Thunderbolt 5 devices with OWC portable SSD and Kensington dock are starting to appear

Thunderbolt 5 was first announced last year and offered 120Gbps bandwidth and support for multiple 8K monitors. The good news is that the first Thunderbolt 5-compatible devices are already hitting the market.

There’s not much to choose from right now, but we have to start somewhere and that’s the OWC Envoy Ultra Portable SSD ($299.99 and up) and the Kensington SD5000T5 EQ Thunderbolt™ 5 Triple 4K 140W PD Dock ($399.99 ) – also found on Amazon – are some of the first Thunderbolt 5 devices to hit the market.

OWC Enjoy your Ultra Thunderbolt 5 portable SSD

Key Features:

• Speeds of over 6000MB/s or up to twice as fast as Thunderbolt 4 and USB4
• Capacity – 2 TB or 4 TB
• Compatibility – Mac, PC, iPad Pro, Chromebooks and Surface devices with Thunderbolt 3 to 5 port or USB4 port
• Durable construction – waterproof, dustproof and crushproof
• Power – Bus-powered via built-in Thunderbolt cable
• Fanless design with heat dissipation aluminum casing

The 2TB model is available for pre-order for $399.99 and the 4TB variant for $599.99.

Kensington SD5000T5 Thunderbolt 5 Docking Station

Technical data:

• 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
  • 3 Thunderbolt 5 downstream ports
• Data transfer speeds – Bi-directional bandwidth up to 80 Gbps with Bandwidth Boost enabling speeds up to 120 Gbps for intensive video use
• Memory – SD card reader (UHS-II, SD4.0)
• Video ports – 3x Thunderbolt 5 DFP supporting up to triple 4K at 144Hz, dual 8K at 60Hz, single 8K at 60Hz or 1080p at 540Hz
• Audio – 3.5mm microphone and headphone combo jack
• Network – 2.5 GbE RJ45 socket
• USB – 3 USB 3.2 Gen2 ports (10 Gb/s).
• Miscellaneous – Kensington Nano security slot, Kensington security slot
• Power – Up to 140W (28V/5A) via USB-C PD 3.1

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

Where are the Thunderbolt 5 hosts?

It’s nice to have a portable SSD and a Thunderbolt 5 dock, but you won’t benefit from the faster transfer speeds and many 4K and 8K features that come standard unless you buy a host that supports the new standard.

Kensington representatives told PCWorld that they currently (September 2024) only have two laptops with the Intel “Barlow Ridge” Thunderbolt 5 chip inside, namely the Razer Blade 18 Mercury (2024) and Maingear ML-17, which are priced at PLN 4,500 and $3,900. Therefore, upgrading your configuration to Thunderbolt 5 is currently quite expensive.

By Liliputing

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