At a glance

Expert’s Rating

Pros

Great mix of featuresBudget price60W of passthrough charging power

Cons

Two DisplayPort ports limit display I/O optionsMay be difficult to find in stores

Our Verdict

At press time, the IOGear Quantum Dual Mode Thunderbolt 3 Dock Pro (GTD737) is our pick for the best budget Thunderbolt dock, with a solid mix of features for what is a relatively cheap price.

Price When Reviewed

308.45

Best Prices Today: IOGear Quantum Dual Mode Thunderbolt 3 Dock Pro (GTD737)

RetailerPrice$134.33View Deal$139.99View Deal$139.99View Deal$199.95View DealPrice comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwideProductPricePrice comparison from Backmarket

Bus-powered docks are compact as well as more affordable options for Thunderbolt docks, and the IOGear Quantum Dual Mode Thunderbolt 3 Dock Pro (GTD737) satisfies both criteria nicely. While you’ll need to supply your own charger, you’ll save both space and weight in your bag or backpack.

IOgear’s GTD737 is one of the smaller docks we’ve tested, as well as relatively light (6.6 x 3.1 x 1.1 inches., 2.7 pounds). It ranks highly in our list of the best Thunderbolt docks.

About the only knock against this dock is its use of two DisplayPort 1.2 ports on the rear of the dock, which serve as the only dedicated display outputs. (We suspect HDMI is more popular.) In our testing, an HDMI-to-DisplayPort adapter didn’t work, either, which means that you’ll have to own a display with this port connection.

Note: This review is part of our roundup of best Thunderbolt docks. Go there for more information about competing products and our buying recommendations.

IOGear Quantum Dual Mode Thunderbolt 3 Dock Pro (GTD737)

IOGear Quantum Dual Mode Thunderbolt 3 Dock Pro (GTD737)

IOGear Quantum Dual Mode Thunderbolt 3 Dock Pro (GTD737)

Otherwise, this dock is excellent, providing almost all the features you’ll want at an affordable price: a 10Gbps USB-A port on the front for 7.5W smartphone charging; on the rear, two 5Gbps USB-A ports for legacy mice and keyboards and two 10Gbps USB-C ports for further expansion. There’s also a gigabit ethernet port and a headphone jack. There is no memory card slot. The 2.3-foot Thunderbolt 3 cable supplies 60W for your laptop via the associated 135W power brick.

The performance was a little less than we expected, dropping one percent of the frames in our 4K YouTube test—a bit of jitter that was noticeable, though not annoying. The dock warmed under load, but never got hot. On one occasion, one of the USB-C ports didn’t recognize our test SSD, but powering the dock off and on solved the problem.

If the DisplayPort issue isn’t a concern and you don’t mind not having a power brick, this IOgear dock is a very good budget choice. It’s our preferred Thunderbolt dock, though supply shortages and out-of-stock notifications have pushed prices sky-high—temporarily, we hope.

Best Prices Today: IOGear Quantum Dual Mode Thunderbolt 3 Dock Pro (GTD737)

RetailerPrice$134.33View Deal$139.99View Deal$139.99View Deal$199.95View DealPrice comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwideProductPricePrice comparison from Backmarket

Author: Mark Hachman, Senior Editor

As PCWorld’s senior editor, Mark focuses on Microsoft news and chip technology, among other beats. He has formerly written for PCMag, BYTE, Slashdot, eWEEK, and ReadWrite.

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