Skilled’s Ranking
Execs
- Rock-solid stability
- A stunning mixture of show ports
- Very good front-mounted charging choices
- A pleasant mixture of USB-A ports
- Good efficiency
Cons
- Means, method overpriced at MSRP
- Dock will get finicky when connecting to greater than two shows
Our Verdict
If value is not any object, Anker’s 778 12-in-1 Thunderbolt dock is among the finest docks you should purchase. I really like all of its options…simply not its price ticket.
Worth When Reviewed
This worth will present the geolocated pricing textual content for product undefined
Finest Pricing As we speak
Anker’s 778 12-in-1 Thunderbolt 4 laptop computer docking station is great, with a stable function set minus a few puzzling omissions. It’s merely overpriced.
Our sister web site, TechAdvisor, has beforehand reviewed the Anker 778 12-in-1 Thunderbolt 4 docking station. Now it’s moved to the entrance of my testing queue, too, the place I can take a contemporary look. Because the title suggests, this dock is much like the Anker 777, a $299 Thunderbolt 4 dock that I used to be much less impressed with.
On paper, the 778 is about as versatile a dock as you may like. With a devoted Thunderbolt 4 (USB-C) upstream port, DisplayPort in addition to HDMI, chances are high which you can connect with an exterior show or two with out the necessity for an adapter. In reality, when you use the Thunderbolt port in addition to two of the opposite ports, Anker says you’ll have the ability to join as much as three 4K shows. 4 shows can be doable, although with limitations.
Although Thunderbolt 5 ought to be a 2024-2025 product, the dearth of nearly any laptops or docking stations that assist the expertise makes Thunderbolt 3 and 4 nonetheless viable. (One buyer on Amazon complained that this dock didn’t work together with her Thunderbolt 3 laptop computer.) In reality, when you don’t actually care about operating a 4K show at 144Hz, as Thunderbolt 5 permits, this dock can be simply advantageous. It’s only a pricy answer.
Additional studying: The perfect Thunderbolt docks
Mark Hachman / IDG
There are a few options that I’ve at all times appreciated about Anker’s docks: The charging ports on the entrance of the dock are labeled — on this case, two 10Gbps USB-C ports supplying a rated 30W every. I’ve additionally appreciated the truth that Anker signifies which ports are which — USB-A ports might be tough. I want Anker would have labeled its two “USB 3.0” port on the again with a marker indicating its 5Gbps velocity, however the different two USB-A ports no less than have a “mouse and keyboard” icon excessive of them to point their legacy 480Mbps speeds.
Anker’s 778 12-in-1 docking station is great, and one I’d completely advocate shopping for if the value fell throughout the vary different docks value. As it’s, Anker costs method an excessive amount of, even pretty much as good as it’s.
To reiterate, this dock contains two 10Gbps USB-C charging ports (30W) on the entrance. On the aspect, Anker features a considerably brief charging twine, about 27 inches. On the rear, Anker’s dock features a Thunderbolt 4 upstream port, two DisplayPort 1.4 ports, an HDMI 2.1 port, gigabit Ethernet, and 4 USB-A ports (two 480Mbps, and two 5Gbps). A Kensington lock slot is tucked into the opposite aspect.
The one two notable omissions? A headphone jack and SD/microSD card slots. I feel the latter is of much less concern, save for photographers. A headphone jack is optionally available, particularly if you have already got a laptop computer in entrance of you. Nevertheless it’s a pleasant function whose absence feels a bit misplaced.
The dock is made out of what seems to be plastic, and it’ll heat up a bit greater than a dock fabricated from metallic. It’s somewhat lengthy at about 8 inches throughout, and three inches deep and an inch excessive.
Mark Hachman / IDG
Anker is among the few dock makers that gives a downloadable utility, by way of which you’ll be able to replace the gadget firmware. There was an replace ready for me, which promised to filter a couple of random bugs. It’s price noting that even after updating the firmware there have been quite a lot of on-again, off-again disconnections from my related screens; if this occurs, merely restart your pc. The dock turned completely steady after that.
The Anker 778’s efficiency is usually stable
Anker permits you to join two 4K shows at 60Hz through both the HDMI or DisplayPort ports, plus a 3rd 4K show at 60Hz when you join it to the Thunderbolt port. If you happen to use all 4 ports (two DisplayPort, HDMI, plus Thunderbolt), Anker says you possibly can join 4 4K shows. Just one will mild up at 60Hz, nonetheless; the others will use a 30Hz refresh price as an alternative.
You might battle to get this dock to connect with a number of shows. As a “generic” Thunderbolt 4 dock, connecting to 2 4K60 shows, this dock works completely properly. However including a 3rd show required downloading the Anker software program, rebooting, and twiddling with the show configurator throughout the Home windows settings menu.
I sometimes use quite a lot of laptops to check docks. Usually, extra trendy {hardware} is extra appropriate with a contemporary dock just like the Anker 778, and most laptops with a Twelfth- or Thirteenth-gen Intel Core chip appeared to do properly connecting to the dock, after I downloaded the utility software program and rebooted.
Mark Hachman / IDG
You might have a much less passable time with a few of the power-sipping laptops which have shipped just lately; Microsoft’s Floor Laptop computer with a Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite chip solely “saw” two shows. An Asus VivoBook with Intel’s Lunar Lake/Core Extremely 200-series chip would solely join to 3 shows, interval — if I attempted to attach it to 3 exterior shows, the laptop computer’s personal show shut off. That’s not the way in which it’s imagined to work!
With two 4K shows, this dock was completely stable, stability-wise. After I related three, I felt much less sure that the typical consumer would have a superb expertise, particularly with variations in {hardware}. 4 looks as if a bridge too far for many setups.
Anker’s docks (just like the Anker 568 we reviewed final yr) have at all times carried out excellently by way of charging energy, and the Anker 778 is not any exception. The entrance charging ports, rated at 30W, nonetheless ship 26W by my measurements, which pushes into fast-charging territory for a smartphone. Historically, the upstream Thunderbolt port can double as a charging port. Don’t trouble with the USB-A ports, aside from bus-powered gadgets below 5W.
The dock itself is rated for 100W energy supply. I normally take a laptop computer and run a recreation to push its energy draw. On one laptop computer, energy surged to over its rated 100W, which I’ve by no means seen earlier than — it touched 102W a couple of instances. On one other laptop computer, the ability draw was rock-solid at 87W. Both method, the Anker 778 delivers the ability your laptop computer wants, persistently.
Anker’s dock doesn’t undergo within the efficiency class, both. The dock didn’t drop a single body whereas taking part in again a 4K, 60Hz video. My storage checks had been possibly a tad low: 126.8MBps, versus the 130- to 132MBps I normally see. (For extra, see how I check Thunderbolt docks at PCWorld.) That dropped to 126MBps after I streamed the video on the similar time. My file-copy check accomplished in a single minute, 5 seconds — once more, fairly regular.
Do you have to purchase the Anker 778?
I might completely purchase this docking station. However I might completely not spend what Amazon, Anker, and different retailers are asking for it. Too a lot of our greatest Thunderbolt docks hover at or round $250, and this goes method above that. Paradoxically, many distributors on eBay have adopted that value level (or decrease) in promoting the 778. If you happen to don’t thoughts shopping for by way of eBay, go for it. In any other case, I’d go for the Anker 568 as an alternative.
The shortage of an SD card slot and headphone jack isn’t a dealbreaker. I’m stunned, nonetheless, that Anker hasn’t lowered the general value to draw extra enterprise. It is a premium dock of premium high quality, however at an ultra-premium value that you just won’t be keen to pay.
