Anyone looking to buy a new computer, whether it is running Windows or macOS might feel a little let down by the available connectivity on some new machines, especially if you intend to use it in the creative industries. Thankfully the team at Other World Computing (OWC) are here to help with their new Thunderbolt 3 Pro Dock. If you need to transfer data from many different media peripherals, this could be the dock for you.
OWC Thunderbolt 3 Pro Dock
So let’s get this straight from the outset. Unlike the OWC Thunderbolt 3 and the USB-C Dock, the new Thunderbolt 3 Pro (TB3Pro) is not trying to give you every possible connection option and be the centre of your office come workspace come studio. The TB3Pro is a data collection centre for the creative professional who is dealing with lots of different professional and semi-professional media formats and needs to move large amounts of data around fast.
Thunderbolt 3 Pro Connectivity
Starting around the front of the TB3Pro with have a USB 3.1 Generation 1 slot, a CFast 2.0 slot for CFast memory cards as used by high-end cameras like the ARRI Alexa Mini, Cannon’s C700 and the Blackmagic URSA. This port allows a data transfer rate of up to 370MB per second. Then finally, there is an SD4.0 slot. Rather oddly, well at least from our point of view, the SD slot would appear to be upside down. This is probably due to the pin arrangement of the TB3Pro PCB but it did catch us out. In short, if the label on your SD card is pointing down (so you can’t read it) then you should be ok to push the card all the way in.
The rear of the TB3Pro has an eSATA port for connecting external drives. Two more USB 3.1 ports which will both happily provide bus power to your external devices. Next is the 10Gb Ethernet or network port. Next to this is the fan switch. The TB3Pro has an inbuilt fan to deal with the heat generated by all that data transfer. The fan can be temporarily disabled for silent operation, however, OWC recommends that the TB3Pro is not used for more than 30 minutes with the fan powered off. Don’t want to cook any components, do we?
Next to the fan switch, we have the all-important Kensington lock port then 2 Thunderbolt 3 connectors. One of these is for your computer. The TB3Pro will also happily power or charge your compatible laptop. We then find a Display port output and the Power Supply input.
Absolute Power
The external power supply that comes with the TB3Pro is massive. It is almost as big as the dock it’s self. It’s nice to see a properly specified power supply as you know there is going to be plenty of power to run or charge your external devices. It might be overkill in many cases but it’s nice to know that you will be able to keep half the crew’s iPhones charged on a shoot day and still be able to carry on working properly.
One slightly strange thing is the choice of PSU connector. This is the style normally found inside your PC for powering hard drives or drive bays. It’s far from elegant but it does the job. I suspect OWC had to go with something more substantial due to the amount of current that can be transferred from that brick of a PSU.
Keeping Cool Under Pressure
The TB3Pro has a rather interesting cooling design feature. The top plate of the unit is separated from the main chassis by a ventilation gap. This gap and the small cooling fan which is positioned over the CFast slot aid in keeping the unit cool. When all the slots and all the ports are being used for data transfer the unit does get quite hot. Not to the point where you can’t touch the top plate but it is definitely warm to the touch. The fan is however fairly quiet and no louder than a laptop or tower computer fan.
In Use
I have been using the TB3Pro dock alongside my main studio PC workstation. The TB3Pro dock is connected via the included 70cm Thunderbolt 3 cable to the new Gigabyte GC-Titan Ridge PCIe card which I recently installed to give me Thunderbolt 3 capability. I then hooked up a number of my OWC Envoy Pro EX portable hard drives which are either USB 3 or USB-C. USB-C is compatible with Thunderbolt 3 thanks in part both formats sharing ports.
I have to confess to not being quite high enough up the 4K camera food chain to have a device that uses CFast 2.0 cards so I was not able to test this feature of the TB3Pro but I have to say that getting data on and off the drives felt very nippy. It’s nice to be able to have everything attached to a single hub device so you can easily keep track of what is connected, where and how.
The OWC Dock Ejector Application
If you are using an OWC compatible dock you can take advantage of their free application called Dock Ejector. This is a very neat app that will in a double click of the mouse safely ejects all the drives attached to your OWC Dock. This can save valuable time and hassle when you are shutting down for the day or simply disconnecting from your OWC dock.
Just Work Smarter
OK, so a dock is never going to be a “sexy” addition to your studio or mobile rig like a new interface or microphone might be but the new OWC Thunderbolt 3 Pro Dock is a very cool, solid and beautifully built piece of kit that allows you to connect pretty much any popular high data rate drive or card format to your PC or Mac. Yes the SD slot might to all intents and purposes be upside down and the connection for the PSU might be a little industrial but when all is said and done the TB3Pro just gets the job done and when you are under pressure that is all you need to worry about.
You can find out more about the new OWC Thunderbolt 3 Pro Dock from the Other World Computer web site.