Eric Slivka
Dock accessories company iVANKY recently released their most powerful Thunderbolt dock yet, the FusionDock Max 1, which takes advantage of two Thunderbolt chips and connections to provide the most versatility I've ever seen in Mac-specific docking station. . I've spent some time testing FusionDock Max 1 in my daily workflow and I think I've found my new daily driver.
What sets the FusionDock Max 1 apart from other Thunderbolt docks on the market is its dual Thunderbolt 4 chips, which essentially double the dock's capacity, allowing you to use any kind of device. displays and other peripherals at maximum speed. We'll dive into what this means for connectivity in a minute, but let's start with an overview of the design and setup. Please note that FusionDock Max 1 is only compatible with Apple Silicon Macs, so it will not work with older Intel Macs, Windows PCs, or Chromebooks.
FusionDock Max 1 has an attractive design in a dark aluminum case gray color. FusionDock Max 1 doesn't just have a brick shape, but a unique “floating” design with a thin metal frame on the left side and bottom of the dock, and the main body of the dock raised on small feet. This design may help provide some airflow around the dock, although I'm not sure how much it really helps in that regard. The dock can definitely get quite hot during use, but I've never noticed it get so hot that it's uncomfortable to hold your hand on.
Similar to the Satechi USB-C Dual Dock I used. The recently reviewed FusionDock Max 1 uses a two-cable connection to your Mac, but it's Thunderbolt rather than the slower USB, so more bandwidth opens up a lot more connectivity options. The custom cable includes rather bulky housings at each end with a fixed arrangement of two Thunderbolt connectors that matches the distance of the ports on docking stations and Apple laptops. This makes it very easy to connect and disconnect the cable in one motion, with very little effort required to position the connectors correctly.
The dock measures approximately 6.7 inches (17 cm) wide by 3.7 inches (9.4 cm) deep and just under 2 inches (5 cm) high, and has a separate 180W power supply. The brick has a fairly bright green light that can be distracting in dark rooms, but most users will be able to hide it on the floor or somewhere else where it won't be in the way.
The dock itself has smooth surfaces on all sides, and it can slide across surfaces if bumped or even just under any tension from the attached cables. Luckily, iVANKY comes with sticky rubber pads that you can install in either a horizontal or vertical position of the dock, and they go a long way toward ensuring that the dock stays where you want it.
The dock's 20 ports are clearly labeled, which is great simply because there are so many of them that it's hard to keep track of them. In addition to the DC jack for power, all power comes from a pair of 40Gbps Thunderbolt USB-C ports located vertically on the back of the dock. iVANKY offers a special cable with a vertical dual connector on one end that fits these ports, and a horizontal dual connector on the other end that exactly matches the distance between adjacent Thunderbolt ports on your Mac.
Once you've connected the dock to power and your computer, your Mac will recognize the dock and you'll need to grant a couple of privacy-related permissions, and then you'll be ready to go. The dock can supply up to 96W of power to a connected computer, so you don't need a separate power connection for your Mac.
In addition to the DC and Thunderbolt upstream ports, the back of the dock includes two additional 40Gbps USB-C ports that can support displays up to 6K at 60Hz, each capable of delivering up to 15W of power. . For other display types, there are two HDMI ports supporting displays up to 4K at 60Hz, and while the ports officially support HDMI 2.1, iVANKY only advertises them as supporting HDMI 2.0 due to Apple's restrictions on docking stations that connect via USB-C/Thunderer. There are also three 10Gbps USB-A ports delivering up to 7.5W of power each, a 2.5Gbps Ethernet port, a 3.5mm audio-out port, and a Toslink optical audio output. There's also a Kensington lock slot to help physically secure the dock if needed.
On the front of the dock you'll find another pair of 40Gbps Thunderbolt USB-C ports , capable of supporting displays up to 6K at 60 Hz, a pair of 10 Gbps USB-C ports (one with 20 W power delivery and the other 7.5 W), another pair of 10 Gbps USB-A ports with power 7 .5 W, as well as a 3.5 mm headphone/microphone combo audio port, as well as SD and TF/microSD card slots supporting the UHS-II standard. There is a white LED on the front panel to indicate whether the dock has power, but it is dim enough not to be distracting in a dark room.
With this array of ports, the FusionDock Max 1 can support up to four external displays, but that depends on what kind of Mac you have, as that's where the graphics power ultimately comes from. If you have a Mac with a base M1 or M2 chip, such as a MacBook Air, Mac mini, or entry-level MacBook Pro, you can drive just one external display at up to 6K resolution. M3-based machines such as the latest MacBook Air Entry-level MacBook Pro models should support a pair of displays while your Mac is in clamshell mode with the display turned off.
If you have a Mac with an M1 Pro, &zwnj ;M2 Pro or M3 Pro, for example, the more expensive Mac mini or a mid-range MacBook Pro, you'll be able to control two displays at up to 6K resolution via the dock in addition to the MacBook Pro's internal display, and if you have a Max or Ultra chip from any of those families, you can control four external displays with resolutions up to 6K.
It's important to remember that only the USB-C ports support 6K resolution, but there are four downstream ports available for connecting a display: two on the front and two on the back. HDMI ports on the rear support a maximum resolution of 4K.
I don't have any computers equipped with Max-tier chips, so I wasn't able to push the FusionDock Max 1 to its limits when it comes to displays, but it had no problem driving a pair of 5K displays from my 16-inch MacBook Pro with M1 Pro chip. I tried several other display combinations via Thunderbolt/USB and HDMI, including the 32-inch Alogic 4K display with touchscreen support, and everything worked without a hitch.
Other peripherals also worked well with the dock, from my USB-A Stream Deck to a fast external SSD that could achieve read speeds of up to 2800MB/s and write speeds of 1950MB/s when connected to one of the 40Gbps USB ports /With. -C ports. Connecting this drive directly to my MacBook Pro provides read speeds of about 3000 MB/s and write speeds of about 3100 MB/s, so read speeds only suffer slightly when going through the dock, while write speeds suffer a little more. but stay fast. Read and write speeds will ultimately depend on what else is connected to the dock and therefore what that SSD shares its connection with.
SD card speeds were around 90MB/s when reading and 90–160 MB. /s is written based on file size for a reasonably fast card I had for testing, which is below both the theoretical specs of the card and the up to ~200MB/s speeds I'm seeing in some tests when inserting it directly into my MacBook. Pro, but still satisfactory in my opinion.
Summary
I've been a regular CalDigit TS3 Plus user for years, but the iVANKY FusionDock Max 1 is rather everything will take its place in my permanent desktop. With a single-cable connection (yes, it has two connectors, but you only have to plug and unplug one connector), it's the most convenient way to quickly and easily transform my MacBook Pro from a large desktop device into a convenient laptop computer. machine.
With the FusionDock Max 1's huge array of ports, everything from my two 5K displays to external drives, the Stream Deck, and more can be plugged in and out with virtually no effort. and there's essentially no compromise in performance or speed.
All of this convenience and technology packed into the FusionDock Max 1 doesn't come cheap, however, with its regular price of $549.99, so this dock definitely won't appeal to everyone, but for experienced users it may be worth the money. Luckily, iVANKY is currently offering $150 off when you use our exclusive promo code MACRUMOURS on the iVANKY website, bringing the price to $399.99.
Note: iVANKY provided MacRumors FusionDock Max 1 for the purposes of this review. No other compensation was received. MacRumors is a partner of iVANKY. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment to help us keep the site running.
Tag: comments iVANKY52
