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Dock accent firm iVANKY not too long ago launched its strongest Thunderbolt dock but, the FusionDock Max 1, which takes benefit of twin Thunderbolt chips and connections to supply the best quantity of versatility I’ve seen in a Mac-focused dock. I’ve spent a while testing out the FusionDock Max 1 in my every day workflow, and I feel I’ve discovered my new every day driver.
What units the FusionDock Max 1 other than different Thunderbolt docks in the marketplace is the inclusion of twin Thunderbolt 4 chips within the dock, which basically doubles the capability of the dock, permitting you to run all types of shows and different peripherals at most pace. We’ll dig into what meaning for connectivity in only a minute, however let’s begin with an outline of the design and setup. Observe that the FusionDock Max 1 is simply suitable with Apple silicon Macs, so it will not work with older Intel Macs, Home windows PCs, or Chromebooks.
The FusionDock Max 1 gives an eye catching design in one thing of a midnight-colored aluminum housing. Fairly than simply that includes a easy brick form, the FusionDock Max 1 has a novel “floating” design with a skinny metallic body on the left aspect and backside of the dock and the primary physique of the dock elevated on small legs. The design may assist guarantee some airflow across the dock, although I am undecided simply how a lot it truly assists in that regard. The dock can positively get pretty heat throughout use, however I’ve by no means discovered it to get so sizzling that it is uncomfortable to go away a hand on it.
Just like the Satechi USB-C Twin Dock Stand that I not too long ago reviewed, the FusionDock Max 1 makes use of a dual-cable connection to your Mac, however that is Thunderbolt fairly than the slower USB, so the better bandwidth opens up much more prospects for connectivity. The customized cable consists of fairly cumbersome housing on every finish with a hard and fast association of the 2 Thunderbolt connectors to match the port spacing on the dock and Apple’s laptops. This makes it tremendous straightforward to plug in and unplug the cable in a single movement with little or no fiddling required to get the connectors lined up correctly.
The dock measures in at round 6.7 inches (17 cm) broad, 3.7 inches (9.4 cm) deep, and a little bit beneath 2 inches (5 cm) excessive, and there is a separate 180-watt energy brick. The brick does have a reasonably shiny inexperienced mild on it that might be distracting in darkish rooms, however most customers ought to have the ability to tuck it away on the ground or elsewhere the place it will not be bothersome.
The dock itself has clean surfaces on all sides, and it could have a tendency to slip round on surfaces if it is bumped and even slightly below any type of rigidity from the hooked up cables. Luckily, iVANKY consists of some sticky rubber pads you’ll be able to set up for both horizontal or vertical orientation of your dock, and people go a good distance towards ensuring the dock stays the place you need it.
The dock’s 20 ports are clearly labeled, which is nice just because there are such a lot of that it is tough to maintain monitor of all of them. Except for the DC-in barrel plug connection for energy, all the things is pushed by means of a pair of 40 Gbps Thunderbolt USB-C ports stacked vertically on the rear on panel of the dock. iVANKY offers a customized cable with a vertically organized twin connector on one finish to suit these ports and a horizontally organized twin connector on the opposite finish to suit the precise spacing of adjoining Thunderbolt ports in your Mac.
As soon as you’ve got hooked the dock as much as energy and your laptop, your Mac will acknowledge the dock and you will must grant a pair privacy-related permissions, and then you definitely’ll be able to go. The dock can ship as much as 96 watts of energy to a related laptop, so you will not want a separate energy connection in your Mac.
Along with the DC-in and upstream Thunderbolt ports, the rear of the dock options two further 40 Gbps USB-C ports that may drive as much as 6K shows at 60Hz, and so they can every present as much as 15 watts of energy. For different varieties of shows, there are two HDMI ports supporting as much as 4K shows at 60Hz, and whereas the ports formally help HDMI 2.1, iVANKY is simply promoting them as supporting HDMI 2.0 because of Apple’s limitations on docking stations connecting over USB-C/Thunderbolt. There are additionally three 10 Gbps USB-A ports delivering as much as 7.5 watts of energy every, a 2.5 Gb Ethernet port, a 3.5 mm audio out port, and a Toslink optical audio out port. A Kensington lock slot can be included to assist bodily safe the dock if desired.
On the entrance of the dock, you may discover one other pair of 40 Gbps Thunderbolt USB-C ports able to driving as much as 6K shows at 60Hz, a pair of 10 Gbps USB-C ports (one with 20-watt Energy Supply capabilities and one providing 7.5 watts), one other pair of 10 Gbps USB-A ports with 7.5 watts of energy, plus a 3.5 mm combo headphone/mic audio port and SD and TF/microSD slots supporting the UHS-II customary. There’s a white LED on the entrance to point whether or not the dock has energy, but it surely’s dim sufficient that it is not bothersome in a darkish room.
With this array of ports, the FusionDock Max 1 can help as much as 4 exterior shows, but it surely is determined by which Mac you’ve, as that is the place the graphics horsepower is finally coming from. Should you’ve acquired a Mac with the bottom M1, or M2 chip similar to a MacBook Air, Mac mini, or entry-level MacBook Professional, you’ll be able to solely drive a single exterior show at as much as 6K decision. M3-based machines like the newest MacBook Air and entry-level MacBook Professional fashions ought to have the ability to drive a pair of shows so long as your Mac is in clamshell mode with the show off.
Should you’ve acquired a Mac with an M1 Professional, M2 Professional, or M3 Professional chip similar to a higher-end Mac mini or a mid-level MacBook Professional, you can drive twin shows at as much as 6K by way of the dock in further to an inside show for the MacBook Professional, and when you’ve acquired a Max or Extremely chip from any of these households, you’ll be able to drive a complete of 4 exterior shows at as much as 6K decision.
It is essential to remember the fact that solely the USB-C ports help 6K decision, however there are 4 downstream ones accessible for show connections, two on the entrance and two on the again. The HDMI ports on the again can solely help a most of 4K decision.
I haven’t got any machines in my possession geared up with Max-level chips, so I wasn’t in a position to push the FusionDock Max 1 to its restrict with regards to shows, but it surely had no bother driving a pair of 5K shows from my 16-inch MacBook Professional with an M1 Professional chip. I attempted a number of different combos of shows over Thunderbolt/USB and HDMI, together with Alogic’s 32-inch 4K show with touchscreen help, and all the things labored with no hitch.
Different peripherals additionally labored effectively with the dock, from my USB-A Stream Deck to a quick exterior SSD that was in a position to obtain speeds of as much as 2,800 MB/s learn and 1,950 MB/s write when related to one of many 40 Gbps USB-C ports. Connecting that drive on to my MacBook Professional yields learn speeds of round 3,000 MB/s and write speeds of round 3,100 MB/s, so there’s solely a small penalty to learn speeds for going by means of the dock, whereas write speeds take a bit larger hit however stay speedy. Learn and write speeds will finally depend upon what else is related to the dock and thus what that SSD is sharing its reference to.
SD card speeds got here in at round 90 MB/s learn and 90–160 MB/s write relying on file dimension for the fairly quick card I had accessible for testing, which is under each the theoretical specs of the cardboard and the as much as ~200 MB/s speeds I see in some testing when inserting it straight into my MacBook Professional, however nonetheless passable in my view.
Wrap-up
I have been a loyal CalDigit TS3 Plus consumer for a few years, however the iVANKY FusionDock Max 1 is more likely to take its place in my everlasting desk setup. With a single-cable connection (sure, it has twin connectors, however only one factor to plug and unplug), it is essentially the most handy approach to shortly and simply convert my MacBook Professional from a big desk setup to a handy on-the-go machine.
With the FusionDock Max 1’s huge array of ports, all the things from my twin 5K shows to exterior drives, a Stream Deck, and extra can all be related and disconnected with virtually no effort, and there is basically no compromise in efficiency or pace.
All of this comfort and expertise packed into the FusionDock Max 1 would not come low-cost, nevertheless, because it carries a traditional worth of $549.99, so this dock positively will not be everybody, however for energy customers this can be effectively well worth the price ticket. Luckily, iVANKY is at present providing $150 off if you use our unique promo code MACRUMOURS on iVANKY’s website, bringing the worth to $399.99.
Observe: iVANKY supplied MacRumors with the FusionDock Max 1 for the needs of this evaluate. No different compensation was acquired. MacRumors is an affiliate accomplice with iVANKY and Amazon. Once you click on a hyperlink and make a purchase order, we could obtain a small cost, which helps us preserve the positioning working.Tag: iVANKY
This text, "Evaluate: iVANKY's FusionDock Max 1 Delivers Excessive Versatility With Twin Thunderbolt Connectivity" first appeared on MacRumors.com
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