The Best Thunderbolt 3 Dock for Mac? | CalDigit TS3 Plus Review

The CalDigit TS3 Plus is the highest rated Thunderbolt 3 dock, and for good reason. It's insanely capable, with data delivery for 15 ports over one cable. The Thunderbolt 3 specification is a modern wonder and allows this little gray box to do whatever you need it to. In this video, we'll take a look at it and determine if it's worth the hefty price tag.
Check out the products I mentioned in this video:
CalDigit TS3 Plus: amzn.to/3dMkMQf
Cable Matters Active HDMI to DisplayPort Cable: amzn.to/3yzQnwN
Cheap Dongle I Used Before This: amzn.to/3hNmTou
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Thanks for watching!

[@Mauroprivate]

How do you don’t have more than a thousand subscribers??? Awesome video like sub

[@EliasOlsen]

I appreciate the kind words! Thanks so much for the support

[@LetsFindOut1]

Dude thank you for the more casual, relaxed approach to the review. You're super knowledgeable and articulate too. Thanks for the review. My macbook pro 16" needs 4 usbs and an hdmi plus the 96Watt power and the $30 amazon hub doesnt cut it and gets really hot. I wonder if 96W is just beyond their designed specs?

[@EliasOlsen]

Thanks so much for the kind words! I'm so glad you enjoyed the review. I think that the issue with your hub would depend on its capacity for power delivery. Thunderbolt 3's max power delivery is 100W, so 96 would be pushing it for most devices. Even the TS3 can get pretty hot because it's supplying power as well (it only gets up to 87W of power, which is below the 96W that the OEM Apple charger supplies). Anyway, long story short, heat is normal but if you need more power, consider upgrading the dock. Thanks again for your comment!

[@LetsFindOut1]

@@EliasOlsen I'm definitely considering the upgrade. I appreciate the response. best to you and the channel

[@CarswithBrad]

Great video - just bought one of these for my Mac!

[@EliasOlsen]

Awesome! Glad you liked the video.

[@derodge]

I love this dock. I'm a power user and have 3 monitors plus many other devices, I actually need more ports and the optical out is the best thing!! I have it going to my receiver and one cord handles everything.

[@EliasOlsen]

I'm glad you get good use out of the optical audio port! I haven't found a situation where I would use it, but there are definitely some good reasons to have it. Thanks for your comment!

[@michaelmitchell922]

Thank you for a very informative review. Your concerns about the product my same concerns: hdmi and the display port. I have learned that they do sell a dongle for hdmi but that should be a present day no brained. I don’t have use for the dual display port. I was looking at either the Anker or Kensington. The other concern I had was with backwards compatibility of older Thunderbolt I.e. 1, or 2. I think that can be solved since I don’t have any older thunderbolt items. Haha I’m going from a 2010 iMac to a 2021 iMac M1. This will be first venture into thunder port. Again thanks for the review.

[@EliasOlsen]

Thanks for the comment Michael! I agree about your HDMI point. They do sell a dongle, but it occupies a USB-C port, which is annoying. I also considered both Anker and Kensington because of this. The listed requirements are Thunderbolt 3 capability, so I don't think it will be backwards compatible. The M1 Mac (which I have and recommend highly) is backwards compatible to older versions of Thunderbolt. Best of luck with the upgrade!

[@michaelmitchell922]

@@EliasOlsenThank you for the quick response. Can I ask what made you pick this over the other two options we both considered? Wow I forgot the hdmi dongle will utilize a port - yuck! Good thing I don’t have that many devices to use them all as I will also have the 2 thunder and 2 USB ports on the iMac.

[@EliasOlsen]

@@michaelmitchell922 The Anker PowerExpand Elite is a very close second, the only reason I went TS3 was the extra ports for a slightly higher cost. The Anker is a highly competitive option with the inclusion of HDMI. I don't like that it has to stay vertical, though. The TS3 was also highly rated. Same reason for the Kensington - which is more expensive with much less port selection, and the same DisplayPort problem. Here are links to the docks I recommend: Anker: amzn.to/3APnwq9 Kensington: amzn.to/3hvZ3OX

[@VidVayder]

Thanks for the video. I think I have one of these sitting under the Christmas tree right now, but not allowed to open it so watching every video on KZbin instead 😅

[@EliasOlsen]

haha that's a great gift! Hoping it's under the tree for you.

[@AdFeath]

Great video. Thanks for the helpful review. It answers every question I had about this product. Great job. + 1 subscriber

[@EliasOlsen]

Thanks so much Adam! Glad you enjoyed the video.

[@talk-turn6386]

My iMac (2020, 5k etc) will be the host computer (so does not need to be charged); should I still connect it to the port labeled “computer”? 2nd, what is best daisy chain scheme chart that illustrates use of iMac desktop with Cal TS3 Plus?

[@EliasOlsen]

Yes, any device you want to receive data from the TS3 will need to be on the computer port. The data won't go anywhere otherwise. Also, the computer will always be charging while plugged into the TS3 since it receives external power. I'm not sure what kind of daisy chaining you're looking to do, but you've got plenty of options for ports. I don't know if you could daisy chain TS3's - if that's what your thinking. Thanks for your comment! Hope I could help :)

[@_J2C]

Pretty thorough review. Thanks for putting this together. Looking for a good dock to power my streaming setup for my new 14-inch 2021 MacBook Pro

[@EliasOlsen]

Glad you enjoyed the video - thanks for watching! The TS3 will definitely work with the 2021 MacBook Pro, although you might want to see if the laptop will be powerful enough for streaming. It could work, but I've never tried it. Best of luck!

[@sphchurch]

Gaming is fine, but what very day office use. My computer is a Mac mini 2018 addition. I’m trying to run two external hard drives and two monitors. What dock and cabling and equipment suggestions for that. At the moment I use a SVGA main and a 32 inch HDMI.

[@user-tb8ce5xd8h]

may i ask is it only use for laptop? or it can be used for mac

[@EliasOlsen]

Hi! You can use the TS3 with any device that is Thunderbolt 3 capable, so some models of iMac should work.

[@eriksalgado5984]

Hi, great review! I been searching forever for a good docking station for my m1 macbook pro. This supports dual monitors right? Is it all plug n play? Or do I need to download certain drivers. Thanks again and hope you reply lol 🙏🏽

[@EliasOlsen]

This should support dual monitors, the Thunderbolt 3 spec allows up to 2 4K monitors. You will probably need an adapter to go from USB-C to whatever display format you want to use. Also, no drivers necessary - it’s all plug and play. Thanks for the comment, and glad you enjoyed!

[@suleyman_yusifov]

@@EliasOlsen could you set up 2 monitors with this?

[@andrewmarks4640]

The ts3+ only has 2 TB ports....one for connection, leaving only 1 TB left over....is this enough? Are more TB ports better? Is the 2nd TB port for adding a monitor, as external SSD drives, super drive, cameras, ipads can use the other USB C ports?

[@EliasOlsen]

So Thunderbolt is capped at 40 Gb/s, and can deliver data for basically anything you need. One of the two TB ports is reserved for the computer, the other is considered throughput - it would be the equivalent of running a cable straight from your computer to whatever you plug in to that port. More ports are always better, but there is only so much data allowed by the specification. You could do all of the things you mentioned with any of the USB-C ports on the dock. Hope that helps! Let me know if I can answer any other questions :)

[@tayfunkesebir]

Hey thanks for video. As we know Apple doesnt allow us to use egpu for m1 models mac. Do you think this thing help us to use thunderbolt3 connection wit m1macs? thanks again

[@EliasOlsen]

It could be possible to run an eGPU off of the doc, although if Apple does not allow it with the M1 chip then I would not be optimistic about it. Weird that they would do that, I hadn't heard that before.