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MagyarSabrent DS-SKRT-D16TB Thunderbolt docking station aims to turn your PC into a workstation of sorts
Sabrent has launched a new docking station that aims to turn your PC or laptop into a workstation — at least with respect to connectivity and storage. The Sabrent DS-SKRT-D16TB is a Thunderbolt 3 docking station that comes with built-in NVMe storage, all in an NUC-styled chassis.
The DS-SKRT-D16TB is available in 2 TB, 4 TB, 8 TB, and 16 TB dock options. Inside, you get a pair of Sabrent Rocket Q drives, which are PCIe Gen 3 drives with Phison E12S controllers. The Rocket Q drives are capable of up to 3,300 MB/s sequential reads on their own, but Sabrent advertises just about half the speeds at 1,500 MB/s for the DS-SKRT-D16TB dock.
As a dock, the DS-SKRT-D16TB offers a good range of ports including:
- 2x Thunderbolt 3 ports with a bandwidth of up to 40Gbps.
- 2x USB 3.2 Type-A ports supporting up to 10Gbps.
- 1x USB 3.2 Type-C supporting up to 10Gbps.
- 1x USB 3.0 Type-A supporting up to 5Gbps and BC1.2 [email protected] charge for tablets, cell phones.
- 1x DisplayPort 1.4 for 8K @ 30Hz, 5K @ 30Hz, and lower resolutions. DisplayPort supports HDR, HDCP2.2, and VESA Adaptive Sync (FreeSync) where available.
- 1x Gigabit Ethernet RJ45 port.
- 1x Front access 3.5mm audio output.
- 1x Front access 3.5mm microphone input.
- 1x SD (UHS-II) card reader with transfer speeds up to 270MB/s.
The DS-SKRT-D16TB is USB Power Delivery 3.0 compliant and can deliver up to 96 W of power, which should be enough to power most thin and light laptops without a dGPU. The dock is fully compatible with Windows and Mac computers.
Sabrent told us that the drives in the dock can be RAIDed as needed. While the unit is Thunderbolt 3-based, it still requires a dedicated power brick, which is supplied in the box. We asked about future Thunderbolt 4 options and Sabrent did tell us that there are plans to launch Thunderbolt 4-based docks at a later date.
Thunderbolt 4 does bring the advantage of having a higher 32 Gb/s PCIe bandwidth while also offering Intel VT-d Direct Memory Access (DMA) protection. However, the total throughput still remains the same at 40 Gb/s and VT-d is somewhat of an overkill for home or SoHo use, so you really aren't missing much.
Sabrent also confirmed to us that the DS-SKRT-D16TB can be pried open if users wish to use their own NVMe drives. That being said, an empty enclosure is in the offing as well down the line.
The Sabrent DS-SKRT-D16TB is now available to order online starting from US$510 for the 2 TB variant and going up to US$2,900 for the fully loaded 16 TB version.
Buy the Sabrent DS-SKRT-D16TB 16 TB docking station on Amazon
Source(s)
Sabtrent Press Release
