Satechi Thunderbolt 5 CubeDock review: I finally found the ultimate docking station for creatives

TechRadar Verdict

This Thunderbolt 5 dock offers plenty of connection options and an easily installable SSD for expanded storage. Build quality and design are reflective of the Mac Mini, complemented by fast charging, a wide selection of ports, and, most importantly, speed. At $400 / £400 plus the cost of your own NVMe drive, it's aimed at creative professionals with Thunderbolt 5 machines, which limits it to Macs or PCs with a TB5 card; on anything less, you won't see the full potential you’re paying for.

Pros

• +Fast Thunderbolt 5 connectivity
• +Integrated NVMe SSD enclosure
• +Up to 140W laptop charging.

Cons

• -Expensive, and SSD sold separately
• -Needs Thunderbolt 5 for full speed

Why you can trust TechRadar We spend hours testing every product or service we review, so you can be sure you're buying the best. Find out more about how we test.

Jump To:

• 30-second review
• Price and availability
• Specs
• Design
• Features
• Performance
• Final verdict
• Should you buy it?

Satechi Thunderbolt 5 CubeDock: 30-second review

The Satechi Thunderbolt 5 CubeDock is one of a new wave of high-performance docks that offer ultra-fast connectivity and the option to add internal storage. The design is reminiscent of the Mac Mini range with its cubed compact aluminium design that sees a single Thunderbolt 5 cable running from the dock to your computer, and once done, adds three more Thunderbolt 5 ports, alongside a spread of USB, UHS-II card readers, 2.5GbE Ethernet, audio, and up to 140W of charging.

The big features here are the Thunderbolt 5 connection and the option to add an M.2 NVMe SSD, changing this from a high-performance hub into an SSD enclosure. The SSD must be purchased separately; it comes in a model with up to 8TB of capacity and takes less than a minute to screw into place. Satechi has included everything you need, including a screwdriver and thermal pads.

Once the SSD is installed and all desktop cables are connected, it's a neat solution that enables you to connect monitors, control boards, speakers, network connections, and additional drives in a matter of seconds.

This makes it a great solution if you’re a photographer or video editor and need to offload files quickly after a day's shoot, though it's disappointing that the network is limited to 2.5GbE, whereas many other premium docks have already adopted 10GbE. Despite that, for creators, I found it to be the best docking station I've tested.

At the price, however, this doc is well balanced; you do need a Thunderbolt 5 to get the most out of it. On anything slower, Thunderbolt 4, USB4 and so on, it still works, but the speeds drop dramatically.

In this test, I utilised an Asus Prime-based machine fitted with a Thunderbolt 5 card to check the speeds. It’s also worth noting that in an editing environment where you want everything to be as quiet as possible, there is an active fan that helps keep the SSD cool, but unfortunately, it adds a little noise under load.

If you use the CubeDock with the right machine and have an SSD installed, it’s one of the neatest ways I've come across to turn a laptop into a full creative workstation, storage included, from a single cable.

Are you a pro? Subscribe to our newsletter

Sign up to the TechRadar Pro newsletter to get all the top news, opinion, features and guidance your business needs to succeed!

Contact me with news and offers from other Future brandsReceive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors