Orico Thunderbolt 4 12-in-1 Docking Station review

Orico Thunderbolt 4 12-in-1: 30-second review

The Orico Thunderbolt 4 docking station is designed to be a permanent fixture on your desktop. It enables you to connect all of your computer accessories, such as your keyboard, mouse, and monitor, with one cable to your laptop.

The hub utilises the latest Thunderbolt 4 interface, which essentially means that multiple devices can be plugged into the device without a notable slowdown in transfer speeds or the use of any of the accessories you're utilising.

Considering this is a Thunderbolt 4 docking station, the size of the hub itself is relatively small, meaning its sleek design will sit happily next to a monitor without taking up too much room. The back of the unit features most of the common ports you'll need, including a wired LAN port, two USB Type-A ports specifically designed for your mouse and keyboard, and two display ports—one for HDMI and the other for DP. This means that alongside your laptop screen, you can run two 4K 60Hz monitors or a single 8K 30Hz monitor.

As this docking station utilises Thunderbolt 4 with the right SSD, you can expect transfer speeds of up to 40Gbps. However, there are a few things to consider. If you have multiple storage devices all plugged into the docking station, the maximum speed at which they can transfer data files to your computer through that single cable will be 40GB/s, even if the drives exceed this speed individually. Still, that speed is impressive.

There are a few small design issues with the single main connector between the docking station and the computer being located on the front. While this makes it easy to access, the docking cable will likely stay in situ, so it may as well have been located at the back, freeing up space at the front.

However, as far as performance with a Thunderbolt drive attached goes, it's still one of the best laptop docking stations I've tested. Other highlights include utilising its power to charge other devices, including the connected laptop, at up to 85W.

While a docking station might seem like a simple device, there's an awful lot to it. When it comes to making your life a little tidier—especially for workplaces—a decent docking station such as the Orico Thunderbolt 4 docking station is a superb idea.

Orico Thunderbolt 4 12-in-1: Price & availability

The Orico Thunderbolt 4 docking station is available from online retailers such as Amazon, and directly from the Orico website by clicking here.

• Score: 5/5

Orico Thunderbolt 4 12-in-1: Design & build

The first thing that strikes you about the Orico Thunderbolt 4 docking station is its high-quality build. The outer casing is made of high-quality aluminium, giving it a quality finish. In this review, I've looked at the silver model, and the overall build quality is exceptionally high. For a Thunderbolt 4 docking station, it's also not too weighty, and that silver finish gives it a stylish look that won't look out of place in the office.

When it comes to size, it measures 180 x 87 x 26mm, which means it will comfortably sit on a monitor stand. Once in position, everything can be plugged in. Unlike many other docks on the market, this docking station is aimed at workplaces where performance is absolutely essential. Therefore, it requires external power to function. The unit comes supplied with an external AC to DC transformer, which plugs directly into the mains and then into the back of the dock.

Next to the main DC input are the two monitor inputs: a DP1.4 and HDMI 2.0 port side-by-side, which maximise compatibility. These will enable you to connect at least two monitors, either two 4K monitors or one 8K monitor.

Additional connectivity options include a LAN port for an ultra-fast network connection. So, if you have a network-connected storage drive or are accessing the internet, the RJ45 port here will support that. There are also two USB 2.0 480M Type-A ports for standard connections, enabling you to hardwire a keyboard and mouse. Finally, on the back, there are two slots for memory cards; TF and SD 3.0. It's a shame these are mounted at the back making them slightly inaccessible. It would have been better to position these on the front of the device, but it's still a useful feature.

Moving to the front of the docking station, there's a 3.5mm audio jack, a USB Type-C port (10GB/s), a USB Type-A port (10GB/s), and two Thunderbolt 4 ports: one with a 15W power output and the other with an 85W power output, which connects to your computer. Finally, there's the small power button, which illuminates blue when switched on.

• Design & build: 4.5/5

Orico Thunderbolt 4 12-in-1: Features

The Thunderbolt 4 docking station is compatible with Windows, macOS, and Linux machines, and there's a good selection of ports on the front and back to connect accessories. The great thing about using the docking station is that you can leave all of your accessories, such as a monitor, mouse, keyboard, etc, plugged in. Then, when you plug back in in the morning, rather than reconnecting a bunch of cables back into your laptop, you connect just one from the dock. It's really nice and easy to use.

When it comes to features, the Orico Thunderbolt 4 docking station packs in speed and performance over some of the more advanced features of docking stations we've seen used in professional sectors. As such, we have Thunderbolt ports that deliver up to 85W laptop charging and an exceptionally fast data transfer rate of 40GB/s.

The dock itself has 12 ports, which means you can easily plug in everything from standard computer accessories and monitors to more advanced control panels. It can also charge various electronic devices that utilise USB interfaces.

A nice feature of the dock is that it supports dual 4K monitors at up to 60Hz or a single 8K monitor at up to 30Hz, which makes it an ideal solution for any content creator, photographer, or videographer looking for a simple and easy solution to a multi-monitor workflow.

Another nice feature is that it also has a daisy chain capability. As this is a Thunderbolt 4 dock, it has the speed to offer a far more professional solution than many cheaper docks of this type. Essentially, you can connect the docking station to your PC and then to external NAS drives, up to six, in a daisy chain.

• Features: 4/5

Orico Thunderbolt 4 12-in-1: Performance

The Orico Thunderbolt 4 12-in-1 Docking Station is extremely easy to set up and use. Essentially, plug in the power, connect the accessories—monitors, LAN, keyboard, and mouse—and then use a single Thunderbolt 4 cable to connect the laptop to the dock. As soon as you plug in, the monitors will flicker to life, and the keyboard and mouse will take over input control for your computer.

There are obvious time savings here. While plugging multiple cables into your computer isn't too much of a hassle, it can become one of those tasks you'll be pleased not to have to do on a daily basis.

One thing I really liked, especially as a Mac user, was that I didn't have to use adapters for some of my accessories, such as my keyboard and mouse, which use a USB Type-A connector. Both monitor cables are left plugged into the back of the docking station, and again, I didn't have to use multiple USB Type-C cables from the laptop to the monitors to get them to work. In real terms, this only saves you a couple of minutes in the mornings, but even that is welcome for such a repetitive task.

Once everything is connected, you're ready to go, and you should no longer have to plug and unplug multiple devices each day. Essentially, the dock just sits there, and because it works so well, you don't really notice it.

One feature that held it back slightly was the fact that the microSD and SD card slots were positioned on the back of the unit. This means they can be quite fiddly when inserting cards into those slots. In fact, when it came to the microSD slot, I found that I had to pull the dock out in order to insert the card simply because it was a little fiddly. While this in itself isn't a huge issue, the fact that moving the unit can cause some cables to come loose is a concern.

As I used the dock in a studio where SD and microSD cards were inserted into the machine throughout the day, I ended up going back to using a separate card reader, as it was just more accessible and easier to use. Looking at the arrangement of the ports, another issue I had with the design of the dock was the fact that the computer connection port is also on the front of the machine. When I use a dock, I generally leave the connecting cable installed in the dock, so here, it just meant that the second Thunderbolt 4 port on the front was always taken up, leaving me with only one Thunderbolt 4 port free on the front of the dock.

Still, the docking station's speed was exceptional when it came to performance. It connects via Thunderbolt 4, offering a 40GB/s transfer rate, so even with multiple SSD hard drives plugged in, the transfer rates were still excellent. Most of the SSD drives I use are USB 3.2 Gen 2×2, which max out at 10GB/s when used with the MacBook Pro.

One issue I did have—and this is common with many docking stations—is that there is no safe eject feature for the station. This means you have to make sure you eject all hard drives manually before disconnecting. This is especially important if you're using an Apple Mac. Some docking stations include an app to ensure all drives and peripherals are ejected from the system before you disconnect the cable, helping to avoid drive failures or corruptions. Here, you just have to make sure you've manually disconnected everything. After you get used to using these docks, this becomes second nature, but it would have been a nice software feature to include.

Otherwise, the speed of connection, the small profile, excellent transfer rates, and connectivity options make the Orico Thunderbolt 4 docking station a simple solution for most small—to medium-sized businesses.

• Performance: 4/5

Should you buy the Orico Thunderbolt 4 12-in-1?

One of the things that I really liked about the Orico Thunderbolt 4 docking station is its compact size and simplicity. The box's styling is sleek, and its size fits very neatly on a monitor stand.

While I like the overall design, I did find a few issues with the positioning of the ports. Firstly, I would have liked to see the memory card slots positioned on the front or at least on the side of the unit, which would make them far more accessible, especially the microSD card slot, which is just a little fiddly to use without being able to see what you're doing.

Similarly, placing the single Thunderbolt connection to your computer at the front at first seems like a sensible choice, but in use, you tend to leave that cable connected, so it would be better to have it positioned around the back. This would leave space for an additional port at the front, even if it were just a Type-A port.

However, these issues aside, it's hard to fault the usability of this docking station. It's nice and simple for starters and doesn't require you to download or install drivers to make it work. It also doesn't aim for any overly advanced features—it's a simple, solid working dock. You plug in your computer accessories and peripherals, connect your computer, and get straight to work.

Where it excels is in the speed at which you can transfer data. You can connect high-speed SSDs or NAS drives to this docking station and access those files on your computer quickly, with little to no noticeable slowdown. This makes it ideal if you're using your machine for network video editing, as the speed of this dock will keep up with the data transfer requirements. It also means that if you need to upload, download, use multiple monitors, or connect multiple accessories, the fact that you have several devices plugged into this one dock shouldn't be an issue, as it has the power and speed to meet the demands placed on it.

For any small to medium-sized business or home office that requires a laptop to be removed and replaced daily, the convenience of a docking station can save time and make things a lot neater and more convenient. The Orico Thunderbolt 4 docking station keeps things simple while providing speed and overall performance, with connectivity options that should suit the requirements of most workers—without some of the overly complex, technology-leading features that other docking stations boast.

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