WEBVTT 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:01.500 Is he holding balloons? 00:00:03.040 --> 00:00:06.100 Congratulations on whatever you're celebrating. 00:00:06.100 --> 00:00:09.480 Sponsored or not, and this one is sponsored by CalDigit. 00:00:09.480 --> 00:00:12.700 I wouldn't normally make a video about a Thunderbolt dock. 00:00:12.700 --> 00:00:15.420 I mean, how interesting could one of these possibly be? 00:00:15.420 --> 00:00:18.340 The answer today is very. 00:00:18.340 --> 00:00:23.340 This is the TS4, Thunderbolt Station 4 from CalDigit. 00:00:23.860 --> 00:00:28.860 It features a whopping 18 ports of connectivity. 00:00:28.860 --> 00:00:33.890 Oh my gosh, is this bigger than their old ones too? 00:00:33.890 --> 00:00:35.110 Okay. 00:00:35.110 --> 00:00:38.070 Excuse me, 18 ports of connectivity, 00:00:38.070 --> 00:00:41.010 a total of 98 watts of power 00:00:41.010 --> 00:00:43.850 to a connected Thunderbolt compatible computer, 00:00:43.850 --> 00:00:46.270 and another 20 watts of charging 00:00:46.270 --> 00:00:48.430 out of this Type-C on the front. 00:00:48.430 --> 00:00:49.550 As for the rest of the ports, 00:00:49.550 --> 00:00:52.010 they have more pedestrian power outputs, 00:00:52.010 --> 00:00:54.290 but let's put it this way. 00:00:54.290 --> 00:00:58.020 Altogether, you're looking at a power brick 00:00:58.020 --> 00:00:59.460 that is not only large, 00:00:59.460 --> 00:01:00.340 but also, 00:01:00.340 --> 00:01:01.740 in charge. 00:01:01.740 --> 00:01:02.640 Get it? 00:01:02.640 --> 00:01:03.720 Get it? 00:01:03.720 --> 00:01:05.460 In charge. 00:01:05.460 --> 00:01:06.980 It's large and charged. 00:01:06.980 --> 00:01:07.940 Come on! 00:01:07.940 --> 00:01:09.140 That's pretty funny. 00:01:09.140 --> 00:01:11.920 The point is it's a 200 watt brick 00:01:11.920 --> 00:01:14.200 for a freaking Thunderbolt dock. 00:01:14.200 --> 00:01:16.020 I've sorted through all the accessories that matter. 00:01:16.020 --> 00:01:18.680 This one right here is a two foot Thunderbolt 4 cable. 00:01:18.680 --> 00:01:21.220 You can tell because it says Thunderbolt 4 on it. 00:01:21.220 --> 00:01:22.300 Not particularly long, 00:01:22.300 --> 00:01:25.340 but certainly long enough to plug into the back of the dock, 00:01:25.340 --> 00:01:27.060 the one labeled computer. 00:01:27.060 --> 00:01:28.000 There we go. 00:01:28.000 --> 00:01:30.460 And connect to either the right or left side, 00:01:30.460 --> 00:01:31.800 of your preferred device. 00:01:31.800 --> 00:01:33.080 You can also stand it up like this, 00:01:33.080 --> 00:01:35.200 but I'll talk a little bit more about that later. 00:01:35.200 --> 00:01:37.520 You've also got the power brick that I talked about before, 00:01:37.520 --> 00:01:42.520 as well as a standard C13 power connector that goes into it. 00:01:43.280 --> 00:01:45.880 Cause this ain't no little boy. 00:01:45.880 --> 00:01:47.880 I said I'd get to the alternative to standing it up. 00:01:47.880 --> 00:01:49.560 You can also lay it down flat 00:01:49.560 --> 00:01:51.980 with these little silicone feet things. 00:01:51.980 --> 00:01:53.400 I think they've revised the design 00:01:53.400 --> 00:01:54.680 a little bit over the years, 00:01:54.680 --> 00:01:56.600 but fundamentally it's the same idea. 00:01:56.600 --> 00:01:57.940 You just pick any one of the ribs 00:01:57.940 --> 00:01:59.320 that you like along the bottom. 00:01:59.320 --> 00:02:00.160 Oh, you know what? 00:02:00.160 --> 00:02:04.740 I'm not gonna bother my OCD brothers in arms out there. 00:02:04.740 --> 00:02:07.290 And I'm gonna put it on like this. 00:02:07.290 --> 00:02:08.130 Monster. 00:02:08.130 --> 00:02:08.970 I know. 00:02:08.970 --> 00:02:10.190 You put those little feet on there, 00:02:10.190 --> 00:02:11.170 a little something like that, 00:02:11.170 --> 00:02:12.570 or however you prefer. 00:02:12.570 --> 00:02:13.730 Flip that bad boy over. 00:02:13.730 --> 00:02:15.570 And it's not gonna slip around on the table 00:02:15.570 --> 00:02:16.850 when you go to plug in a cable. 00:02:16.850 --> 00:02:18.670 We can actually, we can test that. 00:02:18.670 --> 00:02:20.070 We can actually validate that. 00:02:20.070 --> 00:02:20.910 Let's go ahead. 00:02:22.050 --> 00:02:23.170 That slips a little. 00:02:23.170 --> 00:02:24.370 Let's try it on a hard surface 00:02:24.370 --> 00:02:27.910 instead of an LTTstore.com mouse pad. 00:02:27.910 --> 00:02:29.290 Okay, it could be stickier. 00:02:29.290 --> 00:02:31.110 The really exciting stuff is yet to come though, 00:02:31.110 --> 00:02:34.930 because for me, it's not about the sheer number of ports 00:02:34.930 --> 00:02:36.930 or even necessarily the power output, 00:02:36.930 --> 00:02:39.870 because I use my Thunderbolt dock at a desktop. 00:02:39.870 --> 00:02:43.610 For me, it's about the kind of connectivity. 00:02:43.610 --> 00:02:45.770 So on the front, you've got your SD card, 00:02:45.770 --> 00:02:47.570 you've got your micro SD. 00:02:47.570 --> 00:02:49.490 Yeah, having both of those natively means 00:02:49.490 --> 00:02:51.410 no more adapter sitting on my desk. 00:02:51.410 --> 00:02:54.070 You've also got that 20 watt fast chargers. 00:02:54.070 --> 00:02:55.830 So that's to quickly top up your phone 00:02:55.830 --> 00:02:57.310 or what I'm gonna use it for 00:02:57.310 --> 00:02:59.290 is I like to put my phone on a little stand 00:02:59.290 --> 00:03:00.910 under my monitor when I'm streaming. 00:03:01.110 --> 00:03:04.290 This will allow me to do that and charge at the same time. 00:03:04.290 --> 00:03:06.030 I believe this one does seven and a half watts. 00:03:06.030 --> 00:03:07.730 You've also got a type A on the front 00:03:07.730 --> 00:03:10.530 because CalDigit does not discriminate against people 00:03:10.530 --> 00:03:12.090 who still use type A. 00:03:12.090 --> 00:03:13.710 Headphone, microphone, combo jack. 00:03:13.710 --> 00:03:16.510 And then on the back, this right here. 00:03:16.510 --> 00:03:19.970 Two and a half gigabit LAN, thank you. 00:03:19.970 --> 00:03:21.970 This is the only dock on the market 00:03:21.970 --> 00:03:23.730 that has two and a half gig Ethernet 00:03:23.730 --> 00:03:26.370 combined with all this other connectivity 00:03:26.370 --> 00:03:28.590 so that you can get lightning fast access 00:03:28.590 --> 00:03:30.730 to network shared resources. 00:03:30.730 --> 00:03:34.290 And the thing is that gigabit is fast enough 00:03:34.290 --> 00:03:35.790 for transferring small files. 00:03:35.790 --> 00:03:36.830 It's fine. 00:03:36.830 --> 00:03:40.170 But today, if you wanna edit video off of a NAS, 00:03:40.170 --> 00:03:42.070 you want two and a half gig 00:03:42.070 --> 00:03:44.230 and now you've flipping got it. 00:03:44.230 --> 00:03:47.190 It also conveniently has two more Thunderbolt ports 00:03:47.190 --> 00:03:48.030 off of it. 00:03:48.030 --> 00:03:48.850 That's a funny one. 00:03:48.850 --> 00:03:51.790 I'd actually love to see how this is wired up electrically 00:03:51.790 --> 00:03:54.670 because is it like the first two hops 00:03:54.670 --> 00:03:56.410 of a six device daisy chain? 00:03:56.410 --> 00:03:58.230 Couldn't actually answer that one for you. 00:03:58.230 --> 00:04:00.490 For type A's, you've got a line in, 00:04:00.730 --> 00:04:03.610 iPhone jack, if you don't like that combo port at the front, 00:04:03.610 --> 00:04:07.090 another USB-C, but not Thunderbolt this time 00:04:07.090 --> 00:04:09.670 and DisplayPort 1.4. 00:04:09.670 --> 00:04:10.590 So on this bad boy, 00:04:10.590 --> 00:04:13.790 you can do multiple high resolution displays, 00:04:13.790 --> 00:04:18.090 dual 4Ks on Windows and up to dual 6K displays on Mac. 00:04:18.090 --> 00:04:19.570 To be clear, that's not CalDigit's fault, 00:04:19.570 --> 00:04:20.990 that particular limitation. 00:04:20.990 --> 00:04:21.910 It's just because of the way 00:04:21.910 --> 00:04:23.730 that Apple implements Thunderbolt system. 00:04:23.730 --> 00:04:25.370 It's gone a little bit better. 00:04:25.370 --> 00:04:27.570 One thing that it's missing is HDMI, 00:04:27.570 --> 00:04:28.930 but this doesn't bother me because USB-C or display, 00:04:28.930 --> 00:04:29.930 but this doesn't bother me because USB-C or display, 00:04:29.930 --> 00:04:30.830 but this doesn't bother me because USB-C or display, 00:04:30.830 --> 00:04:32.250 DisplayPort to HDMI adapters 00:04:32.250 --> 00:04:34.330 are pretty much a dime a dozen. 00:04:34.330 --> 00:04:36.950 In fact, they actually sent over a couple of those, 00:04:36.950 --> 00:04:40.380 I think, to show off. 00:04:40.380 --> 00:04:43.420 USB-C to HDMI 2.0, 00:04:43.420 --> 00:04:46.080 does up to 4K 60, I would think. 00:04:46.080 --> 00:04:48.280 It's HDMI 2.0. 00:04:48.280 --> 00:04:50.020 So you put that bad boy on there. 00:04:50.020 --> 00:04:51.780 Oh, and if you've got dual DisplayPort monitors 00:04:51.780 --> 00:04:53.720 rather than dual Thunderbolt monitors, 00:04:53.720 --> 00:04:57.780 oh, that's why they've got the two Thunderbolt ports, 00:04:57.780 --> 00:04:59.640 because that's how they're doing the dual 5K 00:04:59.640 --> 00:05:00.840 or dual 6K displays 00:05:00.840 --> 00:05:01.880 on Mac. 00:05:01.880 --> 00:05:02.820 There you go. 00:05:02.820 --> 00:05:03.660 All right. 00:05:03.660 --> 00:05:04.500 Well, if you're not on a Mac 00:05:04.500 --> 00:05:07.700 and you need to convert one of those to a female, 00:05:07.700 --> 00:05:10.990 whoops, DisplayPort adapter, 00:05:10.990 --> 00:05:13.070 then that's how you're gonna run your dual 4Ks. 00:05:13.070 --> 00:05:15.150 Très intéressant. 00:05:15.150 --> 00:05:16.750 That's super cool. 00:05:16.750 --> 00:05:17.950 Being a PC guy though, 00:05:17.950 --> 00:05:19.230 I'm not going to be benefiting 00:05:19.230 --> 00:05:21.230 from any of those Mac exclusive features. 00:05:21.230 --> 00:05:24.730 Let's go ahead and hook it up to a gaming machine, shall we? 00:05:24.730 --> 00:05:28.730 The big thing I wanna see here is two and a half gig LAN. 00:05:28.730 --> 00:05:30.790 Thunderbolt on PC has really gotten 00:05:30.870 --> 00:05:32.050 a lot better. 00:05:32.050 --> 00:05:33.890 I mean, it was always a little better on laptops 00:05:33.890 --> 00:05:35.010 than it was on desktops, 00:05:35.010 --> 00:05:40.010 but I don't see a two and a half gig Ethernet port here. 00:05:43.530 --> 00:05:44.730 Oh, here it is. 00:05:44.730 --> 00:05:46.070 Now I got it already. 00:05:46.070 --> 00:05:48.870 TS4 Windows Ethernet driver. 00:05:48.870 --> 00:05:52.450 Does this laptop actually charge off of Type-C 00:05:52.450 --> 00:05:56.680 in spite of the fact that it's a freaking gaming laptop? 00:05:56.680 --> 00:05:57.880 Okay. 00:05:57.880 --> 00:05:58.720 That's neat. 00:05:58.720 --> 00:06:00.740 I don't know that it'll do it sustained. 00:06:00.740 --> 00:06:05.560 It might just keep it from dying nearly as fast. 00:06:05.560 --> 00:06:09.940 Power brick for this laptop is freaking 250 watts. 00:06:09.940 --> 00:06:11.420 I am quite disconcerted 00:06:11.420 --> 00:06:13.700 that this network adapter is not showing up though. 00:06:13.700 --> 00:06:16.300 Oh, I see what you mean. 00:06:16.300 --> 00:06:17.600 Here, Brandon, check this out. 00:06:17.600 --> 00:06:22.020 Boy, the way this is labeled is not great. 00:06:22.020 --> 00:06:23.100 Oh my God. 00:06:23.100 --> 00:06:23.940 Who is this? 00:06:23.940 --> 00:06:25.400 I love his bow tie. 00:06:25.400 --> 00:06:27.100 That is amazing. 00:06:27.100 --> 00:06:28.400 Good, this is working. 00:06:28.400 --> 00:06:29.620 Thank you. 00:06:29.620 --> 00:06:30.540 Okay. 00:06:31.160 --> 00:06:32.880 That's super cool. 00:06:32.880 --> 00:06:34.920 If you don't have Thunderbolt, 00:06:34.920 --> 00:06:37.600 it'll operate as a regular USB hub. 00:06:37.600 --> 00:06:40.740 Let's go ahead and plug into the right port. 00:06:40.740 --> 00:06:43.580 There's my Ethernet controller. 00:06:43.580 --> 00:06:45.400 Better make sure you plug into the right port, 00:06:45.400 --> 00:06:46.240 ladies and gentlemen. 00:06:46.240 --> 00:06:47.520 You're not gonna be doing two and a half gig 00:06:47.520 --> 00:06:48.840 over your USB Type-C 00:06:48.840 --> 00:06:51.260 on top of everything else you got going on. 00:06:51.260 --> 00:06:54.540 And that, ladies and gentlemen, 00:06:54.540 --> 00:06:56.440 is why you want two and a half gig Ethernet. 00:06:56.440 --> 00:06:59.600 That is literally two and a half times the speed 00:06:59.600 --> 00:07:01.060 that you would get with gigabit. 00:07:01.160 --> 00:07:02.660 You know what the craziest part is? 00:07:02.660 --> 00:07:05.480 Is there are actually consumer applications 00:07:05.480 --> 00:07:08.300 for two and a half gig now on the internet. 00:07:08.300 --> 00:07:09.800 Like aside from just video editing, 00:07:09.800 --> 00:07:11.560 which has been one of our big concerns 00:07:11.560 --> 00:07:14.140 over the last, well, you know, 10 years. 00:07:14.140 --> 00:07:15.360 Steam games, for example. 00:07:15.360 --> 00:07:17.040 If you have enough CPU horsepower, 00:07:17.040 --> 00:07:19.240 you can actually download games 00:07:19.240 --> 00:07:21.700 in excess of 250 megabytes a second. 00:07:21.700 --> 00:07:23.240 Let's download a game. 00:07:23.240 --> 00:07:24.680 Are we managing to drain the battery? 00:07:24.680 --> 00:07:25.520 We are. 00:07:25.520 --> 00:07:26.980 One minute to full charge. 00:07:26.980 --> 00:07:31.080 Cause we're using up 40% of the CPU to download a game. 00:07:31.160 --> 00:07:32.340 I love it. 00:07:32.340 --> 00:07:34.860 Man, I think this SSD might be kind of weak. 00:07:34.860 --> 00:07:38.460 Ooh, okay, I saw it spike to 100% usage there. 00:07:38.460 --> 00:07:39.720 What are you doing, buddy? 00:07:39.720 --> 00:07:41.720 SSD's at 100%. 00:07:41.720 --> 00:07:43.840 Oh, that's more like it. 00:07:43.840 --> 00:07:46.500 Oh, CPU usage is at 80%. 00:07:46.500 --> 00:07:49.860 Oh man, yeah, we just, we don't have the horses. 00:07:49.860 --> 00:07:51.960 All right, well, maybe not on a laptop. 00:07:51.960 --> 00:07:54.480 Oh, it's an 11900H though. 00:07:54.480 --> 00:07:56.860 If you had a faster laptop, it's actually possible 00:07:56.860 --> 00:07:59.480 you could crack 100 megabytes a second downloading games. 00:07:59.480 --> 00:08:01.220 So there's a use for two and a half gig. 00:08:01.220 --> 00:08:04.540 Of course the TS4, which I will be taking home. 00:08:04.540 --> 00:08:07.470 Do they know that already? 00:08:07.470 --> 00:08:10.490 Yeah, I'm gonna be using this for my personal rig now. 00:08:10.490 --> 00:08:12.830 This thing is so nice, man. 00:08:12.830 --> 00:08:15.750 Having all this IO on the front now, everything. 00:08:15.750 --> 00:08:17.970 I've been using a Razer dock for a while 00:08:17.970 --> 00:08:20.250 that has the computer connection on the front 00:08:20.250 --> 00:08:22.550 instead of on the back, which bless their hearts, 00:08:22.550 --> 00:08:25.110 in my opinion, is not the best way to do that. 00:08:25.110 --> 00:08:26.710 So having that back around to the back 00:08:26.710 --> 00:08:27.930 for cleaner cable management, 00:08:27.930 --> 00:08:30.510 and then having all the ports that I will need on the front, 00:08:30.510 --> 00:08:31.430 that's the way I wanna be. 00:08:31.430 --> 00:08:34.810 But the TS4 is not the only one 00:08:34.810 --> 00:08:35.970 that I'm gonna be talking about today. 00:08:35.970 --> 00:08:40.430 There's also the Thunderbolt 4 slash USB 4 element hub. 00:08:40.430 --> 00:08:42.610 This bad boy is just eight ports, 00:08:42.610 --> 00:08:45.090 but it can do an 8K display. 00:08:45.090 --> 00:08:49.710 It's much smaller and it can still do 00:08:49.710 --> 00:08:53.130 that crazy power delivery to a connected laptop. 00:08:53.130 --> 00:08:55.830 That's why it still comes with a chungus brick. 00:08:55.830 --> 00:08:58.110 That's like bigger than the dock itself. 00:08:58.110 --> 00:09:00.830 Because you won't have so many devices connected to it, 00:09:00.830 --> 00:09:04.690 this brick is only 150 Watts instead of 230 00:09:04.690 --> 00:09:06.230 for the full fat TS4. 00:09:06.230 --> 00:09:09.410 But that is plenty for strong power delivery 00:09:09.410 --> 00:09:10.850 to your computer and 00:09:13.310 --> 00:09:15.270 three Thunderbolt 3 ports. 00:09:15.270 --> 00:09:16.590 There's your power in. 00:09:16.590 --> 00:09:18.210 Four USB type A's. 00:09:18.210 --> 00:09:19.850 And then of course the Thunderbolt connection 00:09:19.850 --> 00:09:20.690 to your computer. 00:09:20.690 --> 00:09:22.470 That's actually super flexible 00:09:22.470 --> 00:09:23.670 because these are all Thunderbolt. 00:09:23.670 --> 00:09:24.930 I mean, don't kid yourself. 00:09:24.930 --> 00:09:25.850 You're not gonna be getting, 00:09:25.850 --> 00:09:27.990 Oh, well I've got a 40 gigabit connection here. 00:09:27.990 --> 00:09:28.990 And then these are all Thunderbolt. 00:09:28.990 --> 00:09:30.370 So it's 40 plus 40 plus 40. 00:09:30.370 --> 00:09:33.330 I have 120 gigabit to connected devices. 00:09:33.330 --> 00:09:35.630 It just means that you get the capabilities 00:09:35.630 --> 00:09:36.830 of Thunderbolt ports. 00:09:36.830 --> 00:09:38.790 So that means that you can easily convert them 00:09:38.790 --> 00:09:40.110 to DisplayPort. 00:09:40.110 --> 00:09:41.730 You can easily break them out 00:09:41.730 --> 00:09:44.070 into additional Thunderbolt devices 00:09:44.070 --> 00:09:46.910 rather than being limited to just USB devices 00:09:46.910 --> 00:09:48.270 over a type C connection. 00:09:48.270 --> 00:09:49.570 And because it's Thunderbolt, 00:09:49.570 --> 00:09:52.030 you can plug them into USB-C devices 00:09:52.030 --> 00:09:53.170 that are not Thunderbolt 00:09:53.170 --> 00:09:56.730 because Thunderbolt 4 is also USB-C capable. 00:09:56.730 --> 00:09:58.950 Let's have a look at what the cable management situation 00:09:58.950 --> 00:10:00.030 might look like for this boy. 00:10:00.370 --> 00:10:02.490 Probably go on the other side for this one. 00:10:02.490 --> 00:10:03.630 And just like that, 00:10:03.630 --> 00:10:05.590 all the high-speed connectivity 00:10:05.590 --> 00:10:07.490 that you are likely to need. 00:10:07.490 --> 00:10:10.990 The TS4 is like the deluxe one. 00:10:10.990 --> 00:10:12.790 This is the elemental one. 00:10:12.790 --> 00:10:14.210 That's why it's called the element hub. 00:10:14.210 --> 00:10:16.530 It's a little smaller, right? 00:10:16.530 --> 00:10:18.290 Definitely more totable. 00:10:18.290 --> 00:10:20.670 Man, I wonder if the element hub can do anything 00:10:20.670 --> 00:10:22.460 without external power. 00:10:22.460 --> 00:10:24.040 Now I'm curious. 00:10:24.040 --> 00:10:25.180 I kind of doubt it. 00:10:25.180 --> 00:10:26.340 I kind of doubt it. 00:10:26.340 --> 00:10:27.780 The answer is no, 00:10:27.780 --> 00:10:29.220 but that shouldn't come as a surprise. 00:10:29.220 --> 00:10:30.520 Thunderbolt 4 is cutting edge. 00:10:30.600 --> 00:10:32.280 If you're going to have this number of devices 00:10:32.280 --> 00:10:33.100 connected to it, 00:10:33.100 --> 00:10:35.200 obviously it's going to need external power. 00:10:35.200 --> 00:10:36.360 Neither of these come cheap. 00:10:36.360 --> 00:10:38.760 The element is 250 bucks, 00:10:38.760 --> 00:10:41.300 but it's nice and compact and totable. 00:10:41.300 --> 00:10:44.160 Whereas the TS4 is 380. 00:10:45.430 --> 00:10:47.630 Pricey, but man, it's never cool. 00:10:47.630 --> 00:10:49.910 And you can check them out at the links down below. 00:10:49.910 --> 00:10:51.530 Thanks, CalDigit for sponsoring this video. 00:10:51.530 --> 00:10:52.370 You for watching. 00:10:52.370 --> 00:10:53.670 Make sure you get subscribed.