With new models making their way into the world, it’s that time again to decide if you need an upgrade. The new MacBook Air 2022 is on its way and you may want to make sure that you are ready for whatever you want to throw at it. One of the best ways is to make sure you have a good travel dock that gives you all the connectivity you could possibly need.
You have great dock options for home and office when you want to create a larger docking scenario. However, a travel dock is great for tossing into your bag and carrying with you without adding noticeable weight and keeping your footprint to a minimum.
There are two really good options that you could pair with your new MacBook (or Windows laptop) that can add everything you need.
1) HyperDrive USB4 Mobile Dock by Hyper ($139)
This is a great option for taking advantage of the new USB4 connectivity that Apple seems to have embraced. Something the PC market is still trailing behind on as multiple companies are still barely making use of it.
Thanks to USB4, you get plenty of throughput combined as well as up to 100W of power for your devices and for keeping the laptop itself charged (an additional cable to a wall adapter is required). It offers support for two external displays up to 4K@60 or one display at 8K@30. Although, Windows benefits the most as Macs can only support mirrored display mode due to the dock using DisplayPort’s MST [Multi-Stream Transport], which Mac does not support.
You also do not get an SD card slot with this one. So if you find that you will be making a lot of use of SD or microSD cards, you may either want to get an additional adapter for this to plug into this dock or go with the next option.
You can find our full review of Hyper’s USB4 dock here.
2) OWC USB-C Travel Dock E ($64.99)
While this option doesn’t offer the speeds of USB4, it is still cross-compatible with all USB and TB (Thunderbolt) ports that use USB-C as the connection. It also offers plenty of data throughput and also offers 100W PD to your devices and for charging the connected laptop (again, an additional USB-C cable to a wall adapter is required for PD).
It offers HDMI 2.0 support for a single external display up to 4K and fully supports Apple systems, unlike the before-mentioned HyperDrive
Even though it doesn’t make use of USB4, it is still very powerful, and it is more affordable as well since it doesn’t cost as much to develop. On top of that, it does have an SD card slot (capable of up 312MB/s).
So this one makes for a great affordable option for those not looking to spend too much money on their accessories.
The Wrap
Both options will make a great travel companion for your laptop. One covers those that want the best and the other covers those that want to keep things simple. Both are small, versatile, and fast. A great way to always be prepared for what life throws at you when you are mobile.
