Hands-On With the New Thunderbolt 4 Brydge ProDock for MacBook Pro and MacBook Air
Brydge in December introduced a new ProDock Thunderbolt 4 Docking Station that's designed for Apple's latest MacBook Pro and MacBook Air models. We picked one up and thought we'd check it out to see if it's worth the $400 asking price.
The ProDock is designed as a vertical dock, meaning it takes up a limited amount of space on a desktop. A MacBook is designed to slot into the dock, functioning in clamshell mode with external displays.
The dock includes an upstream Thunderbolt 4 plug that provides 40Gb/s transfer speeds and 90W power delivery for keeping even Apple's largest MacBook Pro charged up, plus it includes 3x downstream Thunderbolt 4 ports, a USB-C port, three USB-A ports, an Ethernet port, a 3.5mm audio jack, an SD card reader, and a built-in Qi-based wireless charger with included magnets for charging an iPhone at up to 7.5W. It is powered by a 135W power supply that uses DC-in.
Brydge designed the ProDock to be used with the 14 and 16-inch MacBook Pro models and the 2022 MacBook Air, and it is able to fit any of these machines. Along with a large variety of ports to support anything you might need to connect, the ProDock also offers instant grab and go connectivity so you can slot your MacBook in the dock to get your desktop up and running, and then pull it out when you need a mobile work experience.
At $399, the dock is definitely not cheap, and that's our biggest complaint with it. There are other docks on the market that are more affordable, but the Brydge does have an edge with the design and the number of available ports. What do you think of this dock? Let us know in the comments.
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Top Rated Comments
I really don't understand why all of these TB4 docks are all about reducing numerous cables/dongles down to a single connection, yet then require you to use their obnoxiously bulky and fixed cable length AC/DC adapter, when they are ALL perfectly capable of being powered via USB-C PD.
USB-C PD ALL THE THINGS!
I don't want this hunk of plastic on my desk.
Disclaimer: I ordered this thing as soon as they announced it, and actually beta-tested their early version for a few months. I love this thing. I've had HengeDock (now Brydge) for 10+ years at this point and they are amazing products. I love a vertical dock.
My only complaint about this thing is that the beta version could only run a single 5K display externally, however that seems to have been resolved with the production version according to their site.
I do love it so much (getting rid of the other high end functional docks that was taking up space on my dock). The MagSafe is really nice as well which, again, frees up space on my desk from the other. I ended up selling my 2x 27" 5K LG Displays for a single 5K Samsung Ultrawide which is... just a better decision all around. Ultrawide FTW.
$400 ain't cheap, but this thing is outstanding and if you have the cash to throw around, do it.
(I wouldn't mind a cheaper 2x TB passthrough dock like the older ones, but it is what it is, the active dock is spectacular).
I couldn't find one that was VERTICAL was my issue, which is something I needed for my desk space.