Thunderbolt 3

We’re a few years into the Thunderbolt 3 era, and now it’s finally beginning to seem like we have a wealth of peripheral options for the speedy I/O. OWC sent us its Envoy Pro EX SSD, one of the latest Thunderbolt 3-enabled accessories aimed at MacBook Pro users. It brings with it fast bus-powered performance at a friendly price point.

Starting at $249.99 for 250GB, the Envoy Pro EX is also available in 500GB and 1TB varieties. Is the OWC Envoy Pro EX worth considering? Watch our video walkthrough as I take the 1TB version for a test drive.
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Today, Thunderbolt 3 peripheral specialist Akitio announced a new partnership with Intel that has resulted in a special edition version of the Akitio Node PCIe box. The collaboration sees Intel contributing its just-released Optane 905P, a 960GB PCIe SSD — the current king of SSDs from a speed perspective — to the fire engine red Thunderbolt 3 enclosure.
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If you’re looking for an eGPU that doesn’t occupy a lot of desk real estate, you basically have two options — the Sonnet eGFX Breakaway Puck, and Gigabyte’s just-released RX 580 Gaming Box.

Whereas the Sonnet option comes with an RX 570, Gigabyte packs a more powerful RX 580 inside an area that’s a little bit larger than the Breakaway Puck. Should MacBook Pro users looking for a portable eGPU solution consider the RX 580 Gaming Box? Watch our hands-on video inside for more details.
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If you’re in the market for a Thunderbolt 3 device that allows you to connect to up to two 4K displays at 60 Hz simultaneously, but don’t want to invest in a full on external GPU, then the Mantiz Titan may be worth considering. A multi-video dock featuring dual DisplayPort 1.2 connections and a single HDMI 2.0a connection, this unit allows you to connect a Thunderbolt 3-enabled MacBook Pro or iMac to two 4K displays at once.

Users can opt to use both DisplayPort connections or a single DisplayPort + HDMI connection to achieve a dual 4K display setup. In other words, the Titan allows you to quickly connect to multiple external displays without the need for an eGPU box with dedicated graphics card. Watch our hands-on video for a brief look at the Mantiz Titan in action.
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Now that macOS 10.13.4 is out, Apple is now officially supporting certain eGPU configurations for eligible Macs. As I outlined in a recent state of eGPU post, all currently released Thunderbolt 3-enabled Macs are eGPU compatible, including the 4K and 5K iMac, the iMac Pro, and the 2016/2017 MacBook Pro.

With this in mind, we recently got our hands on the Sonnet eGFX Breakaway Box 650W to unbox and document some first impressions. If you’re looking for the best overall Apple-recommended external GPU chassis for your Thunderbolt 3-enabled MacBook Pro or iMac, then look no further. Sonnet’s eGFX Breakaway Box is an eGPU enclosure that can power the most powerful Mac-compatible GPU — the AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 — while providing enough power to charge a 15-inch MacBook Pro at full speed. Watch our video walkthrough for more hands-on details and benchmarks.
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There has been no shortage of Thunderbolt 3-enabled accessories as of late, and companies like Akitio are leading the way with its efforts. The most recent accessory to don Thunderbolt 3 compatibility is the Thunder3 RAID Station, a hybrid dock/external RAID enclosure that comes with several noteworthy features. Is this the Thunderbolt 3 dock for you?
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There is no shortage of Thunderbolt 3-enabled docks for the Mac; nearly every popular Mac peripheral maker has one, and they all seem to have various strengths and weaknesses.

Recently, CalDigit, who has produced a number of Thunderbolt-3 Mac-centric docks of its own, launched its latest hardware, the CalDigit TS3 Plus. The TS3 Plus features a build quality and design that’s nearly identical to its previous dock, but comes with a lot more port options, and maintains its strong USB Power Delivery. Is this the best dock for Mac users?
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Last week, Universal Audio announced a new entry-level audio interface, the UA Arrow, that’s positioned just below its popular Apollo Twin interfaces. The UA Arrow, like other interfaces that the company makes, can provide your recordings with the tone and feel of a traditional analog recording. The Arrow is an interesting product for several key reasons, headlined by its support for bus-powered Thunderbolt 3, a first for Universal Audio.

Is the Arrow worth considering if you’re in the market for a portable audio interface for your iMac or MacBook Pro? Watch our hands-on video for our first impressions.
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With NAMM 2018 fast approaching, Universal Audio just launched its new Arrow audio interface, and it looks to be quite compelling. Featuring a design that’s similar to the company’s higher end Apollo series of interfaces, the Arrow comes with a simple and clean all-aluminum chassis.

The Arrow is Universal Audio’s most affordable audio interface, coming in at only $499. That’s a not so insignificant price difference between it and the Solo — the entry-level interface from its Apollo line that starts at $699.
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The original Akitio Node was the first external graphics box that came with a Mac-compatible Thunderbolt 3 chipset. Hence, it was recognized by macOS without needing to rely on hacks like previous eGPU boxes. Needless to say, the Akitio Node was and continues to be popular among Mac enthusiasts looking to drive external graphics.

Recently, Akitio launched the latest product in its external graphics Node line — the Akitio Node Pro (currently sold out on Amazon). The result is a more refined external graphics box with a built-in DisplayPort connection, and a second Thunderbolt 3 port for daisy-chaining to other Thunderbolt 3-enabled devices. Watch our hands-on video for a first look the at $360 Node Pro.
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It’s a couple of weeks since LG announced its upcoming 34-inch ultrawide Thunderbolt 3 monitor, and now Samsung has done the same.

While LG has the higher resolution – effectively between 4K and 5K – Samsung is hoping that its curved design will win fans …

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When it comes to Thunderbolt 3 support, there are a handful of companies that immediately come to mind. Akitio, a California-based innovator, is definitely one of those companies.

One of its first big Thunderbolt 3-equipped products, the Akitio Node, made headlines for its inclusion of a macOS-compatible Thunderbolt 3 chipset. Since then, it has released a variety of products that support the high-bandwidth interface.

The latest such release is the Akitio Thunder3 Quad X. Featuring a similar naming convention as earlier releases, the Thunder3 Quad X is notable for a design that pays homage to the classic Mac Pro “cheese grater” design.

Similar to the Thunder3 Quad Mini, the Quad X supports up to four drives, and can harness software RAID to achieve impressive data transfer rates. Should those in need of a direct attached storage solution consider the Akitio Thunder3 Quad X? Watch our hands-on video walkthrough for the details.
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Apple launched its External Graphics Development Kit during WWDC 2017 as a way to assist developers with demanding graphics-intensive apps and VR content creation. The unit included the developer edition of Sonnet’s external eGFX GPU chassis, along with Sapphire’s AMD RX 580 8GB graphics card, and Belkin’s USB-C to 4-port USB-A hub.

Apple priced the External Graphics Development Kit at $599, which was reasonable considering that the Sapphire Pulse RX 580 8GB still goes for around $279, and demanded a higher price during the kit’s launch. The External Graphics Development Kit has been on sale for several months, but now all stock appears to be exhausted.

As a part of its Cyber Week Sale, Sonnet is offering the eGFX Breakaway Box – Developer Edition — the same unit included in Apple’s kit, sans Belkin USB hub, for $499. That’s a $100 price difference from what Apple was charging, and the developer edition of the eGFX units are available to all users, not just developers.
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If you’re looking for the fastest bus-powered portable external drive, then look no further than the Sonnet Fusion Thunderbolt 3 PCIe Flash Drive with 1TB of storage. Capable of theoretical data transfer rates up to 2600 MB/s, it’s perfect for 4K workflows and beyond.

The most remarkable thing about this drive is how utterly compact it is, and how with just a single Thunderbolt 3 connection, it allows for blistering-fast data transfer rates that can compete with the real world performance of a 2017 MacBook Pro’s built-in NVMe SSD.

In this hands-on video walkthrough, we explore what Sonnet has labeled as the world’s fastest bus-powered portable storage device. Does it live up to the hype?
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The promise of Apple’s USB-C laptop future is expandability, versatility and flexibility. Plugging in single-device dongles for USB and HDMI is a stop-gap, but is wasting the potential of the port.

The OWC Thunderbolt 3 Dock ($299) better fulfills the idea: one port, one cable, provides power and a multitude of inputs and outputs like normal USB, a 3.5mm jack, SD card, mini DisplayPort, Ethernet and more. It isn’t perfect, but I’ve been using it for months now with my MacBook Pro and it adds so much convenience and utility. Read on for my full review …

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I always loved the design of the old ‘cheese-grater‘ Mac Pro, and computer storage company Akitio has used it as the inspiration for its new Thunderbolt 3 drive enclosure.

The company says that the Akitio Thunder3 Quad X was designed for use with the MacBook Pro. The previous version – which had a more generic design – did not support Macs …

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Last year I went hands-on with a few Akitio Thunderbolt 3-enabled drive enclosures for 9to5Mac, but none of the previous enclosures came with out-of-the-box support for macOS. Instead, users had to rely on a hack in order to enable support for these enclosures, due to the fact that macOS wasn’t compatible with the Thunderbolt 3 chipsets being used.

In today’s world, things are a bit different. Much of the Thunderbolt 3 hardware shipping today is no longer “Windows only”, which is a great thing for recent MacBook Pro and Mid-2017 iMac hardware with Thunderbolt 3 I/O capabilities.

Akitio’s Thunder3 Quad Mini is one such example of Thunderbolt 3-enabled hardware made with the Mac in mind. This four-bay enclosure comes with two Thunderbolt 3 ports in a small aluminum enclosure that supports passive cooling for noiseless operation. In other words, it’s a quiet enclosure that’s perfect for RAID 0 SSD setups for maximum speed. Have a look at our hands-on video walkthrough for more details.
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CalDigit’s TS3 is a Thunderbolt 3-enabled dock in a very compact form factor. The dock omits the flat landscape design that has been the hallmark of most Thunderbolt 3 docks thus far, and instead comes with a compact design that can be placed on a desk vertically or horizontally.

Most notably, the CalDigit TS3 affords full-speed 15-inch MacBook Pro charging thanks to its 85W of power delivery. This is a feature that many of the previous Thunderbolt 3 docks, including CalDigit’s own TS3 Lite, weren’t capable of.

Yet, as someone who just recently traded a 2016 MacBook Pro for a Thunderbolt 3-enabled 2017 iMac, I was also anxious to see how the dock would integrate with my desktop setup. Have a look at our hands-on video walkthrough inside for the details.
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While early Thunderbolt accessories were thin on the ground, widespread adoption of the combined USB-C/Thunderbolt 3 port means there’s now no shortage of docks available to add in all the ports you might want in a desktop setup.

We’ve seen Thunderbolt 3 docks from Belkin, OWC, Lenovo, Elgato, CalDigit, Lacie and more. Latest to join in is Kensington with the SD5000T, offering two unique features …

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