We recommend Mac aficionados and professionals check out the Black Friday sale at accessory maker Caldigit, which is offering 15% off store-wide when you use the code BFRIDAY.
In our roundup of the best USB-C and Thunderbolt 3 docks for MacBooks, our favourite is the TS3 Plus from Caldigit.
The TS3 Plus – or Thunderbolt Station 3 Plus, to give it its full name – can run two external displays in Extended mode (via one cable to the laptop) and charge at a 15in MacBook Pro-delighting 85W. Incredibly, it can connect dual 4K at 60Hz monitors (Mirrored or Extended).
It boasts more ports than the Roman Empire, with two 40Gbps Thunderbolt 3 ports, two USB-C ports (one at 5Gbps and the other Gen2 port at 10Gbps), five old-style USB-A (3.1) ports, a DisplayPort 1.2, an SD Card Reader, Digital Optical Audio (S/PDIF), Analog Audio In (Stereo) and Analog Audio Out (Stereo), plus a Gigabit Ethernet port. Read our Caldigit TS3 Plus dock review.
The dock costs £264.99 in the UK and $309.99 in the US. Until December 3, its Black Friday deal on the TS3 Plus takes it down to £225.24 or $238. Note that you can buy it from Apple for £229.95 outside of the Black Friday weekend.
In the EU its price drops from €304.99 to €259.24.
Caldigit’s USB-C Pro Dock (above) is actually a Thunderbolt 3 dock that can also handle USB-C laptops, such as the 12in MacBook or many Windows laptops – making it great for mixed Mac and PC workplaces.
It too can charge at 85W, and has two DisplayPorts, three USB-A ports and one USB-C at 10GBps, plus SD card reader and Gigabit Ethernet.
It’s now priced at £161.49, down from £239.99. For this product, there’s no US price reduction. In the EU its down from €199.99 to €169.99.
This portable SSD is way fast, and now cheaper
The company also sells the fastest portable SSD drive that we’ve ever tested, the 512GB Tuff nano.
As the name suggests, this little solid-state drive is built to handle the roughest environments, being being IP67 certified – meaning that it can be immersed in water, is dust-tight, and can withstand drops up to 3M.
But what we love about it is its speed – in testing we reached nearly 1,000MB/s – significantly faster than anything else out there in such a small form factor. Read our Caldigit Tuff nano review, and compare it with others in our best portable hard drive and SSD roundup.
Normally retailing for £159.99 or $127.46, the Black Friday price is just £135.99 or $127.46.
Author: Simon Jary, Contributing writer
Simon was Editor of Macworld from the dark days of 1995 to the triumphant return of Steve Jobs and the launch of the iPhone. His desk is a test bench for tech accessories, from USB-C and Thunderbolt docks to chargers, batteries, Powerline adaptors and Fitbits.