Kensington SD5800T Thunderbolt 4Dock – Review

There is no doubt that the Kensington SD5800T Thunderbolt 4Dock offers you plenty of flexibility due to the number of ports it comes with. But, it is also worth noting that this is available at a steep price. Is it worth it?

The ports

Anyone who is looking for everything in a dock should definitely get this Kensington dock because it comes with four 4K displays, which include two HDMI 2.1 and two DisplayPort 1.4. There are also a boatload of USB-C and USB-A ports. It is up to you to decide how many displays you want to connect. You can connect all Thunderbolt 4 docks to USB4 ports without any issues.

A quad-display orientation is accomplished through a combination of a technology named Display Stream Compression (DSC) and the 40Gbps Thunderbolt 4 port. Thanks to this technology, it is possible to get more bandwidth and it is similar to DisplayLink, but does not require a software driver like it does. To put it simply, a Thunderbolt dock created for a pair of 4K/60Hz displays can be used for four 4K displays, thanks to the DSC or DisplayLink technology. This is great for anyone who loves using multiple monitors.

Specs and features

The SD5800T comes with a microSD and SD card slot on the front for photographers, along with a 480Mbps USB-A and 10Gbps USB-A port. There is also a headphone jack, a power button and a 3.25-foot Thunderbolt 4 cord. As for the rear, there is a Kensington nano and full-sized security slot, four display ports, the power port, a 10Gbps USB-C charging port, 2.5Gbps Ethernet and four USB-A ports that are evenly split between 5Gbps and 10Gbps.

It is also possible to mount the dock vertically, which is quite an advantage. The SD5800T weighs about 1.34 pounds and measures 7.68 x 4.09 x 1.42 inches. You can prop it vertically if you are low on space. It remains steady on the desk, even if there are cords sprouting from various ports. The space between the ports is also reasonable. The absence of an LED-lit power button can be a bit frustrating.

Performance

In terms of performance, it mostly depends on what hardware you are using with the Kensington SD5800T Thunderbolt 4Dock. It is best suited for use with recent hardware, but it also depends on your usage. While it does take a few seconds for the display to connect, you are unlikely to experience any disconnects or glitches. The USB-C charging port of the dock delivers 7.45W, which is enough for charging a smartphone. But, the front-mounted USB-A charging port falls short of expectations.

Rather than delivering the promised 1.5A, it is only able to deliver 0.5A, which is quite disappointing. The two ports in the front deliver the same amount of power. The data transfer and streaming performance is also acceptable. The SD cards also work as per expectations.