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Here's the short answer: If you want to connect your laptop to a printer, an SD card or microSD card, mouse, keyboard, or legacy 1080p monitor, stick with a basic 10Gbps USB-C hub/dongle. If you want to add a pair of additional displays (especially 4K), or high-speed SSD drives, we'd recommend you look at our list of 40Gbps Thunderbolt docking stations. Generally, the larger, powered docks offer more features.It is confusing, since they all use the "same" USB-C port. Generally, most modern laptops have a small Thunderbolt "lightning bolt" logo to help distinguish the faster port.

A USB-C hub or dongle (we use the terms interchangeably) is a small, portable device that you can slide into a bag or backpack. A USB-C docking station tends to be heavy and bulky enough that you'll want to keep it on your desk. It's not true that a USB-C docking station will have more features than a USB-C hub, as some compact USB-C hubs pack in a surprising number of ports. Docking stations tend to be bigger and bulkier, and are designed to live on your desk. If there's anything that docking stations tend to have that dongles sometimes don't, it's a USB-C port designed only to accept power f

Well, sure. That’s what second mortgages are for. Seriously, this dock is substantially more than the $250 or so I expect as the price of a Thunderbolt 4 dock. I get it — Thunderbolt 5’s component costs are higher than Thunderbolt 4, and premium features like the optical connection, CompactFlash slot, and the M.2 SSD repository cost more to engineer in. Truly, though, this dock caters to the high-end creative professional: The CompactFlash slot for the photography hobby on the side; the high-end optical connection for a set of studio speakers on the desk; the power of Thunderbolt 5 alongside t