Thunderbolt 5 devices are starting to show up with OWC portable SSD and Kensington docking station

Thunderbolt 5 was first unveiled last year with promises of 120 Gbps bandwidth and support for multiple 8K monitors. The good news is that the first Thunderbolt 5-compliant devices are now coming to market.

There’s not too much to choose from for now, but we need to start somewhere, and the OWC Envoy Ultra portable SSD ($299.99 and up) and the Kensington SD5000T5 EQ Thunderbolt™ 5 Triple 4K Docking Station with 140W PD ($399.99) – also found on Amazon – are some of the first Thunderbolt 5 devices to make it to market.

OWC Enjoy Ultra Thunderbolt 5 portable SSD

Key features:

Speed over 6000MB/sm or up to twice faster than Thunderbolt 4 and USB4
Capacity – 2TB or 4TB
Compatibility – Macs, PCs, iPad Pros, Chromebooks, and Surface devices with a Thunderbolt 3 to 5 port, or USB4 port
Rugged design – Waterproof, dustproof, and crushproof
Power Supply – Bus-powered with built-in Thunderbolt cable
Fanless design with a heat-dissipating aluminum enclosure

The 2TB model can be pre-ordered for $399.99, and the 4TB variant for $599.99.

Kensington SD5000T5 Thunderbolt 5 docking station

Specifications:

Connection technology – Thunderbolt 5, works without additional drivers on macOS (14.5 or later) and Windows 11 (23H2 or later)
Thunderbolt ports
- 1x Thunderbolt 5 host port
- 3x Thunderbolt 5 downstream ports
Data transfer speeds – Up to 80Gbps of bidirectional bandwidth with Bandwidth Boost enabling up to 120Gbps for video-intensive usage
Storage – SD card reader (UHS-II, SD4.0)
Video Ports – 3x Thunderbolt 5 DFP supporting up to triple 4K @ 144Hz, dual 8K @ 60Hz, single 8K @ 60Hz, or 1080p @ 540Hz
Audio – 3.5mm combo microphone & headphone jack
Networking – 2.5GbE RJ45 jack
USB – 3x USB 3.2 Gen2 (10 Gbps) ports
Misc – Kensington Nano Security Slot, Kensington Security Slot
Power Delivery – Up to 140W (28V/5A) via USB-C PD 3.1 port

The number of available Thunderbolt 5 devices is limited, and a search for “Thunderbolt 5” on Amazon only shows the above docking station and a few 80 Gbps certified cables. But more compatible devices should eventually see the light of the day over time.

Where are the Thunderbolt 5 hosts?

It’s all good to have a Thunderbolt 5 portable SSD and docking station, but you won’t benefit from the higher transfer speed and multiple 4K and 8K features of the standard unless you purchase a host that supports the new standard.

Kensington representatives told PCWorld that they are currently (September 2024) only two laptops with an Intel “Barlow Ridge” Thunderbolt 5 chip inside, namely the Razer Blade 18 Mercury (2024) and the Maingear ML-17 going for $4500 and $3900 respectively. So upgrading your setup to Thunderbolt 5 is quite pricey at this time.

Via Liliputing

Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft)

Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.