Razer USB 4 Dock Review: Multipurpose dock with many ports and power

Price during the examination

$ 229

Best prices today: Razer USB 4 Dock

$ 229.99

$ 229.99

• Type: USB-C / USB-A Dock
• Ports: 14 (13 available for devices)
• Power: 100W for laptop; 180W max
• External displays: 1x 4k at 120 Hz, or 2x 4k at 60 Hz

Razer is best known for its range of high-end game equipment, which is mainly designed for Windows PCs, but it also manufactures a certain number of land-to-earth accessories that are suitable for general use at home or in an office. It manufactures several quays and concentrators that can be used with Mac and PCs, including a fairly expensive Thunderbolt 4 quay which weighs around $ 300 /300 £.

Now he launched the cheapest “ dock USB 4 '', which manages to provide double -fitting support and an impressive selection of ports and connectors for the price considerably lower by $ 229.99 / £ 229.99 (and Razer prefers USB 4 rather than official USB).

Available in black or white Mercury – which is really just money and very similar to the tone of the M4 Mac Mini – the USB 4 quay is carefully designed and very solid. The platform body is in anodized aluminum, which seems very solid and also has a smooth and scratch -resistant finish which looks very intelligent.

It is also quite compact, since Razer has managed to tighten no less than 14 separate ports and connectors – although it should be noted that the main USB4 port is used to connect the quay to your Mac, leaving 13 ports available to connect a monitor and other accessories.

The USB 4 quay is only 22 mm high, 190 mm wide and 80 mm deep, and is also quite light, weighing 1.1 kg, and the Razer website refers to its “portable design”.

However, it neglects to mention additional mains supply which is also included in the box. The food is almost as large as the quay itself, and slightly heavier, so the USB 4 quay will not really go away very far from your office at home or in the office. It is however very versatile, because this large power supply offers 100 W of electricity to load a MacBook or a PC laptop, as well as an additional power supply for all other ports and connectors on the quay.

At the rear of the platform, you will find the main USB4 port – with the USB -C connector – which is used to connect your MacBook or another computer to the quay (with a USB4 cable included in the box). Besides that, the HDMI 2.1 and DisplayPort 1.4 connectors to connect external monitors – but, once again, the Razer website is a bit clear here.

The website refers to the support of the quay for double screens and seems to imply that the first screen can operate at a 4K resolution with a 120 Hz refresh rate, with a second 4K screen operating at 60 Hz. However, our discussions with Razer confirmed that the USB 4 Dock can run a single 4K at 120 Hz screen, or two 4K screens at 60 Hz, so it's something Plan to use the USB 4 reception station as part of a multi-monitor configuration.

The rest of the platform features are simpler. Also located on the rear panel is an Ethernet gigabit port for a cable network connection, and three USB-A ports (3.2), two of which provide a data transfer of 10 Gbit / s while the third operates at 5 Gbit / s. There are also more USB ports on the front-two USB-C and a USB-A, the three operating at 10 Gbit / s. And, to keep the audience of games of Razer happy, there is a last USB-A port located alone on the left edge of the quay, which is specially designed to contain a 2.4 GHz wireless dongle which can provide a low latency connection for a keyboard and wireless mouse.

Dock also offers good audio support, because the front panel is home to a 3.5 mm audio connector, which can work with a microphone or a set of wired headphones. There are also two front locations for SD and microSD memory cards, to transfer photos or videos from a camera.

It should be noted, however, that there is just a USB4 port at the rear, which is used to connect your MacBook to the quay, with all the other USB ports supporting USB 3.2. If you need higher performance – perhaps to save large video or graphics files on an SSD – you may need to consult a more expensive Thunderbolt quay.

However, the strength of the USB 4 reception station is its versatility, with 13 ports and connectors available to attach devices and accessories, and the possibility of supplying and loading several devices at the same time.

Should you buy the Razer USB 4 quay?

Professional users who need all the speed of Thunderbolt 4 – or even Thunderbolt 5 on the latest Macs with M4 PRO fleas – could prefer a more expensive Thunderbolt box to work with large video or graphics files. The USB 4 quay is not in this league for a pure performance, but its versatile selection of ports and connectors will be a real boon for people – like me – which have a selection of SSD, webcam, keyboard and other accessories from their desk that they must use with their Mac every day.

For more than USB quays to consider for your Mac, read our overview of the best Thunderbolt and USB-C reception stations.

Connectivity

• 1x USB4 (USB-C) for the host computer
• 1x HDMI 2.1
• 1x DisplayPort 1.4
• 2x USB-C (10 Gbit / s)
• 3x USB-A (10 GOPS)
• 1x USB-A (5 Gbit / s)
• 1x USB-A (for the wireless adapter)
• 1x gigabit ethernet
• 3.5 mm 1x audio in / out
• 1x SD
• 1x microSD