HP has revealed three Thunderbolt 4 docks at CES 2025, intended to turn laptops into full multi-monitor desktop setups with just one cable. Two of the docks have 13 ports each.
HP has announced the Thunderbolt 4 100W G6, Thunderbolt 4 Ultra 180W, and Thunderbolt 4 Ultra 280W docks, sharing the same cube design but with different power and connectivity options. Most Thunderbolt docks are long rectangular bricks, like the Plugable 11-in-1 Dock, while these HP docks are taller and don’t take up much horizontal desk space.
First up is the Thunderbolt 4 100W G6 Dock, with a physical size of 4.77 x 4.77 x 2 inches (121.2 x 121.2 x 50.5 mm). On the front, there’s a USB Type-C 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) port with data and 15W charging, and on the left side, there’s one USB Type-A 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) port and another USB Type-C 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) port with data and 15W charging.
The back of the dock has two USB Type-A 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps) ports, two DisplayPort 1.4 connections, one HDMI 2.1, one Thunderbolt 4 port for connecting to the host computer, and a 2.5 Gbps Ethernet port. There’s a 40 Gbps Thunderbolt 4 cable and power barrel cord included for the dock’s main power and wired connection to the computer.
The Thunderbolt 4 180W G6 Dock is intended for laptops that need more power than 100W to stay fully charged, like some MacBook Pro and MacBook Air models. It has two more connections on the right side: a Type-A 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) port and a USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) port. There’s also one more USB Type-C 3.2 Gen 2 connection on the back, with support for DisplayPort. That’s a whopping 13 ports, eight of which are USB.
The Thunderbolt 4 Ultra 280W dock has the same ports and design as the 180W dock, but it uses a special combined cable (with a barrel power plug and Thunderbolt connection) to push up to 280W of power to supported HP computers. For PCs without that proprietary connection, it can only deliver up to 180W.
The docks are all advertised as compatible with Windows 10 and above, ChromeOS, and macOS. They also have a physical power button for waking up the connected PC, as well as proximity detection, but those apparently only works with select HP laptops.
HP didn’t specify exact pricing or availability information for the docks, so just keep an eye out for them at HP’s online store and other retailers. If you need a lot of ports for your laptop at a desk, they might be great options.
Source: HP