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OWC Mini Travel Dock Handy for Quick Peripheral Usage, SD Card Reader, Pass-Thru Charging, USB Ports
Get OWC USB-C Travel Dock at MacSales.com.
See the previous post on the OWC Travel Dock which has some user comments and why cheap non-certified products might not be a good idea. OWC puts all their Thunderbolt products through the official certification process, which is neither cheap nor quick.
Just recently I was testing this nifty new Thunderbolt 3 SSD seen at bottom left, the OWC Envoy Pro EX 1TB SSD. It offers performance far exceeding anything that can be had with USB3. I’ll have a formal review just as soon as it ships and is officially announced (oops).
I can’t stand trackpads (particularly the oversized awful one on the 2016/2017 Apple MacBook Pro)—so I wanted to attach a mouse.
But that was impossible since the power plug was needed while testing and the SSD used the other port (13" models have a miserly two ports). Plus, a Type-A to USB Type-C Adapter would have been required.
With the OWC about $49.99 USB-C Travel Dock I had an instant solution, as shown: it provides a USB-3 port, passes through the power and thus the other Thunderbolt 3 port remains available for use. Headache gone.
Why do smaller/lighter Apple products always have to be compromised (memory, ports, CPUs, etc). Lots of power users want something light and compact, but do not want to lose functionality. This is not elegance of design!
More info on the USB-C Travel Dock below.
About the OWC Travel Dock
2016 and 2017 MacBook Pro users now have a solution for reducing the number of dongles to carry to just one device for common needs in the about $50 OWC USB-C Mini Travel Dock.
- 2 x USB 3.1 Gen 1 (Standard-A) Ports
- USB-C Auxiliary Power Port (up to 60W)
- SD Card Reader (UHS-II)
- HDMI 2.0 Port Supports 4K display resolution – up to 4096 x 2160 at 30Hz
- Available in 4 colors
- 2 Year OWC Limited Warranty
- Any type C power adapter up to 100 watts can be connected to the Mini Travel Dock.
Fitting easily into a small purse or back or moderate-size pocket, the OWC USB-C Travel Dock solves two key needs that I have when working in the field: USB-A port support (for a backup drive), and an SD card slot (for downloading image). Although I am still using a 2015 MacBook Pro, when I ultimately move to newer model, this will be a critical accessory.
See also OWC Thunderbolt 3 Dock and OWC USB-C Dock for Apple MacBook.
