Wavelink Thunderbolt 4 Dockingstation UDT41Pro
Although the MacBook Pro has several more ports than the MacBook Air, the desire for a docking station arose. Here are my experiences.
Introduction
The MacBook Pro already has three Thunderbolt/USB ports and also has an SD card reader and an HDMI port, so it’s at least sufficient for use as a laptop. But if you also use the MacBook as a desktop computer, it can sometimes get tight, as you might need external drives, network connections, and perhaps even audio ports.
And that’s where the desire for a docking station comes in, especially since the Caldigit I used with the MacBook Air offers little added value on the MacBook Pro.
After some research on Amazon Prime Day, I decided on the Wavelink Thunderbolt Dock.
The Dock
At first, you’re surprised by the weight of the box, but the dock itself seems to be made mostly of metal, and the power adapter is just as big as the dock itself ;-(
At the front, we have a dedicated on/off switch, which I think is a good thing. Next to it is the upstream port, the connection to the host computer. This allows charging the MacBook with 98 W. Next to it is an ISB-A port with 10 Gbps, an SD card reader, and an audio port for microphone and headphones. Whether it’s better if the connection to the host computer is at the front or the back is debatable.
On the back is the power port, followed by three Thunderbolt 4 ports. Then there’s another 10 Gbps USB-A port and two more, but with 5 Gbps. Then there’s a LAN port with 2.5 Gbps, which is also worth mentioning, as many docks still come with these ports. 1 Gbit LAN ports.
Then there are two video stream blocks A and B, each equipped with an HDMI and a DisplayPort connection, so you really have a free choice here.
Leistung
I then tested it directly with a Thunderbolt drive from Ugreen. The result was quite disappointing.
The write speed, in particular, is quite low, even though you know that such a dock is designed to distribute the available bandwidth among the various devices. However, this value is already very low compared to a directly connected drive.
The Problem
This Thunderbolt dock also has what I consider a serious problem. The Wavelink Thunderbolt 4 Dock requires DisplayLink drivers to be installed on at least the MacBook; otherwise, operating a monitor via either HDMI or DisplayPort is not possible at all.
Once you have them installed, you can operate two monitors, but scaling is not possible, especially on the 4K monitor, unlike the screenshot above. possible. However, this makes the font and all elements much too small at 4K. Another option would be to run the 4K monitor at Full HD resolution.
Conclusion
Even though the features themselves can be described as good for a Thunderbolt 4 dock at this price, the dock ultimately ended up being returned because of the lack of a scaling option, as it wasn’t usable for me. It’s a shame, really.
ciao tuxoche
