Elgato releases Thunderbolt 3 dock to alleviate MacBook Pro connectivity woes

By Mark Coppock Published January 4, 2017

elgato announces thunderbolt 3 dock for macbook pro at ces 2017 egato featured — Image used with permission by copyright holder

If you’re using a 2016 MacBook Pro or thinking about buying one, then you may have a bundle of accessories that will need dongles to connect to Apple’s new thin-and-light notebook. That can get expensive and become unsightly, and it can be a pain to connect and disconnect so many dongles.

That’s why external docking stations are becoming even more significant than in the past, with a number of companies leveraging the MacBook Pro’s Thunderbolt 3 ports to make it easier to keep your machine plugged in yet easy to grab and go. Elgato is joining in with itsown Thunderbolt 3 dock, which it has announced in conjunction with CES 2017, as Macworld reports.

Elgato’s dock aims to connect every kind of accessory an enterprising MacBook Pro owner likely possesses. There’s connectivity for external storage, displays, Ethernet, and audio, via two USB Type-C ports with Thunderbolt 3, three USB 3.0 ports, a Gigabit ethernet connection, and audio.

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elgato announces thunderbolt 3 dock for macbook pro at ces 2017 back — Image used with permission by copyright holder

elgato announces thunderbolt 3 dock for macbook pro at ces 2017 front — Image used with permission by copyright holder

The Elgato Thunderbolt 3 dock can pass charging through to the connected MacBook Pro, and can also charge external devices with its 15-watt output. External monitors are supported at up to 4K resolution, via the DisplayPort connection. If you connect a monitor through a Thunderbolt 3 port, you can drive a monitor at up to 5K resolution.

Elgato hopes to ship the Thunderbolt 3 dock sometime in the third quarter of 2017. The dock will be priced at $300, which, depending on the number of dongles that would be required to support the same accessories, could make the dock a bargain in addition to a major convenience.

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