Another week, another cool name for the docking station. Meet the Ugreen Revodok Max 213 Thunderbolt 4 dock: one strong investment of $399 in dramatically increasing the total number of ports when connecting the best laptops to your brilliant desktop setup.
With 13 sockets in a variety of use cases (2.5Gbps ethernet and TF/SD 4.0 card readers), this massive block of aluminum takes pride of place on any worker’s desk with the absolute versatility needed for great number of tasks.
That metal casing also does double duty to keep the docking station cool when under the most intense multiport stress. Combined with other clever thermal management tricks, such as a cooling silica gel and pleated aluminum surfaces, this makes for a completely reliable piece of kit.
But here are some key obstacles that may make the Revodok Max 213 Thunderbolt 4 Dock hard to love for some. Firstly, if you’ve only managed to fit a small desk into your small apartment (a problem many of us have), then the rather imposing structure of this docking station will take up a fair amount of space.
Secondly, Ugreen packed it with 13 ports, but none of them are HDMI? I understand that DisplayPort is a common standard in computing, but this feels like an open target that’s been thrown into the stands.
And finally, that price. At $399, this won’t be for everyone, especially since the $200 plug-in TBT4-UD5 is there. But if you really want to maximize equipment in your work-from-home setup, the Revodok Max 213 could be worth the investment. Let me explain why.
Ugreen Revodok Max 213: Cheat Sheet
- What is it? This is a Thunderbolt 4 docking station.
- For whom it is? This is perfect for laptop users who want to create a powerful home office around them.
- What’s the price? The Max 213 is priced at $399.
- What ports do you get? On this hunk of aluminum, you’ll find three 40Gbps Thunderbolt 4 ports (one host and two downstream), DisplayPort 1.4, USB-C, two USB-A, 2.5GB/s Ethernet, a 3-pin audio jack. .5mm and standard ports and microSD card slots.
- Are there any warnings about this docking station? It’s quite complicated, and the lack of HDMI will mean you’ll have to buy a DP to HDMI cable if your display doesn’t support the PC-centric standard. That may be a kick in the teeth given that you spent $400 on this. And as always, with anything having to do with docking station compatibility, be sure to check your laptop specifications and contact Jugo Mobile Forums If you have any question!
Ugreen Revodok Max 213: Specifications
Ugreen Revodok Max 213: The advantages
Let’s not mince words about this. The Revodok Max 213 is a fantastic docking station for any professional, even with the pitfalls I’ll address later. Let me explain why with three key reasons.
So. Many. Ports
I can talk about the sheer number of ports here, but you’ve already seen me list them twice. A particular shout out to the dual downstream Thunderbolt 4 and single host generating a full (and tested true) 90W power delivery.
Plus, the numerous USB-A ports give you great compatibility with current and legacy devices, while the 3.5mm combo audio jack provides an easier access source for your wired cans than having to reach for your laptop. on its support.
But the beauty here lies in the quality of these ports. In particular, the SD card slots are of the TF/SD 4.0 standard to support a maximum speed of 312 MBps (great for transferring those huge 4K RAW videos for editing) and a 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet for those super broadband packages. rapid.
I’m sorry about the loss of HDMI (more on that later), but if you can fix it, the Revodok Max 213 really has it all.
A utilitarian beast
Yes, it’s big and heavy, but wow, does it look like a powerful block of productivity potential. The Revodok Max 213’s gunmetal gray aluminum finish is curved at the edges with rubber feet on the bottom and side for long-distance placement. If you have the Space Black MacBook Pro like me, they seem like a match made in heaven.
Add in the pleated aluminum flares at the rear, which almost look like car hood vents and give it a meanness that I adore, this is certainly quite attractive. One that can easily fade into the background in any setting while still taking center stage as a centerpiece.
Keep calm
One thing that’s easy to ignore is thermal management. Since it’s freshly placed on your desk, you rarely touch it, but you can really feel it when the SD card slots slow down or the overall power being pumped out of certain ports reduces.
Fortunately, Ugreen is way ahead of this with some nice heat dissipation tricks, like layers of silica gel inside the docking station and that vented pleated aluminum casing. Thanks to this, the surface temperatures of the Revodok Max 213 stay nice and cool, and even when running at full throttle for extended periods of time, you won’t notice any problems.
Ugreen Revodok Max 213: The Disadvantages
For the price of entry, I really wanted the Revodok Max 213 to be fault-free, but that’s not necessarily the case. I’m not saying any of these are deal breakers, but there are a few things you should know.
Big and cumbersome
Weighing in at 1.7 pounds and with rather commanding dimensions of 5.85 x 3.79 x 2.05 inches, any small desktop user may struggle to try to make this size work without the entire setup feeling too cluttered. .
On top of that, the beefy 180W power brick is a bit of a pain to sort out when it comes to cable management. Make sure you have a couple of drawers to hide it in, as the length of the cable from the dock to the brick is a little short.
Without HDMI?
DisplayPort is the general computing standard; I’m not trying to argue that. Plus, with support for up to 8K resolution and even dual 4K monitors on standard Apple Silicon machines like the MacBook Air M3, it’s a useful connector too.
But HDMI is the most used port, not only for television, but also for the vast majority of monitors. For example, my home monitor is HDMI only.
Of course there is a solution. Amazon sells a ton of DP to HDMI cables, but if you spend $400 on the Revodok Max 213, you’d expect it to have the versatility to connect to anything. But it’s not, and that can be quite frustrating for certain users.
Ugreen Revodok Max 213: Verdict
Ugreen seeks professionals of all levels with the Revodok Max 213, and the company (mostly) delivers. The super-fast SD card slots have been huge for my video editing workflow, while 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet ensured my thick 4K video edits upload speeds went by in a flash.
But when I think about everyone else, there are other options that offer better price-performance ratio (and more HDMI connectivity) to make it an absolute must-buy for everyone. If you just need a lot of accessible ports at a more affordable price, Plugable’s TBT4-UD5 is the way to go.
But limitations and size aside, if you need a really powerful upgrade to your desktop port set, you can’t go far wrong with the Revodok Max 213.
