Lenovo Announces New 'ThinkPad' Docks Equipped With Thunderbolt 3 and USB-C Ports

Lenovo recently announced a pair of docks in its "ThinkPad" accessory line, including one equipped with Thunderbolt 3 and one with USB-C (via Anandtech). The ThinkPad Thunderbolt 3 dock includes a Thunderbolt 3 port, two DisplayPort options, HDMI, VGA, Gigabit Ethernet, a headphone jack, and five USB-A 3.0 ports, with one that is always powered.

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Both images show the ThinkPad Thunderbolt 3 dock
The company said that users can connect as many as three displays to the Thunderbolt 3 dock, with two coming off the dual DisplayPort streams, and another connected to an extra Thunderbolt 3 output. One display will get up to a 3840 x 2160 resolution at 60Hz, while two displays will have the same resolution at 30Hz. In terms of power, the dock comes with a 135W adapter, with up to 65W of power to a connected laptop. The Thunderbolt 3 dock is likely to work with the new Touch Bar MacBook Pro, but Lenovo hasn't specified compatibility yet.

The dock ships with a 135-Watt AC Adapter, which provides up to 65W of power to the laptop, and the remainder for powering the accessories. There is also a power button on the dock to control the ThinkPad power state when docked, which is nice since the laptop could easily be closed when docked.

The USB-C dock has a similar look and number of ports when compared to the Thunderbolt 3 version. It includes a single USB-C port, three USB-A 3.0 ports, two USB-A 2.0 ports, two DisplayPort options, VGA, Gigabit Ethernet, and a headphone jack. A single display can be driven with 3840 x 2160 resolution at 30Hz, or the dock can power two displays with 1920x1080 resolution at 60 Hz. The USB-C dock includes a 90W power adapter, with up to 60W of power to a connected laptop.
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Users will be able to purchase the ThinkPad USB-C dock in January for $199.99, and the ThinkPad Thunderbolt 3 dock in February for $279.99. More information about the ThinkPad line, and other Lenovo products, is likely to be announced at CES in January.

Tags: Lenovo, Thunderbolt 3

Top Rated Comments

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DaveOP

35 months ago

True, but they (manufacturers) should have stopped including a VGA port on their devices a decade ago, yet we still see some coming out with new stuff that has VGA, WTF.

It's tough. Most businesses (mine included) still have VGA on our tables and workrooms. Visitors bring VGA projectors constantly.

Rating: 9 Votes

ReneR

35 months ago

Brave new world, where Apple's Mac users purchase Lenovo hubs to get their things connected, ... ;-)

Rating: 7 Votes

69Mustang

35 months ago

It's tough. Most businesses (mine included) still have VGA on our tables and workrooms. Visitors bring VGA projectors constantly.

This 100%. I liken it to the 80/20 rule. 20% of businesses may upgrade to today's equipment and standards but 80% run perfectly fine on legacy equipment. The cost/benefit analysis tends to fall on the side of buying 100 1080p VGA monitors for $60 each instead of buying a lot fewer more expensive monitors.

Rating: 5 Votes

Cougarcat

35 months ago

And VGA? Why? Is there really still that great a need for that port?

For businesses, probably.

Anyway, OWC's looks like a better choice for Mac users. FireWire instead of VGA, card reader, digital audio out, looks better (comes in Space Gray), also coming in Feb. for the same price. The only thing I like better about this one is that it has multiple full-sized Displayports.

Rating: 5 Votes

justperry

35 months ago

About time to drop VGA, yes, I know, businesses seem to still use them, but really, it should go like the Dodo/flash.

Rating: 5 Votes

Janichsan

35 months ago

The placement of the USB-A ports is pretty strange. Why are they scattered willy-nilly over the backside of the dock like that?

And VGA? Why? Is there really still that great a need for that port?

Rating: 4 Votes

DrumApple

35 months ago

Lenovo is doing great for hardcore business users. Apple, not so much. It's like they changed their target demographic to teenagers.

Rating: 4 Votes

desmond2046

35 months ago

Every time I go to a professional scientific conference in my field, the only option is a 1024*768 projector with VGA input... But we are still using Fortran, Unix and LaTeX so I don't blame them :)

Rating: 3 Votes

ksnell

35 months ago

I love how this was about USB-C and Thunderbolt 3 but instead everyone is talking about the VGA port.

Haven't exactly been dreaming of seeing my Excel spreadsheets at work in 4k lol, but I do use 4k at home.

Rating: 3 Votes

Appleaker

35 months ago

Hopefully these are compatible but the workaround could make it work.

The more interesting aspects of the new Thinkpads are that they have Optane storage. I doubt we'll see this on the 2017 MacBook Pros due to the low capacity. But it may not matter since they are rumored to perform similarly to the current MBP SSD speeds, contrary to Intels claims.
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About time to drop VGA, yes, I know, businesses seems to still use them, but really, it should go like the Dodo/flash.

I agree, but it's a tough process to push new standards. That's the trouble with the USB-C dream future, for individuals it can work, but A LOT of businesses and education facilities will continue to use older standards.

Rating: 3 Votes

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