HyperDrive Thunderbolt 4 Docking Station (Review)

Thunderbolt reigns as the king of docking station solutions as it provides some of the strongest and most diverse connectivity for all of your devices. This includes everything from storage solutions, external displays, external GPUs (ie, eGPU), Ethernet connections, general peripherals (ie, keyboards, mice, etc), and more. Thus, it comes as no surprise that the HyperDrive Thunderbolt 4 Docking Station delivers where it counts.

With 11 total ports/options to choose from, this dock quickly adds itself to the list of some of the most powerful Thunderbolt 4 docks out there. Allowing you to connect virtually anything you want to your laptop (or desktop) of choice.

This comes as a plus for laptops more than anything, since they typically don’t offer the same kind of connectivity you find with desktop computers. Due to the limited space (especially with modern models that feature ultra-slim designs), you can only squeeze so much into a laptop’s shell. So owning a versatile dock is essential for anyone looking to get desktop capabilities/performance.

All you need is a home for everything, where a power outlet is available nearby. Connect everything together as you would a desktop, but bring it to the dock instead. Then connect the dock to a Thunderbolt 4 port on your laptop, and you are ready for your connected journey. So each time you plug your laptop into the dock, you instantly turn it into a full workstation experience. Then unplug and go back on your merry way as you take it mobile when you don’t need it all.

What’s nice about this dock is that it offers support for USB4 connectivity as well (a shared standard), as well as backward compatibility with Thunderbolt 3, and even USB-C (as long as your connected port supports DisplayPort over USB-C). Although USB-C support is only recommended when you are in a pinch and not as your main dependency, as you would be significantly throttled in speed and capabilities (ie, resolution options). This is (clearly) meant for Thunderbolt 4-supported machines more than anything.

Of course, it will also work with the new Thunderbolt 5 once more systems roll out supporting it.

The dock itself is relatively small since Hyper decided to pack a lot of innards into its external power brick/supply. Allowing for the dock to focus on just connectivity. So that brick takes on some of the normal weight/size you might find with other models that build everything into one unit, with a simple cord hanging out the back.

The brick weighs almost as much as the dock, but that doesn’t (really) pose as an issue since it would normally live somewhere on the ground and out of sight, anyway. So out of sight, out of mind, and less clutter on your desk.

The front side of the dock contains an SD slot (UHS-II), a USB-A (up to 10 Gbps/10W), a 3.5mm combo jack (for use with headphones, headsets, speakers, or microphones), and one Thunderbolt 4 (TB4) host port capable of up to 40 Gbps and 96W PD  to the host (the laptop or desktop).

Some people prefer the host port to be on the front, and some prefer it to be located on the back. Personally, most of us like to see it on the back, so it’s a little too bad to see it on the front like this. So this means you have a power connection on the back that can run away and towards the wall, but you will always need a TB4 cable running from the front to your system. If you are using a laptop, this isn’t always an issue, depending on how you are making use of the dock. If you prefer dock solutions where you can set the laptop to the side and use external everything (monitor, keyboard, mouse, etc), then the cable is kind of awkwardly placed. The same goes for using this with a desktop system. To each their own, though.

Two LED status lights on the front represent power and connectivity to your host computer. Beyond that, the face of the dock is relatively clean and simple (which can be said about most dock designs).

The backside of the dock is where the rest of the magic happens, and by magic, I mean it offers a ton of throughput and connectivity. Everything that makes TB4 (and the new TB5) special. Including a 2.5GbE port that is ready and waiting for you to buy into a nice fiber connection for your home. That or simply extra strong local network connectivity for networks that support multi-gigabit. As well as three additional USB-A ports (up to 10 Gbps/10W) for all of your typical accessories. Giving you a grand total of four USB-A ports for peripherals, drives, and more.

Then you also have an HDMI 2.1 port that is capable of up to 8K/60Hz (or 4K/120Hz), depending on any additional connectivity you might have to monitors on the dock. You are capable of up to two monitors, but if you go with two, you are limited to up to 6K/6Hz each. All of this is dependent upon your CPU, since docking stations do not have a built-in GPU.

Finally, you have two Thunderbolt 4 (TB4) ports as well, which can be used for any USB-C device, or as TB4 downstream to any TB4 device, including another dock (if you wanted/needed). This is also where you would plug in a second monitor if you needed more than just the one HDMI connection. You’d just need a monitor that supports graphics over USB-C (of course).

Beyond a DC power connection, that is all there is on the back. While at the same time, this is plenty and includes most everything you’d need in a dock. Especially, since you have two downstream ports vs one.

In one final mention, the side does contain two slots for attaching a lock. This is good for public locations where you might be worried about it walking away when you aren’t looking. Since most people make use of such docks at home, this usually isn’t much of an issue. But if you plan on taking it on the go and using it where you might temporarily walk away (ie, library) or plan on using it in a hotel room and you have trust issues, you have the ability to lock it to something if need be.

Honestly, I prefer seeing slots for the use of locks (ie, Kensington style laptop lock) on just about anything expensive. So this is always an added plus.

Besides coming with a power brick and cable, this dock also comes with a somewhat short TB4 cable to get you started with most connection scenarios (to a laptop or desktop). It’s just over two feet in length (0.7m), so it should work for most. If this isn’t long enough, you can find longer options on Amazon and other outlets. Fair warning though, that they do get expensive.

Our Conclusion/Results

We have been testing this one for over a week now, using it with various systems that support either Thunderbolt 4, Thunderbolt 3, or USB4. We didn’t test it against any machine using a basic USB-C connection since it just wouldn’t make sense to spend this kind of money on a dock if you weren’t going to make use of its capabilities. So we kept it to real-world scenarios.

That being said, we were able to get lightning-fast speeds using the 2.5GbE port since our network is capable of up to 10 Gbps. So that proved to be quite the success. As well as using the Thunderbolt 4 ports for various storage devices, such as Hyper’s own HyperDrive Next USB4 NVMe SSD Enclosure (our review). Making for a great pairing for power users and professionals looking to get top transfer speeds from their TB4-capable systems.

External display performance depends heavily on your CPU, so the faster your processor is, the better. This still doesn’t compare to using a proper video card or chipset, but this can still do wonders for general workstations. I just wouldn’t depend on these displays for heavy gaming with all settings cranked to ultra. But when you simply need additional displays for general work/productivity, this is great.

Clearly, you want to reserve use for proper Thunderbolt 4 or USB4 support. Anything less will force you to sacrifice, and that is never any fun. Especially when you spend this kind of money. So always bare that in mind when shopping for a new docking station (make sure your system fully supports the one you want).

We don’t have a lot to complain about, as this dock delivers as promised and offers so much. The only thing we could think of in the end was that it would have been nice to have the host TB4/USB-C connection and the power connection on the back (vs one on the back and one on the front). This can look a little awkward with laptop setups. Each design approach has its pros and cons, thus this partially weighs into personal preference more than anything.

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