Expert’s Rating
Pros
Cons
Our Verdict
Packing more embrasure than any equivalent dockage station , the iVanky FusionDock Max 1 ’s dual Thunderbolt 4 micro chip tick it aside from the competition with not just more but faster connections .
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To take advantage of its dual Thunderbolt 4 chips, you have to use up two of your Mac’s TB4 ports and two of the upstream ports on the dock.
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Best Prices Today: iVANKY FusionDock Max 1
In the Mac docking station struggle for the most and fast ports , we have a fresh succeeder : the iVanky FusionDock Max 1 , which boasts 21 top embrasure and the power to support up to four 6 K outside displays .
Those characteristic may be over the top for most people , but this dock is aspire at the professional destruction of the marketplace . And , count away now Mac Intel and Windows users – it ’s M - series MacBooks only .
The FusionDock Max 1 has two TV ports and four downstream Thunderbolt 4 interface . Other docks play with just four Thunderbolt ports : one upstream Thunderbolt port that relate to the horde ( normally a MacBook ) and then either three downstream TB4 ports or two downstream TB4 and a telecasting larboard .
The FusionDock Max 1 has so many Thunderbolt ports because it has something ( or things ) no other dock possesses : three-fold construct - in Thunderbolt 4 chip . Every other Thunderbolt dock we ’ve tested has just one such chip – see our roundup of thebest docking stations for Mac . Packing two Thunderbolt chips gives the FusionDock Max 1 the ability to double up on TV - capable port . With two Thunderbolt connection coming from the MacBook via a special iVanky dual cable to the double - chip dock , it has twice the selection : choose one video port and two TB4 ports per Thunderbolt connection .
The most obvious use of such connectivity power is the ability to support multiple external displays . With the right MacBook , you could hook up to four gamey - resolution monitors .
iVanky
To take advantage of its dual Thunderbolt 4 chips, you have to use up two of your Mac’s TB4 ports and two of the upstream ports on the dock.
Specs and features
The iVanky FusionDock Max 1 has a plenteous 21 ports , the most we ’ve ever seen on a Thunderbolt docking post .
by and by , we ’ll go into more detail on the display options available , but the other extend ports are also telling . Even if you plug in to four displays from the dock , you ’ll have spare Thunderbolt 4 port – unless you go for the ultimate four 6 K proctor , all from the dock , which will give you just one spare downstream TB4 port on your MacBook .
Foundry
The television ports are heel as HDMI 2.0 but in fact , are of the much higher specification HDMI 2.1 . iVanky humbly masks this because Apple ’s own display limitation have in mind that HDMI 2.1 ’s benefit are restricted from docking station – that ’s not the case with Windows which bear out Multi - Stream Transport . Apple does support dual - blind MST through a Thunderbolt 4 chip , and the rule of this dockage is to reach dual - screen MST plus dual - screen Mountain Time through two Thunderbolt 4 chips , thus enable four - projection screen autonomous display .
The dockage ’s two upstream Thunderbolt 4 ports can redeem up to 96W of power to the main host MacBook . That ’s enough to keep a 16 - inch MacBook Pro up and run for while connect .
away from the video ports , you wo n’t ascertain more downstream Thunderbolt ports on any other bobtail . Each is rat at 40Gbps and can deliver 15W of superpower to connected gadget .
Here we have connected two 4K displays via the ivanky FusionDock Max 1, but with the right Mac you can hook up to four.
There are also two 10Gbps USB - blow ports , and one can output 30W , enough to fast charge your iPhone and even charge a separate 13 - inch MacBook Air . The other USB - one C embrasure charge at 7.5W.
Older devices are n’t forgotten with the pier packing six 10Gbps USB - A port – surely more than enough of this legacy port for most users . Each can charge devices at 7.5W.
Fully loaded , the full-bodied 180W top executive provision can theoretically handle all the interface at full charge : 96W + 30W + 7x 7.5W = 178.5W. We expect that the dock itself requires some of that charge , but it ’s surely dead on target that this dock can power multiple connected devices at a enough output .
If you desire to link your MacBook to a pumped-up web , this sour grass features an ethernet larboard that can deliver 2.5Gb rather than the more received 1Gb bandwidth . You ’ll call for to be connected to a brook dissolute internet to take in the welfare but it is backwards compatible and can operate in profligate networks at its maximum 2.5Gb . Even if you do n’t yet have such a tight wired web , having this advanced electronic web larboard give you some academic degree of future - proofing if you later upgrade .
If you want to add affordable portable repositing , the FusionDock Max 1 features two card lecturer : one Coyote State and one MicroSD . Both are shop UHS - II , so provide fast 312MBps information transfer . Some dock are specify to 104Mbps UHS - I. Having these means you could add huge amounts of storage at very low price , with even1 TB cards priced under $ 100at the clock time of writing .
From an audio level of view , there are two ports of interest . There ’s a standard 3.5 millimetre jazz group In / Out jack at the front of the wharf . There ’s another audio - out only 3.5 millimeter jack at the back , plus an Optical Audio Toslink port . Optical links , which use fiber optic technology to convey digital audio signal , can be ready to hand for connecting honest-to-god sound system or link devices like soundbars to video .
Connecting up to four external displays to a Mac
To connect to four external display , you must apply a MacBook Pro with an M1 , M2 , or M3 Max processor . The key give-and-take there is “ Max . ” A MacBook with an M1 / M2 / M3 Pro can patronage only two monitors . You need a Max to get your Macs to the liquid ecstasy .
iVanky urge you avoid using more than two television ports “ at the same degree , ” which means you should connect two via each of the dock ’s Thunderbolt chips . This is due to potential bandwidth limitations ; ports on the same level share the same Thunderbolt 4 bandwidth , and utilizing four eminent - resolution displays at once could overwhelm it . Each Thunderbolt 4 chip hosts one HDMI interface , so you could use both of those and two of the back - bestride TB4 port .
Apple ’s restrictions think of that the HDMI ports on a dock are bound to a maximal 4K. So to get four 6 K displays you ’ll require to use all four downstream TB4 ports : two from the back of the dock and two from the front .
You do n’t have to own a Fusion Dock to get four displays from a MacBook . Any Pro with M1 / M2 / M3 Max can support up to four outside 4 K displays at 60Hz , even without a dock : three display with 6 K resolution at 60Hz over Thunderbolt and one with up to 4 K resolution at 144Hz over HDMI . That will use up all the MacBook ’s embrasure , though , so using a docking station take a crap sentiency . If you call for four displays , you are potential to want to get in touch more devices and likely hook up to a fast wired internet .
instead , you could practice a cheaper Thunderbolt 4 docking place for two of the displays , plus two direct connections via the Thunderbolt 4 and HDMI ports on your MacBook Pro . Only using the FusionDock , however , gets your four 6 potassium displays at 60Hz , and you ’ll even have a bare TB4 port on the MacBook .
Design
With so many port , you ’d expect the FusionDock Max 1 to be chunky , but it ’s as compact as rival moorage stations . With heat dissolution as a heart aim , it almost float in its Al eggshell . It sure as shooting feels solid but it ’s not a brick – but its 180W power supplying for sure is . The dock itself looks cool , and also experience coolheaded to the touch directly out of the boxwood .
It connects to your MacBook with the furnish 0.7 m Dual USB - C Cable . The dual cable adopt up two of your MacBook ’s Thunderbolt ports , notably two positioned next to each other next to the MagSafe send porthole . You must use this to take advantage of the dual Thunderbolt crisp in the dock . You could practice a standard Thunderbolt cable , but you ’d lose the benefit of those superfluous Thunderbolt ports .
MagSafe can be used to keep the MacBook charge without having to eviscerate power from the dock , if you postulate to – say , if you want to fast - charge a 16 - inch MacBook Pro using 140W.
One concern about this dual USB - cytosine setup is if Apple decide to modify the port layout in a future MacBook . Apple has been very uniform on this positioning over many new MacBook iterations , so this really is n’t a business organization .
Using this wharf create a fair amount of cabling , but you ’re pay for a technical ace wharfage , not a cable length organizer .
Price
There ’s no getting away from it , the iVanky FusionDock Max 1 is not cheap . A product is n’t expensive if it is price on specs that match your requirements , but $ 500 for a docking station is probably out of reach for many of us . That ’s fine as you will only be lusting after one of these if your requirements are very high : specifically four mellow - closure external video display . For that , you will already be the owner of a $ 3,000 MacBook Pro with an M1 / M2 / M3 Max central processing unit .
To get the most from your beast of a MacBook , you need a beast of a docking post .
Verdict
Packing more port than any equivalent moorage station , the FusionDock Max 1 ’s dual Thunderbolt 4 microprocessor chip mark it asunder from the competition with not just more but faster connexion .
For those who take three or four high - firmness of purpose external exhibit , this is your ultimate dock if you need to keep some unornamented port on your ( believably M3 Max ) MacBook .
