OWC Thunderbolt Dock
Inspect-a-Gadget is of course a real person.
He/she/it is gender-neutral, but the elves that work for Inspect-a-Gadget are very much of this Earth and composed of a pound (or more) of flesh, just like you.
OWC on the other hand prefers to sell its products on Earth, but the company itself hails from another world… hence the name Other World Computing (OWC).
The zero-emissions Mac and PC technology company is known as a specialist in products for Memory, External Drives, SSDs, Mac & PC docking solutions and performance upgrade kits.
The latest hardware we’re hearing about from OWC is its new Thunderbolt dock.
The OWC Thunderbolt Dock for Mac and PC expands the functionality of the Intel 11th Gen Core and Evo PCs with Thunderbolt 4, as well as expanding the functionality of the new M1 Macs and Thunderbolt 3 equipped Macs once they are upgraded to the new Apple MacOS 11 ‘Big Sur’.
Using this product, you can have four Thunderbolt ports, plus four USB ports, as well as a port for your SD Card, Gigabit Ethernet, and a combo audio in/out.
Users will gain convenient access for all Thunderbolt and USB devices through a single cable to your Mac or PC.
In terms of use, you could be connecting storage, adapters, chargers… or anything else that works in this (still comparatively new as of 2021) connection format.
OWC’s O’Connor: Space buff, connectivity stuff.
“Being a leader in Thunderbolt integration and accessories, OWC is excited to offer the Thunderbolt Dock,” said Larry O’Connor, CEO and founder of OWC. “These new solutions will give users, especially on the Mac side, what they have been asking for, for years. The ability to expand upon the number of Thunderbolt devices they can add to their machines and create new workflows to optimise their workflows better.”
This product also offers Gigabit Ethernet use to eliminates low-quality, patchy Wi-Fi – so that’s well-suited for IP-based workflows and secured networks.
Storage & sounds
Users can access photos and movies via the SD card reader at speeds up to 312MB/s.
There’s also an audio combo jack for plugging headphones into.
Overall, we like OWC for its build quality, its large range of products, its product durability and its overall performance. If this company’s devices were a car, they’d be a high-end sports car with seriously reinforced roll-bars, if not necessarily a Ferrari, this is an engine that probably starts on very cold mornings, has very few compatibility issues and provides a comfortable ride all round.
It’s only a dock, yes, but it’s quite a nice one
The OWC Thunderbolt Dock is available for order now through MacSales.com for $249, so roughly £180 at the time of writing.
Image: OWC