Review: iVANKY's FusionDock Ultra is a Premium 26-Port Thunderbolt 5 Dock for Your Mac

A mates of years ago, I reviewed iVANKY's FusionDock Max 1, a almighty Mac dock utilizing dual Thunderbolt chips and dual-cable connectivity to thrust 20 ports of assorted types for utmost versatility. Since that time, iVANKY has taken things further with the 23-port FusionDock Max 2 and present the 26-port FusionDock Ultra, and I've spent the past fewer weeks investigating retired the top-of-the-line FusionDock Ultra to spot however it performs.


Similar to the FusionDock Max 1, the FusionDock Ultra features a dual Thunderbolt spot architecture that supports an awesome acceptable of ports for powerfulness users. You'll find a immense array of USB ports, positive Gigabit Ethernet, SD/TF paper slots, and more.

The FusionDock Ultra offers an appealing and applicable design, though the beforehand of the dock is littered with ports. That's a affirmative for easiness of entree if you request to link and disconnect things, but it results successful a little cleanable look and tin marque it harder to support cables retired of sight. But with this galore ports, it much oregon little requires utilizing the afloat beforehand and rear panels of the dock conscionable to acceptable them each in, truthful it's an understandable compromise.

The main assemblage of the dock appears to interval wrong a larger enclosure, lone sitting connected a fewer tiny pegs wrong the extruded achromatic aluminum exterior shell. This plan offers ocular entreaty portion besides providing country for airflow and a hefty magnitude of aluminum for vigor dissipation via the copper-alloy midframe. In my testing, I recovered the exterior ammunition to get a spot lukewarm with use, but not uncomfortable to interaction astatine immoderate point.


On the beforehand of the FusionDock Ultra, you'll find a whopping six 10 Gbps USB-C ports, an further 10 Gbps USB-C larboard with Power Delivery enactment up to 45 watts, 2 10 Gbps USB-A ports, a 3.5mm combo audio port, UHS-II SD and TF/microSD 4.0 paper slots, and an LED powerfulness airy that's agleam capable to fto you cognize it's connected portion remaining dim capable to not beryllium a distraction, adjacent successful a acheronian country erstwhile your screens are sleeping.

The rear of the dock features much than a twelve further ports, including a brace of Thunderbolt/USB-C ports for the upstream transportation to the Mac, 4 downstream Thunderbolt/USB-C ports for displays with the quality to enactment up to 80 Gbps oregon adjacent 120 Gbps of information connection, an HDMI 4K port, a DisplayPort 2.1 port, 1 further 10 Gbps USB-C port, 2 10 Gbps USB-A ports, a 10 Gb Ethernet port, an S/PDIF optical port, and abstracted 3.5mm audio successful and retired ports, positive a Kensington fastener slot to assistance unafraid the dock if utilized successful a nationalist environment.


There are dual fans wrong the dock to assistance determination aerial for vigor dissipation, and they are audible erstwhile they footwear connected successful a quiescent environment, but I person not recovered them to beryllium distractingly loud. Adaptive instrumentality power modulates the velocity depending connected the vigor being generated, and they volition crook disconnected oregon tally precise softly astatine debased velocity nether airy to mean workloads earlier ramping up nether much demanding conditions. iVANKY says the fans registry astatine 44–46 dBA erstwhile measured astatine a 1 cm distance, and that sounds astir right: audible but much of a debased achromatic sound successful a quiescent situation and becoming astir unnoticeable successful busier environments.

As mentioned, the FusionDock Ultra connects to a Mac implicit a treble Thunderbolt cable, and iVANKY has a clever cablegram plan to assistance support things neat. The 2 Thunderbolt connectors astatine the Mac extremity of the cablegram connect to each different magnetically, creating what amounts to a azygous connector for machines specified arsenic the MacBook Pro that person modular horizontal spacing betwixt Thunderbolt ports.


If you're utilizing thing similar a Mac Studio oregon Mac mini with a antithetic alignment of the ports, the cablegram connectors tin beryllium separated. iVANKY's solution besides includes a brace of slidable clips to assistance support the 2 cables unneurotic and organized.

Notably, the FusionDock Ultra tin supply up to 140 watts of upstream powerfulness to a connected Mac implicit this Thunderbolt connection, delivering speedy charging to adjacent Apple's astir power-hungry portable Macs. In bid to thrust each of this, the dock comes with a reasonably ample 240-watt outer powerfulness brick, but astir users shouldn't find it excessively hard to tuck it distant connected the level oregon down different equipment.

Turning to show connectivity, portion the FusionDock Ultra tin thrust 4 6K displays natively, enactment yet depends connected the Mac you're connecting it to. For afloat quad-display support, you'll request to beryllium utilizing a Mac with a Max oregon Ultra spirit of chip, anyplace from M1 up to M5. The latest ‌MacBook Pro‌ with an M5 Pro spot supports up to 3 displays, arsenic does the latest ‌Mac mini‌ with either the M4 oregon M4 Pro chip. Machines with astir different chips tin enactment 2 outer displays, portion immoderate older basal chips similar the ‌M1‌ oregon M2 successful a ‌MacBook Pro‌ oregon MacBook Air tin lone enactment a azygous outer display.

Simply put, spell disconnected Apple's published specs for your exemplary to spot however galore outer displays you tin use, arsenic iVANKY's dock won't supersede those limits by utilizing tricks similar DisplayLink compression. This ensures optimal show without degraded representation prime oregon lag.

Users of the LG UltraFine 5K oregon Samsung ViewFinity S9 5K displays should enactment that the FusionDock Ultra lone supports up to 2 of these being connected simultaneously. Apple Studio Displays are afloat supported up to the maximum fig specified for your machine. Generally speaking, I've been regularly utilizing the FusionDock Ultra with 2 outer displays passim my investigating and had a little accidental to trial it with 4 displays, and I've seen nary hiccups successful show with everything moving seamlessly done the dock.


10Gb Ethernet connectivity is simply a large selling constituent for powerfulness users, arsenic astir docks present Ethernet astatine little speeds arsenic they question to equilibrium demands connected the wide transportation bandwidth, but the FusionDock Ultra's dual-chip and dual-cable plan gives it the headroom to enactment the higher information speed.

There aren't a full batch of Intel Macs near astatine this point, but it's worthy noting that the FusionDock Ultra is lone compatible with Apple silicon Macs, truthful it won't enactment with Intel Macs oregon PCs.

All of this doesn't travel cheaply, with the FusionDock Ultra usually priced astatine $749.99, though iVANKY is presently discounting it to $649.99 on the iVANKY website and at Amazon. But for powerfulness users looking to link a boatload of accessories to their Macs with minimal fuss, the FusionDock Ultra is an fantabulous companion. And if your needs aren't rather arsenic precocious arsenic what the FusionDock Ultra supports, iVANKY besides offers the FusionDock Max 2 presently discounted to $399.99 oregon the archetypal FusionDock Max 1 connected merchantability for $299.99.

Note: iVANKY provided MacRumors with the FusionDock Ultra for the purposes of this review. No different compensation was received. MacRumors is an affiliate spouse with Amazon. When you click a nexus and marque a purchase, we whitethorn person a tiny payment, which helps america support the tract running.
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