In April Microsoft announced the release of the Surface Thunderbolt 4 Dock. Making it the third dock available in the Surface line up, and the first to make use of a Thunderbolt 4 connector rather than the usual Microsoft Surface connector.

This makes for a very versatile dock, that is not only designed and matched to the Microsoft Surface line up, but also suitable for other devices utilising the Thunderbolt 4 connector.

The following Surface devices have full Thunderbolt 4 support:

  • Surface Laptop 5
  • Surface Laptop Studio
  • Surface Pro 8
  • Surface Pro 9 (Intel/Wi-Fi)

Along with these additional devices having compatible USB C:

  • Surface Laptop 3
  • Surface Laptop 4
  • Surface Laptop Go
  • Surface Laptop Go 2
  • Surface Pro 7
  • Surface Pro 7+
  • Surface Pro X
  • Surface Pro 9 5G
  • Surface Book 3
  • Surface Go 2
  • Surface Go 3

Surface devices that fully support Thunderbolt 4 can run dual 4k displays at 60Hz with 3840x2160 max resolution, as well as up to 40 Gbps USB-C data transfer speeds. USB C devices can support up to one 4K display at 60Hz (with 8 bit colour), still 3840x2160 with 10 Gbps max USB C transfer rates.

Surface Thunderbolt™ 4 Dock:

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surfacew2

Front 

  1. USB-A Port (USB 3.1 Gen 2, Up to 10 Gigabit per second)
  2. USB-C port (USB 4 Thunderbolt™ 4, video display enabled)

Side/back

  1. Security lock slot
  2. Power
  3. Ethernet (2.5 Gigabit per second)
  4. USB-C display ports (USB 4 Thunderbolt™ 4, video display enabled)
    7. USB-A ports (USB 3.1 Gen 2, Up to 10 Gigabit per second)
  5. Audio

 

For models not on the lists above (that still utilise the Surface connector) the Surface Dock and Surface Dock 2 are still available to suit these devices.

Outside of using the Surface Connector instead of the Thunderbolt 4 connector, the Surface Dock 2 has very similar physical ports to the Thunderbolt 4 Dock, the only real differences being in port speeds, such as the gigabit ethernet port or the Surface Dock 2 vs a 2.5GB on the Thunderbolt 4 Dock.

The rear USB C ports can output dual 4K at 30Hz or 60Hz depending on the model of Surface they are used with:

Surface devices that support Dual 4K 60Hz:

  • Surface Laptop 3
  • Surface Laptop 4
  • Surface Laptop 5
  • Surface Laptop Studio
  • Surface Book 3
  • Surface Pro 7
  • Surface Pro 7+
  • Surface Pro 8
  • Surface Pro 9 (All Models)
  • Surface Pro X

 

The Surface Dock 2:

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2-1

Front 

  1. USB-C ports

 

Back

  1. Power
  2. Gigabit Ethernet
  3. Audio
  4. USB-C display ports
  5. USB-A 3.2 ports

 

The Surface Dock is easily identified by having 2 Mini DisplayPort connectors outputting a maximum of 4096 x 2160 @30Hz or 2960 x 1440 @60Hz, and not having the USB C present on the Surface Dock 2 and Thunderbolt 4 Dock, it is also limited to USB 3.0 transfer speeds and does not have 3.5mm audio input capabilities. It is still a viable dock solution for the older devices, but the newer ones can benefit from having the newer docks features.

Surface Dock:

surold

Front

  1. USB 3.0

 

Side

  1. Security lock slot

 

Back

  1. Power
  2. Ethernet
  3. Audio
  4. Mini DisplayPort
  5. Mini DisplayPort
  6. USB 3.0
  7. USB 3.0

 

Please contact me if you have any questions and don't forgot to check out the docks available at Dicker Data.