Apple’s MacBook Pro and MacBook Air are remarkable laptops, but they don’t make for the best desktop alternatives right out of the box. Like Henry Ford’s Model T, which gave you a choice of colors (so long as you chose black), modern MacBooks give you your choice of ports, so long as they are Thunderbolt ports.
Apple uses oval-shaped Thunderbolt 3 and Thunderbolt 4 ports on its various laptops. Check out our primers on Thunderbolt 3 and Thunderbolt 4 to learn what makes Thunderbolt different from USB-C.
Thunderbolt and wireless connectivity are perfectly serviceable for most mobile professionals while they’re out and about. But many offices around the globe still rely on legacy ports such as HDMI and USB 3.0, not to mention SD card readers and Ethernet for wired connections. And these days, with a goodly portion of commuting and business travel replaced by wearing a path in the carpet between your home office and the kitchen, flexibility matters more than ever. At certain times, you want to work on a single laptop screen in the living room, and at others, you buckle down at a desk with a more elaborate multi-screen setup and desktop peripherals.
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If you don’t want to rely on a whole host of USB-C adapters or dongles back at your desk, a docking station can be your best solution short of buying a desktop Mac. This guide to the top MacBook docking stations for your Apple laptop will help you find the desktop peripheral setup that’s right for you. (For a higher-level overview of docking-station options, check out our deep-dive guide to how to pick a laptop docking station.)
We have a confession to make: We once used a stack of books as a monitor stand. You can do a lot better today with the Anker 675 USB-C Docking Station, a $249.99 aluminum alloy display stand (its legs are plastic) that’s also a 12-in-1 connection hub. Besides the 100-watt USB-C connection to your laptop, the nonskid stand provides five 10Gbps USB ports (two Type-C and three Type-A); SD and microSD flash card slots; a 3.5mm audio jack; a gigabit Ethernet port; and an HDMI port for a 4K, 60Hz monitor.
Besides improving your posture by elevating your display, the stand offers built-in cable management to reduce desk clutter. It’s also a Qi wireless charging station that delivers up to 10 watts to a Samsung smartphone or 7.5 watts to an iPhone.
Belkin’s Thunderbolt 3 Dock Mini HD ($139.99) is a compact (0.8 by 5.1 by 3.1 inches) docking station with 6.8-inch cable that provides a USB 3.0 Type-A port, a USB 2.0 port, a gigabit Ethernet port, and two HDMI ports supporting 4K resolution at 60Hz. (M1-based MacBooks only support a single external monitor, not dual extended displays, through the Thunderbolt 3 port.)
Protected by a sturdy aluminum enclosure, the dock carries a two-year warranty. And at just 6.3 ounces, it won’t weigh down your day bag much more than a wireless mouse will.
Lots of docking stations can give you a 1Gbps Ethernet port, but what if you want a faster 2.5Gbps office network connection? Check out the Corsair TBT200, a $299.99 dock with no fewer than four Thunderbolt 4 ports (for one host and three devices). Corsair’s Thunderbolt Dock Utility enables you to eject all drives at once, with support for Apple’s SuperDrive and keyboard. The device comes with USB-C to HDMI and USB-C to DisplayPort adapters for dual 4K monitors.
The TBT200’s front panel offers an SD card slot, 3.5mm audio jack, and two 10Gbps USB ports (one 15-watt Type-C and one 7.5-watt Type-A). Two more USB-A ports join the Ethernet port, three Thunderbolt 4 ports, and a Kensington security lock slot around back. The aluminum dock charges your MacBook with up to 96 watts of power.
If you’d like to make the most of a USB Type-C port, check out the Dockcase Smart Hub. This $99.99 gadget turns one USB-C 3.2 Gen 1 or higher port into three 5Gbps USB-A 3.0 ports, one USB-C charging port, an HDMI 2.0 port that can drive a 4K monitor at 60Hz, and SD and microSD card slots that can work simultaneously. It also sports a 1.3-inch color LCD that can be rotated 90 degrees and shows port status, device types, and real-time chip temperature.
Made of zinc alloy and tempered glass, the Dockcase is also available in a $20 cheaper integrated version whose 100-watt USB-C cable is not detachable for use with AC adapters.
Its 10Gbps USB-C interface isn’t as fast as a laptop’s internal PCI Express connection, but J5Create’s model JCD552 M.2 NVMe USB-C Gen 2 Docking Station ($149.99) is a unique way to expand your MacBook’s storage: The 1-by-12.5-by-3.1-inch gray and black aluminum dock has a compartment for an NVMe or SATA M.2 solid-state drive (up to size 2280; not included). It connects to your laptop using two USB-C cables and offers 100 watts of Power Delivery pass-through.
The docking station has 4K DisplayPort and HDMI video outputs, a gigabit Ethernet port, SD and microSD card slots, and three USB Type-A ports (one 5Gbps and two 10Gbps) in addition to the M.2 SSD slot. A security cable lock slot keeps it from walking away from your desk.
Kensington has stepped into the modern age with a compact Thunderbolt 3 dock in the form of the SD2500T Thunderbolt 3 Dual 4K Hybrid Nano Dock ($279.99).
This dock supports MacBooks and Windows laptops and provides you with one USB-C port, two DisplayPorts, three USB 3.2 Type-A ports, a gigabit Ethernet jack, a 3.5mm audio jack, an SD card reader, and even a microSD card reader. The included power adapter supports 60-watt power delivery.
The OWC Thunderbolt 3 Dock is a portable docking station that turns a single Thunderbolt 3 port into a desktop-worthy array of one USB 3.1 Type-A port, one USB 2.0 Type-A port, two HDMI ports (both supporting 4K displays), and a gigabit Ethernet port.
The compact (0.7 by 4.9 by 2.6 inches, HWD) aluminum dock also includes OWC’s Dock Ejector software, which safely disconnects external drives connected to the dock and ensures all data is written before disconnection.
Your M1 or M2 MacBook will be better connected with Satechi’s $299.99 Thunderbolt 4 Dock. This 1.2-by-7.7-by-3.1-inch desk accessory provides three 40Gbps Thunderbolt 4 ports with 15-watt charging—its host cable delivers 96 watts of charging to your notebook—along with three 10Gbps USB 3.2 Type-A ports.
The Satechi dock also features a gigabit Ethernet port, an SD card reader, and a legacy USB 2.0 port as well as a 3.5mm audio jack. It weighs just under a pound and supports dual 4K monitors with a refresh rate of 60Hz.
Lust for more than one monitor? The Plugable USB-C Quad HDMI Docking Station ($299) lives up to its name with no fewer than four HDMI ports, using DisplayLink technology to drive multiple screens with resolutions up to 1,920 by 1,080 pixels at 60Hz. MacBooks don’t support DisplayPort Alt Mode Multi-Stream Transport, so the fourth display can only be mirrored.
The HDMI quartet is joined at the device’s rear by four 5Gbps USB 3.0 ports, a gigabit Ethernet port, and the USB-C 3.2 connection to your laptop with 96-watt charging. Up front, the Plugable offers audio-in and -out jacks and an SD card reader, as well as a 5Gbps USB-C port with 20-watt charging for phones or other handhelds.
Talk about making the most of a USB-C port: VisionTek’s VT7400 docking station ($349) allows you to connect up to three 4K displays and up to seven accessories with a little black box (1.2 by 8.8 by 3.6 inches). Fully compatible with M1 MacBooks, the device provides up to 100 watts of USB-C power delivery and four front-mounted 10Gbps USB ports (two Type-A and two Type-C) plus an audio jack.
Around back, you’ll find a gigabit Ethernet port, two more USB-A ports, two DisplayLink DisplayPort connectors, and three HDMI ports (two DisplayLink and one DP Alt Mode). This allows for a dizzying array of external monitor connections; you’ll want to check VisionTek’s handy chart on page 3 of this PDF file(Opens in a new window), which breaks down your options by connection type, operating system (it works with Windows, too), and display resolution. Finally, IT managers will like the VT7400’s support for Wake-on-LAN and PXE Boot technologies.
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