Kensington SD5800T Thunderbolt 4 Dock review: Premium in all ways

Cost When Reviewed

379.99

Finest Prices Today: Kensington Thunderbolt 4/USB 4 Quad Video Docking Station (SD5800T)

The Kensington Thunderbolt 4 and USB Quad Docking Station (SD5800T) feels a bit like another verse in a familiar tune: A brand-new dock gets here, packed to the gills with ports; nevertheless, all of that versatility shows up with a high cost premium, too.

Kensington and Plugable appear at the top of our present list of the very best Thunderbolt docksThis is our very first chance to examine Kensington’s ultra-premium 16-in-1 SD5800T Thunderbolt 4 dock, which looks essentially similar to the Plugable TBT4-UDZ — which we’ve blogged about however have not yet officially evaluated. Provided the capacity for an ultimate head-to-head shootout, it’s worth keeping in mind that the SD5800T’s MSRP is technically $379, however that Amazon notes it as $299, the like Plugable’s dock. (And at press time, Amazon has the rate of the SD5800T cut to simply $229.)

In any occasion, this is Kensington’s dock to purchase if you desire whatever: 4 4K screens (2 DisplayPort 1.4, 2 HDMI 2.1), plus a ton of USB-A and USB-C ports. Obviously, you’re not bound to link 4 screens; you can select 2 display screens rather, material in the understanding that you can prefer whatever cable television (HDMI or DisplayPort) you want.

A few of the fundamentals require describing. Essentially all Thunderbolt 4 docks will link to USB4 ports without a drawback. Kensington’s prolonged, official item name spells this out. Due to the fact that Intel declines to accredit non-Intel (read: AMD Ryzen) laptop computers for Thunderbolt, Ryzen note pads utilize USB4 ports rather. They’re basically similar.

Kensington achieves a quad-display orientation by means of a mix of the 40Gbps Thunderbolt 4 port plus an innovation called Display Stream Compression (DSC), which utilizes an industry-standard compression innovation to eke out more bandwidth. DSC resembles DisplayLink, a compression innovation created by Synaptics, and the structure of an entire class of excellent DisplayLink dockswhich we consist of in our finest Thunderbolt dock roundup. DSC does not need the software application chauffeur that DisplayLink does, however DSC can be a little undecided on any laptop computer that utilizes a 12th-gen Core processor or older.

Kensington’s SD5800T sits atop the premium Thunderbolt dock market with strong stability, a considerable amount of ports, and the power to link to 4 screens simultaneously. It’s an exceptional dock, however feels a bit overpriced at its default cost.

The bottom line is that a Thunderbolt dock was developed for a set of 4K, 60Hz display screens, and DSC or DisplayLink increases that to 4 4K display screens rather. If you enjoy numerous screens, that’s truly cool.

Kensington Thunderbolt 4 and USB Quad Docking Station (SD5800T): The ports

On the front of the SD5800T there’s a microSD and SD card slot for professional photographers (SD 4.0, UHS-II) together with a 10Gbps USB-A port and a 480Mbps USB-A port, plainly marked for charging a smart device at a ranked 1.5 A. There’s likewise a power button, an earphone jack, and a 3.25-foot Thunderbolt 4 cable that provides a ranked 98W to your laptop computer. On the back, Kensington consists of a Kensington nano- and full-sized security slot (natch), the power port, the 4 display screen ports, 2.5 Gbps Ethernet, a 10Gbps USB-C charging port ranked at 1.5 A, plus 4 USB-A ports uniformly divided in between 10Gbps and 5Gbps.

Kensington’s SD5800T sits atop the premium Thunderbolt dock market with strong stability, a considerable amount of ports, and the power to link to 4 screens simultaneously.

That’s a lot, and the style conceals a couple of advantages and disadvantages. For one, did I discuss that the dock can be installed vertically? Kensington’s SD5800T steps 7.68 x 4.09 x 1.42 inches (and 1.34 pounds, if it matters) however can be propped vertically on a stand to conserve area. (The dock has rubber feet for installing flat, nevertheless.) Even with cables growing from numerous ports, it sat definitely progressively on my desk. The ports are well-spaced.

What I do not like about the style is how it puts the USB-C charging port on the back; if you’re a stickler for company, you’ll desire it on the front, closer to you. I do not like the absence of an LED-lit power button, either.

Kensington Thunderbolt 4 and USB Quad Docking Station (SD5800T): Performance

The concern I constantly ask of a quad-display dock like the Kensington SD5800T: Does it provide what it assures? The response is: Well, it depends. Due to the fact that of the vagaries of various hardware, you can most likely anticipate various abilities depending upon how brand-new your laptop computer is. As constantly, the more current the hardware, the much better.

Here’s a run-through of how the Kensington SD5800T carried out on numerous laptop computers, simply to show the distinctions. It’s essential to keep in mind, nevertheless, that though the screens took a couple of seconds to link, I never ever experienced any problems or disconnects. It’s likewise essential to keep in mind that the manual states that the dock can provide”as much as 4K @ 60Hz” efficiency throughout 4 screens. (Emphasis mine.) Kensington likewise guarantees that the dock can power a single 8K display screen at 60Hz, however we do not have the hardware to check that.

• Asus ZenBook 14 OLED (14th-gen Core Ultra): Perfect. 4K, 60Hz throughout 4 4K display screens (4K60).
• Samsung Galaxy Book 3 Pro 360 (13th-gen Intel Core): 4K60 throughout 3 screens. The 4th would just illuminate at 4K30, 1440p59, or 1080p60.
• Acer Swift Edge 16 (AMD Ryzen 7000): Same as above
• Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio 2 (13th-gen Intel Core): Same as above
• Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio (11th-gen Intel Core): Two screens at 4K60, 2 display screens at 1080p

The dock’s USB-C charging port provided 7.45 W, enough to fast-charge a smart device. The front-mounted USB-A charging port provided simply 0.5 A (or 2.4 W), which does not come close to the assured 1.5 A. The 2 front-mounted ports provide the exact same quantity of power, despite the fact that one claims to be a charging port! The SD800T provided a peak output of 94W to the laptop computer, which is close adequate to the ranked output to be appropriate.

Streaming and information transfer efficiency was appropriate. Thunderbolt docks constantly provide a bit less information throughput than DisplayLink; the 130.74 MBps had to do with on par with other Thunderbolt 4 docks that I’ve checked, such as the Anker 777The dock dropped 7 out of 10,000 frames while streaming. A test in which I copy a folder consisting of gigabytes of information from an SSD down through to the dock to the desktop finished in 1 minute, 8 seconds, which is amongst the slower entertainers. The SD card slots worked as anticipated, and there were no pops or dropouts from the earphone jack.

Thunderbolt 3 and Thunderbolt 4 docks tend to provide comparable efficiency; Thunderbolt 4 docks are a bit more steady, which is why you see a mix of Thunderbolt 3 and 4 docks amongst our finest choices.

Should you purchase the Kensington SD5800T?

At $299, the SD5800T is a difficult sell. At $379, I ‘d avoid it completely. At $229, your ears must liven up. I like the versatility of the SD5800T more than our existing finest choice, the Kensington SD5780Twhich is why the plentiful Plugable TBT3-UDZ is still amongst our favored Thunderbolt docks. I do not like the SD5800T’s mislabeled charging port, nevertheless, and our evaluation is muddied by how it engages with numerous hardware.

The Kensington Thunderbolt 4 and USB Quad Docking Station (SD5800T) is still a properly designed Thunderbolt 4 dock with some small acnes. Utilize the offered rate to assist your purchasing choice.

Finest Prices Today: Kensington Thunderbolt 4/USB 4 Quad Video Docking Station (SD5800T)

Author: Mark HachmanSenior Editor