Just hours after the product photos leaked, Microsoft announced an accessory for Surface computers—and more: the Surface Thunderbolt 4 Dock. Priced at $299.99 in the US, the Surface Thunderbolt 4 Dock plugs into a single USB-C connector instead of the dedicated Surface Connect connector.
Microsoft plans to continue selling the Surface Dock 2, which plugs into the Surface Connect connector and is designed for Surface devices that don’t have a connector that leverages the USB-C or Thunderbolt 4 standard.
Also for the first time, the new Surface Thunderbolt 4 Dock supports other devices/computers beyond the Surface series computers. Thanks to the support of the Thunderbolt 4 protocol, data transfer speeds of up to 40 Gbps and 96 W charging are supported.
On the front, there’s a USB-C port along with a USB-A port but no SD card reader like we’ve seen on other similar dock-style devices. On the other side of the Surface Thunderbolt 4 Dock are two USB-C ports, two USB-A ports, a 2.5Gb Ethernet port, an audio jack, and a Kensington Lock slot.
While the launch of the Surface Thunderbolt 4 Dock doesn’t mark the immediate end of the Surface Connect port, it’s clear that Microsoft is heading in that direction. Microsoft’s recent Surface devices such as the Surface Laptop 5 and Surface Pro 9 have both USB-C ports that support Thunderbolt 4 and the dedicated Surface Connect port.
It’s very likely that a Surface device will be announced in the near future that will not have the Surface Connect connector in favor of the highly flexible USB-C standard (and it’s not the first time that this has happened, as the Surface 3 was only available with a micro charging port USB and not with the dedicated Surface Connect connector). Recall that Microsoft first adopted the USB-C (or USB Type-C) standard in a device of the Surface family with the presentation of the Surface Pro 7 in the year 2019.
Two years later, the Surface Pro 8 was also released with support Thunderbolt.
0 Comments