Sometimes a Thunderbolt 3 dock could take up a very small amount of desk space. Think of it as a USB hub, but instead of simply providing more of the same port, the dock usually includes a selection of commonly-used connections, alongside more Thunderbolt 3 ports. Simply put, a Thunderbolt 3 dock plugs into a Thunderbolt 3 port, and in exchange provides a multitude of other connections. This guide aims to demystify the peripheral and to help you narrow down the selection to one or a few that will best suit the job. While there is a considerable number of docks on the market, there is almost certainly one that will work for you, despite the bewildering array of choice. Its inclusions across the entire Mac line make Thunderbolt 3 docks usable in many instances, but arguably its main audience is for buyers of the MacBook Pro range, to expand the selection of ports available to them from the standard two or four Thunderbolt 3 ports. The advent of Thunderbolt 3, a high-bandwidth 40Gbps connection and power delivery over a single small cable, led to an explosion of user-friendly plug-and-play docks that consumers can easily install and use with relative ease. Docks have been a concept in computing for a considerable period of time, with many options offered to connect a notebook computer to a variety of peripherals or other systems.
