The Kensington SD5000T5 EQ Thunderbolt 5 Triple 4K Docking Station is the first Thunderbolt 5 dock to get Intel certified. It boasts 11 ports and delivers data transfer speeds up to 120 Gbps (15,000 MBps).
The dock is intended for professionals and content creators.
Thunderbolt 5 is here… sort of
Intel launched Thunderbolt 5 last year, and the first devices that support it are just now starting to reach the market. OWC recently introduced a Thunderbolt 5 SSD, for example.
One of the factors that’s delayed the launch of accessories that use the standard is a need for more computers that support it. At present, nothing from Apple does. However, it’s possible the Macs with M4 processors expected this autumn and in 2025 will.
Kensington brings out first Thunderbolt 5 dock
A highlight of the new Thunderbolt version is data transfers to 80 Gbps — twice as fast as the previous iteration — plus a Bandwidth Boost that goes up to 120 Gbps. That’s a feature supported by Kensington’s new dock.
“We are excited to announce the release of the SD5000T5, the first Intel certified Thunderbolt 5 docking solution that delivers ultra-fast data transfer speeds, support for multiple monitors, 11 connectivity ports, and 140W of power delivery to truly unlock the potential of the Thunderbolt 5 laptop,” said Giovanni Sena, Senior Vice President and General Manager at Kensington.
The new dock’s lengthy list of ports ports including three Thunderbolt 5 downstream ports, a Thunderbolt 5 host port, three USB-A 3.2 Gen2 10Gbps ports, a combo audio jack, two SD or microSD card readers, and a 2.5Gbps Ethernet port.
Although today’s Macs can not take full advantage of the extra data transfer speeds possible with the dock, it’s backward compatible with Thunderbolt 4 and USB4 as long as the computer runs macOS 14.5 or later. When used with a MacBook, Kensington’s latest dock offers dual 6K monitors at 60Hz to MacBook models with M1 Pro, M1 Max, M2 Pro or M2 Max processors.
Now available
The Kensington SD5000T5 EQ Thunderbolt 5 Triple 4K Docking Station launched Tuesday, September 17.
Buy it from: Kensington
The cost is $399.99.