We Have the Rear Audio Jack Out Which Is A 3.5 Millimeter Connection Now You Might Be Thinking To Yourself Jeff That's Four Additional Ports Were There Only Supposed To Be Three More Well The Reason There Are Four New Ports Is Because Cal Digit Actually Eliminated The Optical Audio Connection Found On The Ts3 Plus And Replaced It With The 3.5 Millimeter Rear Audio Jack Out

The TS4 has two 3.5 millimeter audio outputs, one combo port on the front that can support headsets with built-in microphones, and one output only port on the rear. Just keep in mind that the front port takes priority. This is a notable improvement over the previous model, which had an optical audio connection that has been replaced by this new 3.5 millimeter rear audio jack out.

The Cal Digit TS4 Improvements Go Beyond Just Having More Ports Than The TS3 Plus As You'll Find Improvements Made To Previously Existing Ports As Well For Example All The DOCs USB ports including the USB A ports are 10 Gigabits per second connections in the Ethernet port which was previously limited to Gigabit Ethernet can now function as a 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet connection when connected to a Thunderbolt host. Finally, the DisplayPort connection gets an upgrade from DisplayPort 1.2 to version 1.4.

One of the biggest advantages of Thunderbolt 4/USB4 is the ability to deliver power directly to connected devices and the TS4 features a maximum of 98 watts of power delivery instead of the 87 watts of its predecessor. Hence, the TS4 can easily power a 13-inch Macbook Pro or Macbook Air, a 14-inch Macbook Pro, or any USB-C enabled iPad at full speed. The dock can also recharge the 16-inch Macbook Pro, but you'll need to utilize Apple's Fast Charge capable 140-watt USB-C Power Adapter for the full-speed charging with that particular device.

Now While We're On The Topic Of Power Cow Digit Has Made It So That Only Two Of The Four USB-A Ports Supply Power When Not Connected To A Host Machine This Can Be Handy For Devices That You Don't Want To Receive Power While Not Connected To Your Mac.

The TS4 can accommodate a variety of display output configurations based on the type of devices you plan to connect for example M1 Mac users are limited to a single 4K or 6K display at Hertz while M1 Pro Max users can connect up to two 4K or 6K displays at 60 Hertz. Now there are many ways to connect to a display via the TS4 you can connect via one of the two available Thunderbolt ports, you can use the DisplayPort 1.4 port, you can go from DisplayPort to an active DisplayPort to HDMI adapter or you can use a USB-C to HDMI adapter.

Unlike The TS3 Plus Which Featured An Older Thunderbolt Chipset The TS4 Allows Users To Connect To Both Thunderbolt And Non-Thunderbolt USB-C Ports Now While This Won't Lend Access To Thunderbolt Only Peripherals Such As Thunderbolt SSDs It Will Allow Users To Interface With Other Devices Connected To The Dock For Example This Can Be Very Handy When Connected To A USB-C iPad Air Or An iPad Mini.

Cal Digit's TS4 May Look Similar To The TS3 Plus But It's A Significant Upgrade Over Its Predecessor It Provides Wider Compatibility With Both Thunderbolt And USBC Host Features Two Downstream Thunderbolt Ports Instead Of Just One Features Faster Ethernet Connectivity and it's compatible with multiple 6K Displays or even an 8K display when connected to properly configured Windows Machines.

There's Only A Few Downsides That I Can Think Of With This Dock First Is The Price Because At $360 It Falls Well Outside Of Impulse Buy Territory In My Opinion And As Mentioned Before The Dock Can't Charge A 16-Inch M1 Pro M1 Max Macbook Pro At Full Speed But That's Really Just The Thunderbolt Limitation.

The dock also includes a fairly large external power supply although thanks to the larger form factor of the TS4 it doesn't look as big as before.

One Last Thing And This Is Just A Personal Pet Peeve Of Mine If You Know Me You Know What I'm Talking About I Wish You Could Toggle Off The White LED On Front Of The Dock This little LED comes on whenever you connect to a host computer and for me, it's just kind of annoying. It's easy to overlook in the daytime but it can be a little bit of an annoyance in a dark environment.

Most of those complaints are fairly minor when compared to the design and functionality of the Cow Digit TS4 which includes everything but the kitchen sink I feel like I'm repeating myself here but again if you're looking for the best all-around dock for your Mac The Cow Digit TS4 gets my recommendation easily.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enfour years ago when i received the original cow digit ts3 plus dock i called it the best thunderbolt dock for mac users since its release many docks have come and gone but the ts3 plus remained one of my favorite thunderbolt accessories recently cal digit released the successor to the ts3 plus simply named ts4 is cal digit's ts4 a worthy follow-up to the ts3 plus as you'll see in my hands-on video the ts4 is a refined and more capable dock than its predecessor take a look a lot has changed since the original ts3 plus came on the scene there's thunderbolt 4 which is built on top of usb4 and backward compatible with thunderbolt 3. and one of the more notable changes is that the ipad pro now includes a thunderbolt 4 port and this allows for full compatibility with the ts4 the original ts3 plus was a significant hardware release not only because it included an absurd 15 ports but because of the type of ports that it included for instance it was one of the first docks to include a uhs2 compatible sd card slot the ts4 builds on the foundation established by its forbearer and includes a ridiculous 18 ports of io with quite a few additional improvements okay so let's briefly walk through all the ports so first and foremost you get two uhs2 sd 4.0 sd card slot so you get a micro sd card slot which is brand new and then you get a normal size sd card slot you also get two front facing usb type c ports one being a 20 watt connection we'll talk about the significance of that and then you get a front facing usb a port along with a 3.5 millimeter combo jack for microphone and headphones and then of course the kyle digit logo on front and the led status light when connected to a host device now on the rear you have your power input this is going to supply power from that 230 watt power supply you have a security slot which is brand new this time around and you have three thunderbolt ports the first one here is the one that is your upstream port that goes to your computer and then you have two thunderbolt 4 slash usb 4 ports you have displayport 1.4 this time you have another usb type c port on the rear 3.5 millimeter audio out and audio in and then four usb type a ports with two of them supporting offline charging when not connected to a host and finally the 2.5 gigabit ethernet port which can for instance give you a faster connection to your nas box if it supports faster ethernet at first glimpse the ts4 looks nearly indistinguishable from its predecessor but upon further inspection it becomes clear that there are some design changes to take into account first and foremost the ts4 is a bigger dock than the ts3 plus the ts4 is 0.35 inches taller 0.08 inches wider and .59 inches deeper cow digits newest dock is also .37 pounds heavier than the ts3 plus the larger dock can partly be explained by the extra ports that are on board along with the addition of a security slot the ts4 includes the familiar all-aluminum ridge design language that's been featured on many cow digit products in the past besides just looking cool the rich design lets the pair of included rubber feet easily connect to the chassis affording the dock the ability to rest on a desktop surface in horizontal orientation unlike many docks which are only able to rest on your desktop horizontally taking up a lot of surface area in the process the cow digit ts4 lets users decide the dock features a built-in rubber surface on the bottom to allow it to stand vertically as well now let's talk about those extra ports compared to the 15 ports on the ts3 plus the ts4 features 18 ports what additional ports can be found on the ts4 first and foremost you have the front micro sd card reader which is uh s2 sd 4.0 compatible having a micro sd card reader on board means that you no longer have to hunt for those adapters when offloading files from smaller cards and so many devices use microsd cards for storage these days so it's nice to have such a feature on board and then there's the extra rear thunderbolt 4 port slash usb 4 port having this extra thunderbolt 4 port means that you can now connect to multiple thunderbolt devices without needing to daisy chain via another thunderbolt enabled device this provides users with a lot of extra freedom to connect thunderbolt external drives and other devices that terminate at their point of connection the ts4 includes not just one but two usb-c ports on the front the second usb-c port is rated at 20 watts of power output which is significant because it allows you to connect to devices that require at least 20 watts of power for example apple recommends a 20 watt connection for its max safe wireless charger and then we have the rear audio jack out which is a 3.5 millimeter connection now you might be thinking to yourself jeff that's four additional ports weren't there only supposed to be three more well the reason there are four new ports is because cal digit actually eliminated the optical audio connection found on the ts3 plus and replaced it with the 3.5 millimeter rear audio jack out the ts4 has two 3.5 millimeter audio outputs one combo port on the front that can support headsets with built-in microphones and one output only port on the rear just keep in mind that the front port takes priority now let's talk about some noteworthy improvements the cal digit ts4 improvements go beyond just having more ports than the ts3 plus as you'll find improvements made to previously existing ports as well for example all the docs usb ports including the usb a ports are 10 gigabits per second connections in the ethernet port which was previously limited to gigabit ethernet can now function as a 2.5 gigabit ethernet connection when connected to a thunderbolt host finally the displayport connection gets an upgrade from displayport 1.2 to version 1.4 now one of the biggest advantages of thunderbolt 4 slash usb4 is the ability to deliver power directly to connected devices and the ts4 features a maximum of 98 watts of power delivery instead of the 87 watts of its predecessor hence the ts4 can easily power a 13-inch macbook pro or macbook air a 14-inch macbook pro or any usb-c enabled ipad at full speed the dock can also recharge the 16-inch macbook pro but you'll need to utilize apple's fast charge capable 140 watt usb-c power adapter for the full speed charging with that particular device now while we're on the topic of power cow digit has made it so that only two of the four usb-a ports supply power when not connected to a host machine this can be handy for devices that you don't want to receive power while not connected to your mac the ts4 can accommodate a variety of display output configurations based on the type of devices you plan to connect for example m1 mac users are limited to a single 4k or 6k display at hertz while m1 pro max users can connect up to two 4k or 6k displays at 60 hertz now there are many ways to connect to a display via the ts4 you can connect via one of the two available thunderbolt ports you can use the displayport 1.4 port you can go from displayport to an active displayport to hdmi adapter or you can use a usbc to hdmi adapter unlike the ts3 plus which featured an older thunderbolt chipset the ts4 allows users to connect to both thunderbolt and non-thunderbolt usb-c ports now while this won't lend access to thunderbolt only peripherals such as thunderbolt ssds it will allow users to interface with other devices connected to the dock for example this can be very handy when connected to a usbc ipad air or an ipad mini cal digit's ts4 may look similar to the ts3 plus but it's a significant upgrade over its predecessor it provides wider compatibility with both thunderbolt and usbc host features two downstream thunderbolt ports instead of just one features faster ethernet connectivity and it's compatible with multiple 6k displays or even an 8k display when connected to properly configured windows machines there's only a few downsides that i can think of with this dock first is the price because at 360 dollars it falls well outside of impulse buy territory in my opinion and as mentioned before the dock can't charge a 16 inch m1 pro m1 max macbook pro at full speed but that's really just the thunderbolt limitation the dock also includes a fairly large external power supply although thanks to the larger form factor of the ts4 it doesn't look as big as before now one last thing and this is just a personal pet peeve of mine if you know me you know what i'm talking about i wish you could toggle off the white led on front of the dock this little led comes on whenever you connect to a host computer and for me it's just kind of annoying it's easy to overlook in the daytime but it can be a little bit of an annoyance in a dark environment but yes i'm being very nitpicky most of those complaints are fairly minor when compared to the design and functionality of the cow digit ts4 which includes everything but the kitchen sink i feel like i'm repeating myself here but again if you're looking for the best all-around dock for your mac the cow digit ts4 gets my recommendation easily what do you guys think let me know down below in the comments this is jeff with nine to five mac youfour years ago when i received the original cow digit ts3 plus dock i called it the best thunderbolt dock for mac users since its release many docks have come and gone but the ts3 plus remained one of my favorite thunderbolt accessories recently cal digit released the successor to the ts3 plus simply named ts4 is cal digit's ts4 a worthy follow-up to the ts3 plus as you'll see in my hands-on video the ts4 is a refined and more capable dock than its predecessor take a look a lot has changed since the original ts3 plus came on the scene there's thunderbolt 4 which is built on top of usb4 and backward compatible with thunderbolt 3. and one of the more notable changes is that the ipad pro now includes a thunderbolt 4 port and this allows for full compatibility with the ts4 the original ts3 plus was a significant hardware release not only because it included an absurd 15 ports but because of the type of ports that it included for instance it was one of the first docks to include a uhs2 compatible sd card slot the ts4 builds on the foundation established by its forbearer and includes a ridiculous 18 ports of io with quite a few additional improvements okay so let's briefly walk through all the ports so first and foremost you get two uhs2 sd 4.0 sd card slot so you get a micro sd card slot which is brand new and then you get a normal size sd card slot you also get two front facing usb type c ports one being a 20 watt connection we'll talk about the significance of that and then you get a front facing usb a port along with a 3.5 millimeter combo jack for microphone and headphones and then of course the kyle digit logo on front and the led status light when connected to a host device now on the rear you have your power input this is going to supply power from that 230 watt power supply you have a security slot which is brand new this time around and you have three thunderbolt ports the first one here is the one that is your upstream port that goes to your computer and then you have two thunderbolt 4 slash usb 4 ports you have displayport 1.4 this time you have another usb type c port on the rear 3.5 millimeter audio out and audio in and then four usb type a ports with two of them supporting offline charging when not connected to a host and finally the 2.5 gigabit ethernet port which can for instance give you a faster connection to your nas box if it supports faster ethernet at first glimpse the ts4 looks nearly indistinguishable from its predecessor but upon further inspection it becomes clear that there are some design changes to take into account first and foremost the ts4 is a bigger dock than the ts3 plus the ts4 is 0.35 inches taller 0.08 inches wider and .59 inches deeper cow digits newest dock is also .37 pounds heavier than the ts3 plus the larger dock can partly be explained by the extra ports that are on board along with the addition of a security slot the ts4 includes the familiar all-aluminum ridge design language that's been featured on many cow digit products in the past besides just looking cool the rich design lets the pair of included rubber feet easily connect to the chassis affording the dock the ability to rest on a desktop surface in horizontal orientation unlike many docks which are only able to rest on your desktop horizontally taking up a lot of surface area in the process the cow digit ts4 lets users decide the dock features a built-in rubber surface on the bottom to allow it to stand vertically as well now let's talk about those extra ports compared to the 15 ports on the ts3 plus the ts4 features 18 ports what additional ports can be found on the ts4 first and foremost you have the front micro sd card reader which is uh s2 sd 4.0 compatible having a micro sd card reader on board means that you no longer have to hunt for those adapters when offloading files from smaller cards and so many devices use microsd cards for storage these days so it's nice to have such a feature on board and then there's the extra rear thunderbolt 4 port slash usb 4 port having this extra thunderbolt 4 port means that you can now connect to multiple thunderbolt devices without needing to daisy chain via another thunderbolt enabled device this provides users with a lot of extra freedom to connect thunderbolt external drives and other devices that terminate at their point of connection the ts4 includes not just one but two usb-c ports on the front the second usb-c port is rated at 20 watts of power output which is significant because it allows you to connect to devices that require at least 20 watts of power for example apple recommends a 20 watt connection for its max safe wireless charger and then we have the rear audio jack out which is a 3.5 millimeter connection now you might be thinking to yourself jeff that's four additional ports weren't there only supposed to be three more well the reason there are four new ports is because cal digit actually eliminated the optical audio connection found on the ts3 plus and replaced it with the 3.5 millimeter rear audio jack out the ts4 has two 3.5 millimeter audio outputs one combo port on the front that can support headsets with built-in microphones and one output only port on the rear just keep in mind that the front port takes priority now let's talk about some noteworthy improvements the cal digit ts4 improvements go beyond just having more ports than the ts3 plus as you'll find improvements made to previously existing ports as well for example all the docs usb ports including the usb a ports are 10 gigabits per second connections in the ethernet port which was previously limited to gigabit ethernet can now function as a 2.5 gigabit ethernet connection when connected to a thunderbolt host finally the displayport connection gets an upgrade from displayport 1.2 to version 1.4 now one of the biggest advantages of thunderbolt 4 slash usb4 is the ability to deliver power directly to connected devices and the ts4 features a maximum of 98 watts of power delivery instead of the 87 watts of its predecessor hence the ts4 can easily power a 13-inch macbook pro or macbook air a 14-inch macbook pro or any usb-c enabled ipad at full speed the dock can also recharge the 16-inch macbook pro but you'll need to utilize apple's fast charge capable 140 watt usb-c power adapter for the full speed charging with that particular device now while we're on the topic of power cow digit has made it so that only two of the four usb-a ports supply power when not connected to a host machine this can be handy for devices that you don't want to receive power while not connected to your mac the ts4 can accommodate a variety of display output configurations based on the type of devices you plan to connect for example m1 mac users are limited to a single 4k or 6k display at hertz while m1 pro max users can connect up to two 4k or 6k displays at 60 hertz now there are many ways to connect to a display via the ts4 you can connect via one of the two available thunderbolt ports you can use the displayport 1.4 port you can go from displayport to an active displayport to hdmi adapter or you can use a usbc to hdmi adapter unlike the ts3 plus which featured an older thunderbolt chipset the ts4 allows users to connect to both thunderbolt and non-thunderbolt usb-c ports now while this won't lend access to thunderbolt only peripherals such as thunderbolt ssds it will allow users to interface with other devices connected to the dock for example this can be very handy when connected to a usbc ipad air or an ipad mini cal digit's ts4 may look similar to the ts3 plus but it's a significant upgrade over its predecessor it provides wider compatibility with both thunderbolt and usbc host features two downstream thunderbolt ports instead of just one features faster ethernet connectivity and it's compatible with multiple 6k displays or even an 8k display when connected to properly configured windows machines there's only a few downsides that i can think of with this dock first is the price because at 360 dollars it falls well outside of impulse buy territory in my opinion and as mentioned before the dock can't charge a 16 inch m1 pro m1 max macbook pro at full speed but that's really just the thunderbolt limitation the dock also includes a fairly large external power supply although thanks to the larger form factor of the ts4 it doesn't look as big as before now one last thing and this is just a personal pet peeve of mine if you know me you know what i'm talking about i wish you could toggle off the white led on front of the dock this little led comes on whenever you connect to a host computer and for me it's just kind of annoying it's easy to overlook in the daytime but it can be a little bit of an annoyance in a dark environment but yes i'm being very nitpicky most of those complaints are fairly minor when compared to the design and functionality of the cow digit ts4 which includes everything but the kitchen sink i feel like i'm repeating myself here but again if you're looking for the best all-around dock for your mac the cow digit ts4 gets my recommendation easily what do you guys think let me know down below in the comments this is jeff with nine to five mac you\n"