal display, hence the one external display limitation (the Mac Mini has one controller hardwired to HDMI and the other to Thunderbolt). The display controllers themselves are apparently physically quite large and are built into the SoC; they take up the same silicon space as two performance cores, so Apple is limited in how many they can put into their chips. M3 SoCs allow the display controller to switch between the internal display or USB-C/Thunderbolt, hence the second display with the lid closed. Even the base M1 GPU would handle 3-4 external displays just fine if it had the controller support to do it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ryanflanders256, amartinez1660, rjbenson83 and 9 others
bradman83 said:
It's less an issue of the GPUs being weak as it's an issue that the base M-series SoCs have a limited number of display controllers. The M1 MacBook Air/Pro and iMac all have two display controllers but one is hard-wired to the internal display, hence the one external display limitation (the Mac Mini has one controller hardwired to HDMI and the other to Thunderbolt). The display controllers themselves are apparently physically quite large and are built into the SoC; they take up the same silicon space as two performance cores, so Apple is limited in how many they can put into their chips. M3 SoCs allow the display controller to switch between the internal display or USB-C/Thunderbolt, hence the second display with the lid closed. Even the base M1 GPU would handle 3-4 external displays just fine if it had the controller support to do it.
Click to expand...
Your last sentence is key: "...if it had the controller support to do it," emphasis mine.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Peepo and brofkand
bradman83 said:
It's less an issue of the GPUs being weak as it's an issue that the base M-series SoCs have a limited number of display controllers. The M1 MacBook Air/Pro and iMac all have two display controllers but one is hard-wired to the internal display, hence the one external display limitation (the Mac Mini has one controller hardwired to HDMI and the other to Thunderbolt). The display controllers themselves are apparently physically quite large and are built into the SoC; they take up the same silicon space as two performance cores, so Apple is limited in how many they can put into their chips. M3 SoCs allow the display controller to switch between the internal display or USB-C/Thunderbolt, hence the second display with the lid closed. Even the base M1 GPU would handle 3-4 external displays just fine if it had the controller support to do it.
Click to expand...

Semantics - supports less external displays than the old Intel machines, and a $300 Chromebook without nasty software based solutions like DisplayLink - it's a problem.
 
  • Like
Reactions: freedomlinux, amartinez1660 and rjbenson83
Looks nice, but $300 just to get a couple of ports that Apple should have given us is galling.
 
Too expensive and frankly I really dislike these flat-laying stations with the link cable plugging into the side instead of the back. It makes cable management a pain as it forces you to drape the cable across your desk. It's fine for travel-minded applications but something this large and expensive is clearly meant for permanent desk setting, of which I've never seen the dock mounted side by side to the device they're plugged into as shown in this photo because of how sloppy it looks and space it wastes.
 
  • Like
Reactions: thebryceman and amartinez1660
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back