Since purchasing my M4 MacBook Pro last year, I’ve been trying to update my infrastructure to improve my workflow here at ThruMyLens.  The main reason being, when I upgraded my old M1 MacBook Pro to the M4 my world was open to Thunderbolt 5.

WHO IS CALDIGIT?

One of the reasons why I’m a fan of CalDigit as a company is that they’re actually American owned!   Their global headquarters is in the United States, specifically in Fullerton, California, where they design and assemble their products.  I’ve been making a concerted effort to “buy American” whenever possible, and am pleased to support CalDigit.

WHAT IS THUNDERBOLT 5?

Thunderbolt 5 is Intel’s latest high-speed connection standard for laptops, docks, displays, and external devices. It uses the same USB-C port you’ll find on many other devices, but massively upgrades what that port can handle in terms of throughput.   In normal usage, Thunderbolt 5 can deliver transfer speeds of up to 80 Gbps (double Thunderbolt 4’s 40 Gbps).  That’s huge for transferring large photo and video files between devices.  Thunderbolt five can also achieve up to 120Gbps in “boost mode” which is one directional only and essentially designed for sending information do displays/monitors.  That means Thunderbolt 5 can support up to three 4K monitors running  at 144Hz, or two 8k displays.  Again, supper useful for digital creators like myself.    You also get up to 240W charging support, which helps if you want to reduce the number of cables associated with the desk setup.  And Thunderbolt 5 is fully backward compatible so you’ll be able to run legacy Thunderbolt and USB specification devices on any Thunderbolt 5 port.

WHY UPGRADE FROM THE CALDIGIT TS4?

Prior to upgrading to the CalDigit TS5 Plus, I had been running the CalDigit TS4, which I purchased in 2023 – it was the gold standard for high performance docks, and remains a fantastic performer.  I just needed to capabilities of the TS5 Plus.  Specifically, not only did I need more Thunderbolt 5 ports for my growing collection of devices that support TB5, but I also wanted the ability to run multi-monitor support.  Apple should be releasing a Studio Display 2 later this year, which I’m hoping to pick up.   I doubt I’ll run three displays or even two 8k displays any time soon, but it’s nice to know I could.  In terms of feature differences, the TS5 Plus has 10 USB ports total — a mix of USB-A and USB-C (all 10 Gb/s) — whereas the TS4 has fewer USB ports overall.  Also, a 10 Gb Ethernet port replaces the TS4’s 2.5 Gb Ethernet connection, which is a signficant upgrade for wired setups, but less so for me specifically since (currently) my entire home/office Internet is wireless via WiFi7 via a 2gb fiber optic connection.  The TS5 Plus also includes a DisplayPort 2.1 output — useful for driving high-resolution, high-refresh displays without burning a Thunderbolt port.

The TS5 Plus (bottom) is a bit bigger than the previous generation TS4 (top) but the layout of the front ports is similar – I like the TS5 Plus orientation better.

Here’s a view of the rear inputs on the TS4 (top) and TS5 Plus (bottom). Many more and better inputs on the TS5 Plus

For my setup, the three Thunderbolt 5 ports on the TB5 Plus (plus one Thunderbolt 5 host (to laptop, up to 140W) was the big draw.  MacBooks are famously stingy with their ports – my M4 MacBook Pro has just three Thunderbolt 5 ports for connecting USB type devices.  Right now, one of those ports is used for my LG – UltraFine 27″ IPS LCD 5K monitor (purchased in 2020).  Another is taken by the CalDigit TS4.  The third and final is taken by my DIY 4TB Thunderbolt 5 SSD – which means I’m out of Thunderbolt 5 ports.  

The TS5 Plus comes with a power brick and a very nice TB5 cable.

WHY THE CALDIGIT TS5 PLUS OVER THE TS5?

CalDigit actually has two different versions of their Thunderbolt 5 hub – the CalDigit TS5 and the CalDigit TS5 Plus.  At first, I didn’t understand this product segmentation (because they didn’t do it this way on the TS4) but you can think of the TS5 as the “consumer grade” device, while the CalDigit TS5 Plus is the pro version.  The key difference between the TS5 and the TS5 Plus is that the Plus uses two USB controllers, which helps prevent the USB ports from saturating a single controller bus. In real terms, that can improve simultaneous data throughput when multiple USB-A/C devices are connected to high-speed drives at once.  I wanted to ensure that I get maximum throughput no matter how many devices I have connected.  It’s not uncommon for me to, for example, back up data to two or even three different devices simultaneously.  So for me, it was worth the extra $100 in price difference (in for a penny…).  What absurd though is that CalDigit actually gives one additional Thunderbolt 5 port to the TS5 vs. the TS5 Plus.  So you can connect even more TB5 devices…that will increase the potential to oversaturate the single USB controller??  Not given the TS5 Plus seems like a penny pinching move that’s nearly unforgivable at the price point of this device – currently a whopping $499.00.  You also don’t get the TS 5 Plus 10gb port on the TS5 (which only supports 2.5gb) – which likely won’t be a huge issue for most users.  And you get a bit of a different mix of USB A and C ports.  But the dual USB controllers is the big differentiator…and of course the loss of one TB5 port on the Plus model (grrrrr).  As long as I’m complaining, I might as well mention that it’s slightly irritating that CalDigit doesn’t make this device in tried-and-true MacBook Pro silver.  It’s the darker “Space Grey” color.  Not a huge deal, but this dock is designed for MacBook Pro users primarily…so why not make it silver?

TESTING

Once I replaced the CalDigit TS4 with the CalDigit TS5 on my desk and got everything configured,  I was eager to perform a Blackmagic Disk Speed Test on my DIY external Thunderbolt 5 SSD.  Fortunately, the read and write speeds were nearly identical to when I tested the SSD directly connected to my M4 MacBook Pro:

This test relieved one of my biggest concerns – that I would see a loss of performance plugging into the dock vs. direct connect to the M4 MacBook Pro

OTHER OPTIONS TO CONSIDER?

The dual USB controllers on the CalDigit TS5 Plus not only differentiates it from the TS5, it also distinguishes it from every other competing unit on the market.  Most TB5 docks still rely on a single USB controller for all of the non-Thunderbolt USB-A/C ports. That’s fine for normal use, but when you have several high-speed storage devices or peripherals connected at once, a single controller can saturate more easily — which is what CalDigit’s TS5 Plus design is intended to mitigate.  When you survey the market, you’ll find several options from manufactures, like Anker, OWC, iVANKY, and Kensington – all of which have somewhat comparable features and are ~$400.00.  I’ve had several years of positive experience with CalDigit, and didn’t mind spending an extra $100 for the premium capabilities.  But there are definitely other choices.  CalDigit not only makes the most premium/capable model, but they also make a compelling option with the CalDigit E5, currently at just $249.00.  My second choice in Thunderbolt 5 docks likely would have been the Anker Prime TB5 – it’s an incredible value from a name I trust as I own many Anker products.

RECOMMEND?

For my needs, the CalDigit TS5 Plus was well worth the premium price and I’m quite pleased with it.  I now have two open TB5 inputs (three if I unplug my ProGrade Digital Thunderbolt 4 CF Express Type B Card Reader.  I have ports galore available, and am ready for any monitors I’ll purchase this year as well.  Most reviewers out there consider the CalDigit TS5 Plus to be the highest performing TB5 dock on the market and I wholeheartedly agree.

Here’s my video review: