Anker Prime TB5 Docking Station, 14-in-1 Thunderbolt 5 Dock for Laptops

This Anker Prime TB5 Docking Station is easily the best dock I have used with my MacBook Pro. It feels like a true desktop replacement setup instead of just another USB-C hub. The biggest advantage is how much it handles through one connection. Monitors, accessories, storage, networking, charging, and other peripherals can all stay connected to the dock, so when I sit down at my desk I only have to plug one cable into my MacBook. Performance has been excellent. Transfers are extremely fast, everything connects reliably, and I have not had issues with devices randomly disconnecting or needing to constantly unplug and reconnect the dock. The Thunderbolt 5 bandwidth also gives this a lot more headroom than most docks I have used before. Build quality is fantastic as well. It feels substantial, premium, and made to stay on a desk rather than slide around every time you plug something in. It is definitely expensive, but if you use a MacBook Pro as your primary computer and have a full desk setup, I think this is one of those accessories that actually justifies the premium. Tons of ports, excellent performance, and an incredibly clean one-cable setup. Best dock I’ve owned so far.

Excellent product. It is a powerhouse and handles all my devices. Looks great on my desk too. Built like a tank. Has Thunderbolt 5 before any other competitor. Blue accent lighting also a plus.

This is a very good product, albeit expensive for a docking station. I chose it because I needed the 140W charging capability for my workstation laptop and very few other docks offer this capability. As for the other core functionality, it has worked as advertised. It has ample ports to connect a variety of peripherals. Through the dock I use a wireless mouse via USB dongle, 3440x1440 monitor via the display port, a 2.5GbE wired connection, audio port for desktop speakers, and a Logitech USB-A camera. All of it was plug and play and I didn't have to "fiddle" with any of it to get it working properly. Having the ability to run all that through a single cable and get the 140W charging makes it ideal for my office setup. The unit is well made and quiet (I don't notice it throughout the day). It fits under the monitor and the LED light ring is a nice touch as well (you can turn it off with a press of the front button if it's not your thing). The only issue to report is that I had only been able to achieve 1Gb download speeds on the 2.5Gb NIC. (I have a 3Gb Google Fiber internet connection.) There is a great 4-star review by another buyer that explains where to get an updated driver directly from Realtek that fixes the issue and allows the NIC to perform close to spec. He's got screenshots and a detailed explanation of what to do. All in I'd recommend this to others if you are a power user that seeks the full complement of capabilities a Thunderbolt 5 dock offers.

I’ve gone through a few docks over the years, and the Anker Prime TB5 Docking Station is easily the most capable one I’ve used so far. Setup was straightforward, and it immediately handled everything I threw at it — dual displays, fast data transfer, and consistent charging without hiccups. If you’re running a modern setup (especially with a newer MacBook or high-end laptop), this dock actually feels like it’s built for it, not something you’re trying to “make work.” What stood out most: • Performance: No lag, no weird display issues — everything just works • Ports: Plenty of flexibility without needing extra hubs • Build quality: Feels premium and solid, not plasticky • Power delivery: Keeps my laptop charged even under heavy use Also really appreciate how it helps clean up the desk. One cable in, everything connected — exactly what a dock should do. A couple minor considerations: • It’s not cheap, but you’re paying for performance and future-proofing • Make sure your laptop actually supports Thunderbolt at full capability to get the most out of it Overall, if you want a high-performance, no-compromise dock, this is one of the best options out there right now. Worth it if your setup demands it.

I was initially worried about dropping this much money on a dock that needs to work with two different Windows laptops (a Dell and an Alienware). I needed something that could power the Dell and drive video to two monitors, but also support peripherals. (For the Alienware, I didn’t care about power delivery.) I have to say, it was easy to set up and worked without a fuss. The only “fuss” was needing to find a USB-C to Displayport adapter since there is only one HDMI/DP output (and you have to choose), but I didn’t need to do any fiddling to get the USB webcam, mouse, two monitors, keyboard, and SSD connected to either laptop. Anker has pretty much cornered the market for me on peripherals, chargers, and power banks. I think if I were needing to connect more monitors, I would be very annoyed with the limited options, but as I knew what I was getting ahead of time and only need the two displays (plus the laptop screens), I don’t feel like it warrants knocking a star off for that. The build quality feels solid and looks stylish, which is par for the course for Anker, and i love the way it looks. A bit steep of a price, but it sure beats the pants off of the old Dell TB dock I was using and feels more premium, too. I haven’t had any issues with heat or noise, and while it’s a fairly chunky unit, it sits rather securely in the desk and doesn’t take up much real estate.

First off, I realize my use case may be a bit of an edge case since I wanted to use this with a few different Apple devices -- M5 Pro MacBook Pro 16 (Thunderbolt 5), M3 Max MacBook Pro (Thunderbolt 4), and an M1 Mac mini (Thunderbolt 3). Despite that, I wasn't asking much of this device-- just two displays (1x 4K, 1x 1440p) and an ethernet connection. While this works perfectly fine for Thunderbolt 4, it just could not handle backwards compatibility with the Thunderbolt 3 device, despite the description claiming it was compatible with M1 devices. On my M1 mini, it can only handle a single display and ethernet. The second display doesn't register at all which is extremely disappointing given that my 7 year old CalDigit TS3+ dock can handle 2x 4K displays, 1Gb ethernet, and a bunch of USB devices all on just Thunderbolt 3. I expected this would handle this with ease, but it did not. That's not very versatile, and definitely not what I expected based on the advertised capability. Also, in terms of noise and heat, this dock definitely can get a bit toasty and the fan will spin up. I also was rather disappointed by is that the fan is always running constantly, even when nothing is plugged into the PC Thunderbolt port and nothing is charging off it. I get that the active cooling is needed when it's in use, but this feels ridiculous and unnecessary. Granted, the fan is pretty quiet, but even with it about 2.5 feet from me, I can still faintly hear it constantly spinning in a semi-quiet room. Despite that, it's decently compact which is great, but it's a bit chunky compared to the CalDigit docks that I'm used to-- probably because this uses active cooling. I'm normally a big fan of Anker's products and have been for years, but this dock just isn't the one for Thunderbolt 5. I'm returning it because it doesn't perform as advertised and as a result is just a poor value for the price.

I’m new to the Mac world but prefer a dock with a hardwired LAN connection when at my desk. When I initially attached it, I needed to install a driver for full functionality. I used a 4k external monitor through the DisplayPort. The single Thunderbolt 5 connection did the rest. The power button has a few functions that are worth reading about. The first time I pushed it, did not cut off the power as expected. After reading the instructions, I found that a tap of the power button just turns off the blue ring surrounding the top of the adapter. If you hold the power button for 3 seconds, then it cycles the power. The power button will also sleep the laptop, so it is an easy switch to turn everything off. I did connect the Ethernet port to a 2.5Gps LAN and it identified the speed and worked quite well. I have gravitated towards Anker products because every one just works well. A big bonus is the there is not any external power supply or wall wart. Just a simple 2 prong power plug that fits easily into a power strip. I actually bought a second unit for work. I can recommend this product. Its small size is also beneficial. ETA: I wanted to buy Thunderbolt 5 monitor, but pricing prevented it. I did re-purpose a ROG Swift OLED PG32UCDMR which was a gaming monitor but supported the USB-C connection. It immediately connected with the previous 240Hz 4k connection without issue through the Thunderbolt 5 port. The picture is stunning. After spending time on two separate connections with a single laptop, I can say this is an impressive piece of kit. I don’t know how you could do better.

This is an expensive dock but I really wanted to reduce the number of connections to my MacBook Pro M3 Max on my desktop to a single connection and also free up my MacBook Pro's other ports. This dock allowed me to connect power, Ethernet, my Ultrawide monitor, a keyboard/mouse/headset switcher and one or more external SSD's all through one cable. Be aware that there is a USB limitation of a maximum 5 tiers of hubs through one connection and this dock's rear USB-A ports are actually one extra tier away than the rest of its USB ports. Five tiers seems like plenty but I unexpectedly hit this limit because my MacBook Pro was connected to the dock and I had a keyboard/mouse switching USB hub (to share keyboard and mouse with multiple computers) connected to the dock and a pair of keyboard/mouse wireless receivers connected via a little USB splitter on the end of a USB cable connected to the switcher. I found that this did not work with either of the rear USB-A ports on this dock but would work with any of the other ports. After learning of this limitation from Anker support, I eliminated one tier by replacing the splitter with two separate USB cords to my switcher. This allowed me to successfully connect and use one of the dock's rear USB-A ports. However, I encountered a separate issue where, after a month or so of use, the dock developed a barely audible but still irritating hum or whine. This noise persisted as long as the dock was plugged into power and regardless of whether my connected MacBook Pro was asleep or active. I reported the issue (and sent in a video) and Anker support agreed to replace the unit. Unfortunately, the replacement unit immediately produced a similar but slightly different "cycling" tone. After sending in a new video recording, Anker's engineering team declared that this noise was deemed within spec. At this point I decided to return the unit and request a refund. Neither of these noises would probably be very noticeable in a noisy office environment but it was far too annoying in my quiet office. Given that this is a premium product and it sits next to two much more complex devices (my MacBook Pro M3 and my LG Ultrawide monitor) that also support Thunderbolt and provide multiple USB ports but are able to operate in silence, I think Anker needs to rework the design of their dock.

This dock is a MUST HAVE for MacBook desktop/clamshell users! I LOVE this thing! My desktop went from a mess of wires to a clean, stylish solution (check image), and all my external SSDs and monitors are running full-speed. No issues at all; took 5 minutes to set up, and now I plug in one Thunderbolt cable instead of three. Personally, I would've prefered all the TB/USB-C connectors to be on the back, as my SSD cables are still a little awkward coming out the front. But that's just my taste. It still looks a million times better! Yes, it costs a lot more than your typical, small USB-C hub, but it's worth it. The ease and peace of mind is allowing me to get back to being creative, and it was worth it. Especially at 30%-off during the Amazon sale! Get this NOW.

Best thunderbolt 5 docking station. Using it with my M5 MacBook Air. Connected two displays, one with USB C and the other with the display port. I use them as two independent external displays, with zero issues. I have a whole bunch of other peripherals attached to the dock as well. So far, I am loving it.

It’s great so far and it works perfectly with my M4 Pro Mac mini. However it doesn’t work as well with my 13” M4 iPad Pro cause sometimes my Studio Display turns on and sometimes it doesn’t. It is listed as being compatible with USB4, but when I tried it with my Asus ProArt P16 laptop I got last year with the RTX 4090, it doesn’t work at all. I’m wondering if mine is defective.

This is a must have, I use it for a few different laptops I have (personal, work), the docking station works amazing, tooka bit of tinkering as there is only really one display port and i had to use one of the USB c ports on the back to connect a secon monitor up, but in the end once i did a bit of research and got the correct cable, it works amazing.

I switch frequently between a personal and a work computer, using two external screens and speakers. This simplifies the process, one cable only for everything.