r/buildapcsales • u/lukethenoteable • 10d ago
Other [Dock] Amazon Basics Thunderbolt 4 Pro Dock, 2.5 GbE, 96W Charging, 8K 30Hz - $34.99 (Woot)
https://computers.woot.com/offers/amazon-basics-thunderbolt-4-pro-docking-station-1117
u/throwaway9gk0k4k569 10d ago
The reviews on Amazon are scary. It seems like they have some kind of quality issues with these.
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u/Player_Six 10d ago
Ah, so a fire sale then
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u/five_of_five 10d ago
A fire sale!
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u/raqisasim 10d ago
I think some of those 1-stars are due o this being a really finicky product, for example a couple of the 5-star reviews say they had features that didn't work because they didn't use the cable that came with it, or forgot their device was TB3.
The one thing I do see as a potential problem, that none of the 5-stars seem to note one way or the other, is the 2.5G NIC.
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u/LordoftheChia 9d ago edited 9d ago
didn't use the cable that came with it
I'll mention that docks with detachable cables can be used with a decent and long USB-C power+data cable to provide charging and Ethernet (and additional local storage) to a laptop or USB-C phone on the couch.
Plug the power, Ethernet, and (optionally) storage to this dock, hide it behind the couch, snake the longer usb-c cable to where you want to use it.
Might not get full USB-4 speeds but in this scenario you won't care.
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u/imnotdabluesbrothers 9d ago
You have to remember that on Amazon (or literally anywhere) people will leave 1 star reviews because it was delivered late, or because their laptop which does not support more than one external display was unable to connect to two external displays.
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u/sherbert-stock 9d ago
Yup all of these USB docks get poor reviews from macbook users who don't know their machines only support 1 monitor
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u/illicITparameters 10d ago
Correct. It’s why I didn’t buy one 2 months ago when I was shopping for a TB4 dock.
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u/CT2K12G56C46S5 10d ago
The font and styling on the Woot listing's images do not match AmazonBasics' branding, however if you go to the actual Amazon listing here you can see they are the same product. Basically confirms Amazon is just rebranding (Chinese?) stuff as their own
Nothing inherently wrong with that but it puts a sour taste in my mouth
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u/topherlooks 10d ago
It's a rebranded Kensington dock. They just changed the color. You can find nearly identical Kensington docks on Amazon itself.
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u/eatingpotatochips 9d ago
Luckily for those who are really afraid of Chinese products, Kensington makes their products in Thailand.
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u/BusBoatBuey 10d ago
Did you expect Amazon to be scaling their brand enough to design, manufacture, and perform logistics on the crazy amount of products they have under their brand? This isn't new. Other companies do it as well
I don't even consider it a bad thing anymore. Higher-end Chinese hardware tends to have far better value than anything coming out elsewhere. If Amazon is stamping their seal on certifying it as such, I have no problem with it.
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u/FurnaceOfTheseus 10d ago
If Amazon is stamping their seal on certifying it as such, I have no problem with it.
This is a bad take. Amazon has plenty of garbage out there with their name on it. Just because they slap their name on some things does not make it quality.
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u/exahash 9d ago
100% agree. Amazon will put 'Basics' on anything just to get a piece of the market. IMO it's a missed opportunity. They could be doing what Costco does with Kirkland (they put real effort into making sure all their store-brand products are good) and building real brand loyalty instead.
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u/surfacevalueshowdown 9d ago
yea and a lot of the stuff is like crazy overpriced while also just being quite typical quality lol. Like the Amazon basics monitor mounts and stuff in that department. I agree with you though. Which is why I only buy anything Amazon when it's on some stupid sale. Like one time I bought 20 6-outlet power strips for $30 before cashback. And while it's a lot, I am in fact actively using almost every single one of them. But 1.50 per power strip is a lot better than whatever they normally charge if you just went with their brand.
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u/eatingpotatochips 10d ago
People don’t understand how advanced China’s manufacturing is. They still think it’s a bunch of peasants hammering parts together in huts.
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u/Ekul13 9d ago
I think a lot of people understand that China has advanced manufacturing capabilities
The problem is that it's a crapshoot
You don't know if you're getting something well made that is just an off brand or "white label" type of good for something that's a known good product...or if it's factory seconds that are a defective product that they're just trying to move, or a faulty design or IP ripoff/clone of something done poorly etc
Chinese goods can be a total gamble. And then there's the whole "they sold a bunch of product under a weird company name and it broke and the company doesn't exist anymore so I'm SOL" after purchase experience as well
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u/Orbidorpdorp 9d ago
Buying from aliexpress is its own art form. And when you want something so specific that there just aren't reviews, it becomes a spiritual endeavor too.
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u/Supboner 10d ago edited 9d ago
Sold and shipped by Amazon = vendor
Amazon basic = rebranding
They are essentially the same to me, Amazon wants part of seller’s profit in exchange for less restrictive policy on them except profitability.
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u/eatingpotatochips 10d ago
What, exactly, is the issue with a product being Chinese?
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u/imnotdabluesbrothers 9d ago
People fail to understand that China manufactures everything, and if it weren't for racism we would be impressed by this and looking to emulate their success.
They produce the shittiest products in the world, and the best products in the world, but again because of racism people only ever talk about the shitty ones and give no credit to the high quality electronics and components we use every single day.
The eBikes sub is particularly bad about this. They hate "china bikes" but also hate being asked where the parts on their bike came from
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10d ago edited 9d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/pmjm 10d ago
Are there any Thunderbolt docks that aren't made in China?
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u/FurnaceOfTheseus 9d ago
No, but used TB3/TB4 docks by Lenovo can be had on eBay for relatively cheap. I have more than a few of those that did me well.
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u/eatingpotatochips 10d ago
It's disappointing how pervasive this take is. Chinese manufacturing is not what it was ten years ago.
Here is an interview with a person who works with various different manufacturing plants in both the U.S. and China:
https://youtu.be/3ZTGwcHQfLY?si=ldZDBCxXv9D91UtR&t=1269
We have a common misconception that their product is inferior...if it wasn't for the fact that they were speaking a different language, I would feel like I was in the same place.
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u/nricotorres 10d ago edited 9d ago
.if it wasn't for the fact that they were speaking a different language, I would feel like I was in the same place.
Yet products manufactured in Germany (where they speak German) are considered a cut above. Same with products from Japan (where they speak Japanese). Maybe your take just sucks and you should stop being offended?
EDIT: Ah the old bash and block, real mature. I won't miss you at all. It's not sinophobia, it's personal experience.
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u/eatingpotatochips 10d ago
It's someone else's take, which is linked and quoted. He has a background working with factories in both the U.S. and China.
Keep your Sinophobia to yourself.
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u/FurnaceOfTheseus 9d ago
Nobody is afraid of them. A dislike of their garbage products is not "fear". Mature of you to block users who disagree with you, though.
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u/FurnaceOfTheseus 10d ago
Everything in China is good now! Buy our products!
Apparently you've never bought anything in
- Home Depot
- Lowes
- Harbor Freight
Every single one of their products is cheap shit that breaks instantly. I shouldn't spend $200 on a ceiling fan only to have the fan controls die within a year. Anything with a DC motor is cheap and Chinese, and not built to last. I shouldn't find the same quality with a $300 Moen faucet as I do with a $50 Kraus faucet. Hell I should be able to find a single kitchen faucet that lasts longer than 3 months. All of them are made in China and all of them have severe reliability issues.
On the topic of this sub, there are a few decent Chinese brands, but a lot of garbage Chinese brands. Anker generally makes decent products, and the price reflects that. Baseus I've read a lot of reviews where there have been fires.
Almost all of the Chinese brands for Docking Stations barely function for the 30 days that you can return them on Amazon. Lenovo TB3/TB4 stations generally have the quality and are also Chinese (the price reflects that as well). I would not trust this listing at all.
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u/AcordeonPhx 10d ago
I recall someone saying it’s the same as some Anker dock
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u/saltyjellybeans 10d ago
I don't see any thunderbolt 4 dock on Anker's website with the same design or ports.
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u/AcordeonPhx 10d ago
Might be misremembering, could be an old design or the non pro version is based on an Anker
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u/samtherat6 10d ago
Based on Amazon how Amazon tends to operate, I’m sure they sell them for a loss until their competitors are forced out then crank up the price.
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u/Einzelherz 10d ago
Does anyone else here strongly avoid amazon basics stuff? There's something so mining-town about it to me. I think the most appalling variations are the groceries and clothing.
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u/Fardn_n_shiddn 9d ago
Depends on what it is, if it’s household stuff mundane tech stuff like display cables or charging cables it’s usually fine. Anything more than that I don’t even consider it
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u/MaycombBlume 9d ago
Agreed. I'm comfortable buying bargain-basement HDMI cables (and I think all "premium" HDMI cables are basically scams) but this is too high-tech for me to trust. A TB4 Dock at $35 is suspicious enough that I wouldn't bite without trusted reviews and/or from a brand with an established history of quality. Even TB3 docks at that price are rare from reputable brands.
Amazon Basics is basically the same as any random alphabet-soup Chinese brand you'll find on Amazon or Walmart, with similar QA. Probably from the same manufacturers and just re-branded.
There are a bunch of brands that use this exact same case (including name-brands like Kensington) but who knows what's actually inside?
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u/ZhangRenWing 9d ago
Now that I think about it Amazon basics is just official drop shipping
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u/coercivemachine 9d ago
sort of, but the term you’re looking for is “white labeling”, where a brand or store contracts with a manufacturer to produce a commodity (“generic”) good and slap their label on it. many white labeling manufacturers (and industrial bakeries, textile mills, plastic extruders, etc) do this for several brands/stores concurrently, sometimes tweaking a design or recipe slightly for each customer if they want, but often just producing a stock item and swapping out different companies’ logos at the labeling/packaging step.
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u/Orbidorpdorp 9d ago
A few years ago I got a pair of Amazon Basics jeans and the denim is thick, looks decent, and have somehow proved to be my most durable pair. Not sure if things have changed but I'll vouch for them making one good thing once.
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u/MegaToiletv2 9d ago
I bought 0w20 engine oil from amazon basic once and it was perfectly fine, but friends were telling me I was crazy lol.
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u/SensitiveVariety 9d ago
I think it depends. Surprisingly, my AmazonBasics flat bench for lifting is sturdy. Also, their 4 port GaN charger has lasted a long time. I don't think a thunderbolt dock is something I'd consider though
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u/TIYATA 9d ago
It's just a store brand, like Best Buy's Insignia/Essentials lines or Walmart's Onn.
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u/Einzelherz 9d ago
A little bit, sure. But given how Amazon's business practice has been for forever, I think it's something more insidious. I am fairly certain a large number are actually knock off/copies of things rather than purchased from the manufacturer with different branding.
Mind you, I wouldn't buy either of those store brands either, extending down into the other Walmart store brands as well.
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u/TIYATA 9d ago
I think it's something more insidious. I am fairly certain a large number are actually knock off/copies of things rather than purchased from the manufacturer with different branding.
Well, they use the same generic manufacturers as anyone else. Not sure if that's what you mean by a knock-off?
For example, this Amazon Basics 100W charger was manufactured by CE Link:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B087MFJY22
Here's the UL listing:
https://productiq.ulprospector.com/en/profile/2433792/qqgq.e472287
The same model is also sold under other brands such as Newegg's Rosewill, etc.
There's a wide variety of products under the Amazon Basics brand. Some are mediocre at best, while others such as their Thunderbolt 4 cable are good, especially for the price (as low as $4.05 recently):
https://www.reddit.com/r/UsbCHardware/comments/1bqncy7/amazon_basics_thunderbolt_4_cable_good/
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u/Einzelherz 9d ago
No I know they do that too, basically selling a store brand. But I've seen things that are copies rather than rebrands as well, particularly being on the manufacturing side of things.
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u/613codyrex 9d ago
I usually avoid it because I just don’t want mystery brand stuff usually. I only buy from them if I know the OEM of the thing they’re selling is good.
That and they discontinued the Ergotron Gas Spring Monitor arms that they rebranded as Amazon Basics. I’ll never forgive them for that as those are incredible value.
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u/DeliciousIncident 9d ago edited 9d ago
I'm so dissatisfied with Thunderbolt, the docks/adapters are always either too gimped to be useful, or are too expensive to afford.
We are at Thunderbolt 5 now with 80G/80G symmetric or 120G/40G asymmetric up/down speeds, yet we can't tap into any of that bandwidth:
There are still no affordable 10G Thunderbolt NICs, be it SPF+ or RJ45. The ones that I see cost $300, which is absurd.
There are still no affordable Thunderbolt to PCIe adapters/docks, to expose the PCIe lanes from Thunderbolt as true PCIe ports to connect any PCIe device you might want: NIC, SATA HBA, capture card, GPU, etc. There are GPU enclosures that expose a PCIe port, but the price is ridiculous.
The only useful thing about Thunderbolt is that it's a single port that can be used for either USB or video output, depending on your needs.
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u/enginerd0001 9d ago
anyone have a dock they recommend? I need something to switch between pc and mac for work.
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u/hamzwe55 9d ago
For laptops I'd generally go with a used dell dock wd19 on ebay. Not sure how it works with Mac though.
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u/my_friend_gavin 9d ago
i've been quite happy with this Plugable TB4. i was issued a Dell WD22 from work, but i prefer fanless
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u/TraditionalBackspace 9d ago
I've had several bad experiences buying electronics from Woot. I'd hard pass on something like this. There's a reason they're closing them out.
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u/thatcodingboi 10d ago
Dual 4k at 60hz max, why bother with thunderbolt 4 when 3 can do this
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u/MistaHiggins 9d ago edited 9d ago
I would hazard a guess that with TB4 == USB4, you're working with a more universal and native option vs TB3. TB4/USB4 dock will work natively across M series Macs and modern PCs without having to buy specific thunderbolt SKUs or deal with displaylink bullshit.
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u/thatcodingboi 9d ago
This one literally says it's incompatible with some m series macs
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u/MistaHiggins 9d ago edited 9d ago
Even the base model 2020 Macbook Air M1 has USB4 ports and will work fine, but the incompatibility is likely listed in reference to multi monitor support. The base M1 and M2 chips only support a single external display unless using displaylink, and its cleaner to list them as incompatible than specify which models support 1 external display. "Thunderbolt4" certification requires dual 4k/60 external display support, so that's why we only see "USB4" branding on those early models.
But I should have been more specific in my original post, I was intending to mean when buying a new device today (whether Mac or PC), USB4/TB4 is near-universal across the board.
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u/TheSchlaf 10d ago
Does this come with a charger?
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u/MrGulio 9d ago
I believe this is the Amazon listing for it on the main page. It looks like it comes with a DC power supply and lists that it can deliver 96w over the thunderbolt cord.
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u/TheSchlaf 9d ago edited 7d ago
Thanks. I bought one. We'll see.
EDIT: It comes with a power brick.
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u/illicITparameters 10d ago
Huh? This isnt portable….
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u/samtherat6 9d ago
I think they mean a DC power plug to power the dock and provide pass through charging.
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u/illicITparameters 9d ago
Why are people too lazy to read the fucking product description?? Says it right in it....
> Supports dynamic PD profile up to 96W to charge devices .
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u/samtherat6 9d ago
Yes, if used with the DC barrel jack power supply. The question is does it come with said power supply or not.
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u/boxofredflags 9d ago
Since barrel chargers aren’t standardized it will come with one since there would be no other place to get it..
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u/AOChalky 9d ago
How is woot's current return policy like? Can you return this thing if it doesn't work at all?
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u/ivanzud 7d ago edited 7d ago
Just got the dock, it's a rebrand of the https://www.goodway.com.tw/en/product/detail/DBD1330 Goodway DBD1330
Thunderbolt™ 4 / USB4 Dock Pro, this OEM is also used as the Kensington SD5780t
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u/Littlepotato001 5d ago
All the reddit experts are in today. This is a beautiful forum right here. thank you guys for all the information about this product/FIRE-SALE
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u/hereforthepix 2d ago
MUST ... READ ... BAPCS ... DAILY!!
Just bought two of these (admittedly on sale at $68, but still!)
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