Modern laptops ship with two or three USB-C ports and nothing else. A dock turns one of those ports into a whole desk: monitors, keyboard, mouse, Ethernet, a card reader, and charging, all through a single cable you plug in when you sit down.
The market is a mess of near-identical products with confusing specs, and the wrong choice means a monitor that flickers or a laptop that slowly discharges while plugged in. We picked five that work and explained who each one is for.
Hub or dock?
- A hub is small, unpowered or lightly powered, and plugs in when you need it. Good for one monitor and a few USB devices. Cheap.
- A dock has its own power supply, charges the laptop at full speed, and drives two or three monitors. It stays on the desk.
- Thunderbolt 4 / USB4 docks have far more bandwidth, which is what lets them run multiple high-resolution monitors at once. They only reach full speed on laptops with a Thunderbolt or USB4 port, which includes every Mac and most premium Windows laptops.
- Plain USB-C docks use DisplayLink or a single DisplayPort stream. They work on any USB-C laptop but multi-monitor support is more limited.
Two things to check before buying anything: how much charging power your laptop needs (a 14-inch needs around 65W, a 16-inch needs 90W or more), and whether your laptop’s USB-C port supports video output at all (look for a DisplayPort or Thunderbolt symbol next to it).
The picks
Anker 555 USB-C Hub (8-in-1)
The 555 is the hub that lives in our laptop bag. It covers everything a hotel desk or a client office throws at you: a monitor over HDMI at a proper 60Hz, wired internet, SD cards from a camera, and two USB-A ports for a mouse and a drive, with charging passed through. It is not a desk dock and it does not pretend to be, but for a hub that fits in a pocket it is the one to get.
- HDMI at 4K 60Hz, not the 30Hz cheaper hubs give you
- Gigabit Ethernet and card readers in a pocket-size hub
- Pass-through charging so you lose no ports
- Anker reliability and support
- One display only
- Gets warm under heavy load, like every hub this size
CalDigit TS4 Thunderbolt 4 Dock
The TS4 is the dock you buy once. Eighteen ports, full-speed charging, fast Ethernet, and enough bandwidth to run two 4K monitors while copying from an external SSD. It is heavy and expensive, and for a Thunderbolt laptop that lives on a desk it is the best thing you can plug into it. If you have a MacBook, this is the safe answer.
- The most ports of any dock, and all of them fast
- 98W charging handles 16-inch laptops
- 2.5Gb Ethernet
- Heavy metal body that does not move on the desk
- CalDigit firmware support is excellent
- Expensive
- Needs a Thunderbolt or USB4 laptop for full performance
- Only one native DisplayPort, second monitor goes over Thunderbolt
Anker 575 USB-C Docking Station (13-in-1)
The 575 is the dock for people whose laptop does not have Thunderbolt, or who do not need the TS4’s bandwidth. It powers the laptop, gives you a full set of ports, and drives up to three monitors, with the caveat that the resolution and refresh rate of the second and third depend on your laptop. For a Windows ultrabook and two 1080p or 1440p monitors, it is the sweet spot.
- Triple display support on a plain USB-C laptop
- Includes its own power supply, charges the laptop at 85W
- A fraction of the TS4 price
- Works with Thunderbolt and non-Thunderbolt laptops
- Multi-monitor refresh rates are limited by USB-C bandwidth
- Not as fast as Thunderbolt for external drives
- Mac limits you to one external display with this dock (unless it is a Pro/Max chip)
Plugable UD-6950PDZ
Some laptops, and every base-model M-series MacBook, can only natively drive one external display. DisplayLink docks get around that by sending compressed video over USB and decoding it in the dock. The UD-6950PDZ does that for two 4K monitors and charges the laptop with 100W. The trade-off is a driver install and slight latency, which is fine for work and not fine for gaming.
- Two 4K 60Hz monitors even on laptops with weak USB-C video output
- Uses DisplayLink so it works on Macs with base chips too
- 100W charging
- Plugable support is responsive
- DisplayLink needs a driver and adds a little latency, so not for gaming
- Some video DRM (Netflix in browsers) may not play on DisplayLink screens
UGREEN Revodok Pro 9-in-1
If the Anker 555 is more than you want to spend, the Revodok Pro does almost the same job for less. 4K 60Hz HDMI, gigabit Ethernet, card readers and pass-through charging. UGREEN has become a serious alternative to Anker in accessories, and this hub is a good example.
- Nearly the same port set as the Anker 555 for less
- Metal body stays cooler than plastic hubs
- Gigabit Ethernet at this price is good
- Build quality is a small step behind Anker
- Cable is short and not detachable
Comparison at a glance
| Product | Type | Charging | Monitors | Needs Thunderbolt? | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anker 555 | Hub | Pass-through 85W | 1x 4K@60 | No | See price ↗ |
| CalDigit TS4 | Dock | 98W | 2x 4K@60 | Yes (for full speed) | See price ↗ |
| Anker 575 | Dock | 85W | Up to 3 | No | See price ↗ |
| Plugable UD-6950PDZ | Dock (DisplayLink) | 100W | 2x 4K@60 | No | See price ↗ |
| UGREEN Revodok Pro | Hub | Pass-through 85W | 1x 4K@60 | No | See price ↗ |
Frequently asked questions
Why does my monitor only run at 30Hz through a hub?
Cheap hubs use HDMI 1.4, which caps 4K at 30Hz. Every hub on this list uses HDMI 2.0 or DisplayPort for 4K at 60Hz. Also check that your laptop is set to DisplayPort 1.4 mode if it has the option.
Will a dock charge my laptop fully?
Only if it supplies at least what your laptop needs. Check your laptop charger wattage. A 65W laptop on an 85W dock is fine; a 140W gaming laptop on any of these will slowly discharge under load.
Can a base MacBook Air run two external monitors?
Not natively. It needs a DisplayLink dock like the Plugable, with the DisplayLink driver installed. MacBook Pro models with Pro or Max chips can run two or more natively with the TS4.
Thunderbolt 4 or USB4?
For docks they behave almost the same. A Thunderbolt 4 dock works on a USB4 laptop and vice versa. Thunderbolt 4 is the stricter certification, so it is the safer label to look for.
The bottom line
Travel: Anker 555. Desk with a Thunderbolt laptop: CalDigit TS4. Desk with any other laptop: Anker 575, or the Plugable if you need two 4K screens.
See the CalDigit TS4 on Amazon ↗