Kensington SD5700T 3 Port Thunderbolt Hub / Dock Review - 90 Watts PD & Docking Features

Buy one on Amazon: lon.tv/l6pc (compensated affiliate link) - Kensington's latest dock incorporates a three port thunderbolt hub, 90 watts of power delivery, an ethernet port, and a few extra USB ports. It works with Thunderbolt 4 Windows PCs and any Thunderbolt 3 equipped Mac with Big Sur. See more docks: lon.tv/tdocks and subscribe! lon.tv/s
VIDEO INDEX:
00:00 - Intro
01:49 - Price
01:54 - Compatibility
02:44 - Front ports
03:40 - 90 Watts of Power Delivery
03:55 - Power adapter
04:51 - Rear Ports
06:50 - Attaching an M1 Macbook Air
07:45 - Displays
08:29 - Thunderbolt Speed Test and Bandwidth Explained
10:41 - Ethernet speed test
11:38 - SD Card Reader
12:49 - USB-C Drive Test
13:47 - Conclusion
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[@lyndonkain4749]

Well, what can I say. VERY informative, easy to understand. Reviews like this are hard to find! A BIG Thank you.

[@andrecoxa]

This video is brilliant! I wish every video on docks were like this!

[@guyfawkes7682]

Hey - thanks for your video. Just to note - I have tested several NMVe type USB-C drives like you have the Samsung X5 and Sandisk Extreme - while reads are per advertised using either the HUB or the Macbook Pro computer - I did notice that WRITES were about 1000 mb/s less using the HUB versus the available USB-C port on the computer. Because this hub carries the video traffic (especially using 2 - 27 inch Apple Thunderbolt monitors) - it throttles the bandwidth in writing but does well on the reads for any external drive. Cheers!

[@VidVayder]

Great details, thank you.

[@chekiechen]

$75 more expensive than OWC's thunderbolt 4 dock that is coming out soon and it looks exactly the same in terms of port selection.

[@iPhoneiPadReview]

Thank you so much for this review! I saw your quick take on the SD5600T on Amazon, but would love to see your detailed review here. I saw one review saying that it creates constant kernel panics with 2019 16" Macbook Pro. Is that true?

[@PrabhakarArasavelli]

That's perfect review. You know what the end user is looking for and what they need to understand. I appreciate your detailed review. One question. Will this dock work for dual monitors from 2019 MacBook pro? I mean, will it work straight from the box or do I need to make any configuration changes to detect 2 monitors ?

[@ViplavKatiyar87]

Great video! I've always loved the level of details you highlight in your videos. Regarding the Intel Macs, can you guide me on how to drive two external displays with one thunderbolt cable equipped dock? As I understand, apple hasn't enabled/developed for Multi-Stream Transport (MST) for their display port "protocol" which is why I think I'm unable to drive two 1080p displays.

[@mortenboldt9907]

Is the power delivery still active when the dock is powered off with the power button?

[@terryrodbourn2793]

When will these Dock makers putting 10G on the device instead on older Gigabyte ports!

[@Rodrigox3124962]

Just git this dock and started doing some testing, I too have the Sandisk Extreme V2 (not the Pro version) and I’m currently seeing some significant loss of speed through the dock, arround 100mb/s difference connected directly to the mac vs the dock, any thoughts? Worth noting that I upgraded from SD5300 this did not happened with that one, SD was faster through Dock

[@LifeofhOfficial]

Great review as always. 👏 Just wondering since the new m1 Max MacBook is out in the wild, what's your best recommendation for thunderbolt 4 docks? Would really appreciate your response. Thank you

[@oldgoat8861]

My Surface Pro 8 i7 mate. This hub is forwards/backwards capita let and a work station dream. You Plug it all in, plug in the charger....and go !!! It's rather large setup so I prefer it as a desk hub. On the go there is a specic Hub (a 10-1 hub )I own that IS NOT THUNDERBOLT 4 but lighter, does not have to be plugged in (don't put a Rocket SSD card in it) and much more mobile friendly. It depends what your needs are.......choices or buy both.

[@jeffreymcquillen1208]

Is there a logical reason why some hubs make use of both thunderbolt ports and some just use one port? Would it be a power supply issue?

[@Slingshot4FunTW]

Does it work on Macbook pro 2016 (run in win 10)?

[@mbdesign218]

😨Wow I appreciate the Owc thunderbolt dock a lot more after comparing the price with this.

[@dirtyharry1881]

It's the same dock. You live in the US, the Kensington is more expensive. You live in Europe, the owc is more expensive

[@thoughtsofapeer]

Hi, I have this dock and cannot get it to work. All I have is: 1 x LENOVO TP T14 G4 i7-1355U 14" 2 x MSI Optix MAG274QRF-QD 1 x Kensington Dockingstation SD5700T They are connected with TB4 cables. Both screens work if I connect them directly to my PC, but through the dock nothing happens and i have 2 blacked out screens. Please help me. It was a lot of money and I don't get it.

[@brauliorj]

Hi! I got a laptop with Thunderbolt 3 ports, will this TB4 dock work with my TB3 windows laptop?

[@LonSeidman]

No as I mentioned this will only work with Thunderbolt 4 equipped Windows PCs.

[@bluein2red423]

@@LonSeidman It works fine with my TB3 PC (which uses an Asus ThunderboltEx 3 card).

[@domramsey]

Ok, here's a question. Why are Thunderbolt hubs/docks an order of magnitude more expensive than USB-C equivalents. Obviously I'm not expecting them to be the same price and the functionalit/speed isn't quite the same, there's often a 10x difference. That seems steep to me.

[@_Digitalguy]

maybe because you are comparing to low end usb C docks. High end ones don't cost 10 times less, more like 4-5 times less

[@philliyphil]

USB-C docks typically only support data from 5-10 gbps. Thunderbolt docks support 40 gbps. So you're quadrupling your throughput to provide you higher resolutions and higher data transfer for video editing and other data intensive activities.

[@_Digitalguy]

@@philliyphil not only that, but USB C dosks don't come with a charger and don't offer any USB C ports that can output video (for instance to a UISB C monitor), contrary to thunderbolt...

[@philliyphil]

@@_Digitalguy Hi Digitalguy, that is respectfully incorrect. There are plenty of USB-C docks that are non Thunderbolt, that support video and power delivery. Take this USB-C dock (SD4850P) www.kensington.com/p/products/device-docking-connectivity-products/laptop-docks-usb-accessories/sd4850p-usb-c-10gbps-dual-video-driverless-docking-station-100w-pd-dphdmi-windows/. Supports 100W of Power delivery to the host device as well as enough power for peripheral ports and specifically a USB-C port in the back that supports video for an external monitor. Dell also has a similar dock with their WD19. Cheers!

[@cloudcultdev]

I really like this device, but the requirements are a bit wonky. I’ve been avoiding Big Sur (it’s a work development laptop) and USB-4 for windows just to use this thing?! Ouch.

[@LonSeidman]

Thunderbolt 4 , not usb 4 compatible

[@cloudcultdev]

@@LonSeidman ah, yes. thanks for the correction.

[@jamesgerber4658]

$320?! Lon... My man. You keep reviewing these $250+ TB3 docks. Is there anything around $150-180 that's worth while? Why are these docks so expensive?

[@LonSeidman]

It’s thunderbolt :). But that owc hub is $149 - if you don’t need the extra ports and Ethernet it’s a good value

[@jamesgerber4658]

@@LonSeidman clutch. I need something for my Tab S7 to cut down on latency with Shadow. Thanks!

[@LonSeidman]

The Owc hub won’t work with it - the tab doesn’t have thunderbolt - look for a usb-c dock those will be a little less expensive

[@chekiechen]

Very disappointed to see a USB 2.0 port in front side, which is the most accessible position of the dock

[@Carboxylated]

The fact that they did not implement TB3 support even thought they used the same thunder logo is a vast over sight. Either change the logo showing a number 4 or something or STATE CLEARLY that TB3 driver support will be available down the line. Epic fail on kensington's behalf as they would have quintupled their earnings from this product if they had done so. Every single dock has a quirk making docks one of the hardest things to shop for. Either it has all these features but lacks a very specific one. Same goes with the docks that use the anemic and old HDMI 1.4 and DP 1.2 ports...yuck. Still waiting for that dock that can do everything with zero hitches or problems...TB4 all the way to the earliest iteration of USB-C. a dock that can do it all needs to be a thing in 2021.

[@LonSeidman]

This one is on the PC manufacturers and how they implemented thunderbolt 3.

[@CanalHormiga]

I have tested this dock and when it works it is one of the best, but the secret of this dock is in the word "when". I have had three units and all three have the same problem. I have contacted the vendors, the manufacturer and anyone else who will listen, but the same thing happens every time. The capacitors in the power supply and the dock itself are of extremely poor quality and will not hold up to normal use of the dock. Let's not say you want to use it intensively because then it will only last for 5 days. A pity, but there is no solution, all docks based on this motherboard (from OWC and other manufacturers) have the same problem and that is that the manufacturer of the motherboard and the power supply uses low quality materials.

[@tachoudhury]

Thanks. You've convinced me to skip this and wait until something more reliable comes along.

[@ericbulington2421]

So, let me understand this. The device has the same number of ports as an average $1000 desktop PC, is intended to turn your laptop into a PC and costs $300, yet, without your laptop, it’s a paper weight? I have a hard time with the laptop value prop. Pay 25% more to get a screen and 1/2 the performance, carry a bunch of crap with you (docks, dongles, travel mouse, power supplies, etc) and spend as much on all these things as you did on the laptop... Such a bad consumer experience. If someone figures out how to solve this issue, they will be rich.

[@thatLion01]

This dock is an disappointing. Apple, intel, this dock is too blame??? Hahaha. All sucks. With a windows laptop i don't usually need a dock. It's got all the ports i need on the laptop it's self. Unless in a corp machine. Where I would use the manufacturer dock, that can also power on my laptop using it's integrated power button.