CES 2021: OWC Introduces Thunderbolt 4 Dock, New Storage Drives, and More

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Ahead of CES 2021, OWC is introducing four new products compatible with Macs, including the Thunderbolt Dock, USB-C Travel Dock E, Envoy Pro FX storage drive, and U2 Shuttle storage carrier for 3.5-inch drive bays.

owc thunderbolt 4 dock

OWC's Thunderbolt Dock

Priced at $249, the Thunderbolt Dock is equipped with four Thunderbolt 4 ports, four USB-A ports, a Gigabit Ethernet port, an SD card slot, and a combo 3.5mm audio in/out. The dock connects to a Mac with a single Thunderbolt cable, with up to 90W of pass-through charging. With the dock, users can create a daisy chain with multiple bus-powered Thunderbolt drives, and connect a single 5K/6K/8K display or up to two 4K displays.

OWC's USB-C Travel Dock E features six connectivity options in a compact design: two USB-A ports, an HDMI 2.0 port, an SD card reader, a Gigabit Ethernet port, and a USB-C port that delivers up to 100W of pass-through charging.

The Envoy Pro FX is described as "the fastest and most compatible portable drive ever made," with read/write speeds up to 2,711 MB/s and compatibility with both USB-C or USB-A with an adapter. The drive features an aluminum housing with IP67-rated water resistance, a drive status LED, and silent operation without a power adapter. Pricing starts at $169 for a 240GB drive, with 480GB, 1TB, and 2TB storage capacities available.

envoy pro fx lifestyle desktop

OWC's Envoy Pro FX

The U2 Shuttle is described as "the world's first" U.2 carrier shuttle for 3.5-inch drive bays, combining four NVMe M.2 SSDs into a swappable, RAID-ready storage solution. The enclosure is available empty for $149.99 or with up to 16TB of storage.

The Envoy Pro FX and U2 Shuttle are available to order now on OWC's website, while the Thunderbolt Dock and USB-C Travel Dock E can be pre-ordered and will begin shipping in mid-January and February, respectively.

Tags: CES 2021, OWC, Thunderbolt 4

Top Rated Comments

00001000bit Avatar
00001000bit
43 months ago
Docks are great. Being able to go to my desk and plug in a SINGLE cable to get charging, 2 additional monitors, an external drive, real keyboard, wired network, better speakers, and a mouse is a whole lot better than having to plug in a bunch of different cables.

If you don't use any of that stuff, then it shouldn't matter if docks exist. Just don't use one.

But for those of us that have a lot of external stuff (but still need the flexibility to go mobile with the computer at times) they're awesome.
Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)
chabig Avatar
chabig
43 months ago

Dongles, hubs, and the likes would be a thing of the past if apple just puts the ports back into their Macs. Plenty of space given how small the M1 based logic boards so it shouldn't be a brainer.....but maybe apple doesn't want to lose on that cash train on accessory sales huh?
Please don’t make me pay for your ports.
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Jimmy James Avatar
Jimmy James
43 months ago
I’m always a bit dismayed at the price of hubs & docks that essentially let you plug things into ports that used to come standard on laptops.

Granted, your getting more ports and a hub is very nice. But still...
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
now i see it Avatar
now i see it
43 months ago
not very long ago, we didn’t need to use docks with laptops. Is this progress?
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Christopher Kim Avatar
Christopher Kim
43 months ago
It's interesting that they don't have any displayport or HDMI outputs for external displays. So you have to have a Thunderbolt / USB-C connection monitor, or use a special cable / adapter. I personally would have preferred at least 1 DP port given my monitor only has DP / HDMI connections, but understand having the extra thunderbolt port provides more optionality.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
nutmac Avatar
nutmac
43 months ago
I vastly prefer bus powered hubs, which USB-C Travel Dock E is. I replaced all my USB-A cable with USB-C cable (e.g., micro-B to USB-C), so I have little need for USB-A ports. I wish someone would make a hub with several USB-C ports.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
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